recipe and cooking video

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Ricotta and Chive Filled Rye Loaf

This is a rustic rye loaf hollowed out and refilled with a mixture of ricotta, cream cheese, chives, and vegetables. Original recipe calls for 150 grams of bacon bits for the filling, I omitted it for the sake of eating healthy and just used more potatoes and ricotta instead.

Recipe adapted from Essen und Trinken


150 g Floury potatoes, such as Russet 2 Eggs, hard boiled 1 bunch Chives 1 Yellow bell pepper 1 Red bell pepper 100 g Pickled gherkin 380 g Ricotta 100 g Cream cheese Salt and freshly mulled black pepper 1 / 750 g Rustic rye loaf from the bakery

Cook the potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes until fork tender. Drain. Peel the potatoes while still warm, and push through a passatutto or potato ricer.
Hard boil the eggs for about 8 minutes. Drain, cover with cold water and leave to cool. Cut the chives into rings with scissors. Deseed the sweet bell peppers and finely dice. Cut the gherkin into fine dices. Peel the eggs and roughly chop them.
Combine the chive rings, diced bell peppers, gherkin, eggs, ricotta and cream cheese in a large bowl together with mashed potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Cut an inch off the top of bread loaf, and hollow out center of loaf.
Refill the loaf with the prepared cheese mixture. Store the whole loaf in a paper bag and chill for 2-3 hours until the filling is set. Slice and serve.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Red Wine Whole Wheat Spelt Biscotti

A rather different, but tasty nonetheless biscotti recipe with whole wheat spelt, and chocolate-flavoured red wine. Caraway seeds and black pepper have added a flirtatious spicy twist that compliments a glass of powerful Châteauneuf-du-Pape perfectly.

Recipe adapted from Too Much Food

360 g Whole wheat spelt
1/2 tbsp Baking powder
40 g Caster sugar
1/8 tsp Salt
3/4 tsp Freshly cracked black pepper
1 tbsp Caraway seeds
300 ml Chocolate flavoured red wine
1/2 Egg white, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Mix together whole wheat spelt flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, black pepper and caraway seeds in a large bowl.
Pour in red wine and olive oil. Mix until smooth. Divide dough in half and shape two logs, 10 inches long and 3 inches wide. Brush the tops with egg white.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 93C/200F. Slice each log into 1/2-inch-wide slices with a serrated knife.
Arrange slices, cut side down, on same baking sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes. Turn biscotti over halfway in between. Transfer to rack and cool.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Unbaked Cheesecake with Mint and Coconut

This light and delicious NO BAKE cheesecake is perfect for summer. It is made with lower fat cream cheese, whipping cream, Swiss meringue and garnished with a mix of coconut and mint. I have also added a layer of cake roll in between, but other cake leftover or even Oreo cookies would make a great substitute.

Recipe inspired by Food Network


2 tbsp White rum 2 tbsp Fresh lime juice 1 envelope / 7 g Gelatin 650 g 17% Cream cheese, softened 100 g Whipping cream 3 Egg whites 120 g Sugar 5 slice Swiss rolls 2 tbsp Desiccated coconut 10 Mint leaves

Combine the rum and lime juice in a medium, heatproof bowl, and sprinkle the gelatin over the surface. Allow to soak for 5 minutes, then place the bowl over a small pan of gently simmering water and stir several times to melt the gelatin, about 1 minute. Remove the bowl from the pan and cool the gelatin slightly.
Beat the cream cheese at medium speed until soft and light, scraping the bowl and beaters often. Beat in the cream until smooth. Combine the egg whites and sugar in the clean, dry bowl of the electric mixer and heat over simmering water, whisking constantly, until the egg whites are hot and sugar is dissolved. Attach the bowl to the mixer and whip with the whisk attachment at medium speed until cold and firm.
Beat 1/4 of the cream cheese mixture into the dissolved gelatin, then beat the gelatin mixture into the remaining cream cheese. Fold in the meringue in several additions.
Line a 25x13x6 cm /10x5x2 inch loaf pan with plastic wrap and set aside. Pour half of the filling into the prepared loaf pan, then the Swiss rolls and lastly the other half of the mousse. Cover and refrigerate until at least 6 hours or overnight until set.
Use a vegetable chopper to process the desiccated coconut and mint leaves until well combined. Remove the cake from the form and place it on a serving plate. Sprinkle the coconut-mint mixture all over the cake.

Red mullet with black olives

I can't do parties anymore. I used to be really good at them, but I just can't anymore. I can't drink, I can't make conversation and I can't stay up late.

It makes me feel like such a dick. I used to love a party. Though I was never, let's face it, the first or the last one on the dance floor or the one swept out with the fag butts at 5am, I went, I drank, I laughed, I had a good time.

Now when an invitation drops on our doormat I make a face. My husband and I argue briefly about whether or not we should go and we always decided that we probably ought to because otherwise we will just go mouldy sitting at home watching Californication.

