David Hall

Slow Cooker Asian Pork and Aubergine

2012-01-15T21:23:00.000Z

This is an incredibly simple slow cook stew that celebrates the great flavours of south east Asia: hot, sweet, salty and sour.

Use a cheap cut of pork such as the shoulder or steaks from the leg and the meat will just fall apart at the touch of the fork. The aubergine, vast in number at the start of the stew, absorbs and melts into the sauce making it rich and velvety.

I can't really sell it enough - just make it and enjoy it with plain rice and perhaps a baked sweet potato. It will be a good decision.

(This recipe is for a slow cooker but can be replicated for cooking in an oven set to GM2/150C.)
Sunflower or vegetable oil
1kg pork shoulder, cut into large chunks
2 aubergines, cut into chunks
1 tbsp demerera sugar
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp tamarind paste mixed with a little hot water
1 large onion, chopped
A large pinch of dried chilli flakes
1 thumb size of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 tbsp fish or soy sauce
Water
Fresh limes
Fresh coriander

1 - Pre-heat your slow cooker.
2 - Heat up a tbsp oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add the pork and quickly brown all over. Remove to a plate.
3 - Add the aubergine and quickly brown all over. Return the pork and stir in the sugar. Cook, stirring all of the time, to caramelise the sugar. Tip into your slow cooker.
4 - Heat up another tbsp oil and add the onions, ginger, chilli, star anise and cinnamon. Cook until softened then add to the pork and aubergine.
5 - Pour in 200ml water, the tamarind and the fish sauce. Cook on the medium setting for 5-6 hours until the pork is meltingly tender. Stir in a handful of chopped fresh coriander.
6 - Time to tweek with the flavours. Squeeze in the juice of one lime and taste. You want the right balance of salty, sweet, hot and sour. Adjust the quantities of fish/soy sauce, sugar, chilli and lime to your tastes.
7 - Serve with plain boiled rice, fresh coriander and wedges of fresh lime.

Very healthy banana and walnut cake

2012-01-11T20:30:00.001Z

Okay, okay, I know that the word 'cake' and healthy should never be associated with each other. It's like no alcohol beer - it just doesn't seem right.

However, after a whole month of excess and the need for cake in our staffroom, here is the solution. It's the easiest cake in the world. Just bung it all in the food processor, blitz, pour into a baking tin and bake.

It's sweet, it's moist, it's fruity and sticky. It's a cake with hardly any fat or added excess sugar. So it's still a cake, just a bit easier on the gut. Honest. Oh, and it's a great way to use up those black bananas we always throw away.

4 very ripe bananas
200g self raising flour
50g oats
2 eggs
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
50g walnuts
6 tbsp runny honey
A handful of sunflower seeds

1 - Preheat the oven to 180C/GM4.
2 - Put all of the ingredients into a food processor and blitz.
3 - Pour into a greased loaf tin. I use the silicone baking equipment; no need to grease and easier to get out. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds and bake in the centre of the oven for 45-50 minutes.
4 - Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Broccoli, Stilton and Potato Soup

2012-01-02T16:22:00.001Z

The new year brings all kinds of promises in the guise of resolutions as we moan about our swollen, festive food and booze attacked bodies. Me included.

One promise I am making this year is to - no surprises here - get slimmer. Soups are a great way to fill you up with the right things without piling on the pounds and they are so easy to make.

Broccoli and Stilton are a classic combo in a soup. Don't add too much Stilton, just enough to give it a cheesy bite and the addition of potato helps thicken. Eating plenty of broccoli is also a great way to start the year with a healthy kick.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large head of broccoli, roughly chopped
2 large floury potatoes, peeled and diced
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, sliced
1 litre of vegetable stock
100g Stilton cheese, crumbled
Salt and pepper

1 - Heat up the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the vegetables and sweat in a low heat for 10 minutes until softened.
2 - Add the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes until the potato and broccoli have softened.
3 - Crumble in the cheese then blend until smooth using a hand blender or food processor. Taste for seasoning. Serve with additional Stilton crumbled on top.

Toffee Squares

2011-12-30T14:21:00.001Z

These are great to make with the kids. Essentially a sponge base, it can be flavoured with fruit and spice before being topped with a delicious toffee sauce.

150g softened butter
150g sugar
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
150g self raising flour
120g sultanas, soaked in orange juice
Juice of one orange, satsuma or clementine

1 - Preheat the oven to 180C/GM4.
2 - In a large mixing bowl, whisk the butter and sugar together until soft, pale and fluffy. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.
3 - Sift in the flour and combine thoroughly with a metal spoon. Finally, stir in the orange soaked sultanas and orange juice.
4 - Line a square baking tin with grease proof baking paper. Pour in and level the cake mixture. Place on the middle shelf and cook for 30 minutes.
5 - Whilst cooking, prepare the toffee sauce. Put the butter and sugar into a pan. Heat up and melt then pour in the cream. Bring to the boil then simmer for 5 minutes or until it has turned light brown. Remove from the heat then allow to cool.
6 - Remove the cake from the oven, remove from the baking tin then allow to cool on a frame. Once cool, cut into squares and spoon on the toffee sauce.

Spiced Clementine Cake

2011-12-18T16:52:00.001Z

Clementines are beautiful at this time of the year and for me, synonymous with the Festive period.

This is a simple yet impressive cake that is easy to make and just as easy to eat. Your house will be filled with the zesty aroma of this wonderful fruit meaning rumbling tummies for any lucky visitor.

Because there is so much pulp in the cake, it will be incredibly moist and if it lasts that long, will remain so for a good 3-4 days.

Ingredients

3 whole clementines
3 eggs
200g caster sugar
50g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
200g ground almonds
1tsp mixed spice

1 - Put the clementines into a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil then simmer for 20 minutes. Drain then blitz in a food processor to a purée. Preheat the oven to 180C/GM4.
2 - In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy.
3 - Sieve in the flour, baking powder and spice then fold in along with the purée.
4 - Pour into a greased and lined 8" loose bottomed baking tin and bake on the middle shelf for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
5 - To make an optional icing, put 1tbsp marmalade into a saucepan along with a little water. Heat up and melt. Stir in 6-8 tbsp icing sugar and thoroughly combine then drizzle all over the cooled cake.

Beef and Sweet Potato Curry

2011-12-12T20:43:00.001Z

The slow cooker has been dusted down and brought back out as a permanent fixture of the kitchen for the winter.

It's that time of the year when slow cooking becomes the norm. Get a few ingredients together in the early hours, off to work then on your return, tea awaits. It almost mocks timely preparation and 'cheffy' techniques. Many memorable meals have been produced from my £7 slow cooker and it has easily been the most cost efficient cookware in my collection.

If you are a curry lover and are looking for inspiration to use your slow cooker that has been sitting in its box since purchase last winter, look no further than the following. Packed with flavour and guaranteed to beat the winter sniffles, it's a must for giving a debut to your new best kitchen friend.

Slow Cooked Beef and Sweet Potato Curry
Feeds 4

1kg braising beef cut into large chunks