I think about what to wear three minutes before we leave and end up putting on the same plain back jersey dress I have been wearing to parties for about 5 years, "jazzed" up with whichever necklace I bought from Anthropologie most recently. Then I put on eyeliner (but not mascara because it's such a pain to get off) while my husband puts the baby to bed.

I open the door to Kate, our teen babysitter who lives a few doors away, who is so thin and beautiful that I'd refuse to have her in the house if she wasn't so nice. I talk to Kate for a bit, wishing I was staying in watching telly with her, not least because her mum brings her dinner round and it always sounds really nice. But then we leave, driving (because I won't get pissed) and arrive unfashionably early. I gratefully suck down one aperitif, feel a bit dizzy, poke my dinner around and start wanting to go home at 11pm.

The other night we went to a party and the wife of a very famous person came to talk to me. We'd met before a few times. She was very drunk. "You've got suchajewish name," she slurred. "The MOST JEWISH NAME EVER," she shrieked. I stood there, with my hands in the pockets of my Topshop maternity jeans that I am still wearing and felt self-conscious in the not-very-me Gharani Strok blouse I bought from TK Maxx and gave her the smile I give to drunks and lunatics.

At least, I thought to myself, I am not wearing the black jersey thing.

"Do you smoke? Do you wanna fag?" she said. No, I don't smoke, I said. But I'll come and keep you company outside. "Do you wanna do a line?" she said and giggled. I blinked a few times and looked at her, feeling more square, I think, than I have ever felt in my life. I towered over her in my stupid clumpy Boden wedges. "I can't," I said. Which was not true. Of course I could. I just didn't want to. I should have just said that. "No thanks," I ought to have said. "I don't really want to." But instead I said something about having to get up early.

Then instead of vanishing as soon as her head was turned (drunks never notice when you do this) I actually accompanied her out into a street and stood there while she smoked a cigarette. I felt like I was back at school, hovering at the arm of the coolest girl in my year who will occasionally suffer my presence. There were a lot of people on the street from the party also smoking cigarettes, sucking up to the woman I was with because she is married to this very famous man and I felt like even more of a hanger-on and a wanker. But I didn't slip away back into the party. I just stood there, unable to think of anything to say. She finished her cigarette and we went back into the party. I walked in behind her and made my alarm face and frantic jazz hands at my husband behind her head.

She turned and suddenly threw her arms round me and blew a raspberry on my cheek and hissed "I don't like your husband much. My husband loves him. I don't really get it." Then she made a beeline for the bar.

It being 11pm, I insisted to my husband that we leave immediately.

This has been bothering me ever since. She has some children and a job, that woman. But she goes to parties and gets drunk and does drugs and makes a complete fucking mad spectacle of herself but she doesn't care and just carries on with her life regardless. Whereas I have one tiny baby and no job and I've decided this means that I can't ever drink again. Maybe I'm just using it as an excuse. Maybe I never enjoyed parties or drinking in the first place and domesticity is just a key to unlock my inner square and let her run free.

Olives are a thing that people always tell you to put with fish and I'm sceptical. But the other night we roasted a red mullet with lemon, parsley and black olives and it was terribly nice and worth doing if you can get your hands on a really fresh red mullet from somewhere.

I think this is from the River Cafe cookbook, which is always telling you to do things like put a fish in the oven covered with olive oil and a few select herbs and then charge £200 for it.

Red mullet with black olives

1 red mullet
about 20 black olives, roughly chopped
a large handful of parsley, roughly chopped
one lemon, halved
olive oil
salt

1 Preheat your oven to 180C.

2 Wash the fish and put it in a roasting dish or tin. Sprinkle over salt, drizzle over a good sloop or two of olive oil, scatter over the parsley and olives and put the halves of lemon, cut side down either side of the fish.

3 Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes.

I think we had this with new potatoes. Or it could have been sourdough. At any rate, it was really very nice. And I hate fish.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Spaghetti with Olive & Mint Pesto and Radicchio

This pasta is REALLY simple, fast, and delicious, too, just like most of Italian recipes. It perfectly combines the delicious flavours with balanced nutrition and since the sauce can be prepared ahead of time, this is ideal for those who haven't much time to cook, but are unwilling to compromise on a bottled sauce.
Adapted from Taste

120 g Pitted green olives
2 Garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/2 bunch Mint, leaves picked
1/2 bunch Flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked
1/3 cup Grated Parmesan, plus extra shavings to serve
100 ml Olive oil
Freshly mulled black pepper
400 g Spaghetti
Some radicchio, shredded

Rinse and drain olives, then pulse in a food processor with garlic, herbs, cheese and oil until roughly chopped, not smooth. Season with pepper.
Cook pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water for about 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain, then return pasta to pan.
Add the pesto and shredded radicchio. Toss gently to combine. Serve with extra cheese shavings.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Mutton in Port

Often it's not big things that can really make your day, like being proposed to, getting a new job that will allow you to maybe actually tell your shitty bastard boss to Fuck Off on your last day, finding out you haven't got that life-threatening disease you thought you had, or waking up thinking it's Monday and then remembering that it's Saturday.

Sometimes, it's the little things. Finding in your drawer a spare weirdly-shaped battery for that clock whose second hand has been twitching backwards and forwards for two months, for example. Or going to the shops to buy a microwave and finding that it fits exactly in the space you need it to, despite having forgotten to take any measurements. Or getting in the car to find that someone else has filled it up with petrol.

Or finding something to do with the clattery collection of vegetables that have been staring at you accusingly for the last week.

We are inundated with vegetables at the moment because my husband has become obsessed with the Saturday farmer's market at Parliament Hill. We used to go together and he would skulk about behind me saying "What about a cabbage? What about some tomatoes? What about some mussels?" all of which I'd say no to, because all I wanted to do was buy a chicken, get a sausage sandwich from the sausage sandwich van and go home. (Sometimes I see people at the market pretend to come and do their weekly shop, but actually all they've really come for is a sausage sandwich.)

Now I send my husband off on Saturday mornings by himself and he loves it. With no limits on his enthusiasm or spending he goes perfectly nuts and buys everything. He once took Kitty and came back with her slung over his shoulder like a sack of carrots because the buggy was full to brim with haunches of venison, racks of lamb and eighteen different kinds of vegetables.

It's all very marvellous, but the vegetables don't half sit about looking glum after a week or two. My inclination is to throw the whole lot in the compost, put it down to bad judgment and swear never to buy kohlrabi again, but my husband decided that this was the wrong attitude, and instead turned the whole lot into a stew using a leg of mutton he had purchased from someone at the market. We're not eating lamb anymore. We've decided that it stinks the house out. And lambs are cute. Although I know that's pathetic.

Anyway so here we go, an entirely original recipe, by Giles. This is excellent, although it takes 4 hours to cook.

Mutton in Port

Pre-heat your oven to 130C

1 leg of mutton. Purchasable, probably, at your local farmer's market or at a nearby butcher. Not sure if Waitrose does it
2 onions, chopped
2 bulbs garlic, chopped
4 sticks of celery, chopped
1 kohlrabi, or turnip, or celeriac or swede or any other root vegetable giving you the eye from the corner of your veg box
3 small carrots, left whole
1/2 a bottle of the cheapest port you can find. Real piss. You can sub red wine
1 mugful of stock, packet is fine
oil for sauteeing, salt, pepper
As many herbs as you can lay your hands on: bay, parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano (not mint) tied up together with string. Any combination of these, or none at all, is fine.

1 In a large casserole brown the mutton all over thoroughly, for about 20 minutes, over a medium flame, in some veg oil. Sunflower or groundnut will do. Please not olive oil because it will burn and taste horrible. Set to one side on a plate

2 In the same casserole sweat over a low flame the onions and celery for about ten minutes. Sprinkle over a good pinch of salt to stop the onions from burning. Towards the end of the cooking time, add the garlic and the herbs so they, too, don't burn and taste bitter.

3 Pour in your half bottle of pissy plonk and mug of stock. Cook off the alcohol but don't worry about reducing it right down. About 2 minutes fast simmering ought to do the trick. Then add in the mutton, carrots and any other root veg. Cook in your oven with a lid on for 4 hours.

4 When it's done, remove the whole vegetables and the joint and strain the cooking water of the herbs, onions, garlic and celery. Then leave the cooking liquid to settle for half an hour and skim off the good 1/2 inch of fat that will appear. If you're making this to eat the next day (which is a good idea, because it's superb re-heated) leave the cooking liquid in the fridge overnight and scoop out the fat even more easily.

We ate this with a lot of buttery macaroni, which sounds like a weird thing to have with it but it worked very well.

Paprika Chicken

This is an easy dish to assemble and so tasty with loaded flavours. I had them with some spinach pasta and some greens for the lunch. It was a pure comfort. The smoked sweet paprika gives this creamy braised chicken dish a distinctive flavour.

Adapted from Taste

700 g Chicken drumsticks
Salt and black pepper
1 tbsp Corn oil
2-3 Shallots, thinly sliced
2 clove Garlic, thinly sliced
2/3 tbsp Sweet smoked paprika
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1/2 can Tomato
300 ml Chicken stock
90 g Sour cream
Some chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

Rinse the chicken drumsticks thoroughly and pat them dry with paper towels. Give the drumstick a few cuts with a knife. Season the drumsticks with salt and pepper.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes on each side or until chicken drumsticks are golden. Remove and drain on paper towel.
Add sliced shallots and garlic to the pan. Cook, stirring, until golden. Add in smoked paprika and cumin seeds. Stir briefly, then add in tomato and stock. Return the chicken drumsticks to the skillet. Bring it to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Uncover and cook for a further 10 minutes. Turn the heat off. Stir in sour cream. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with chopped parsley.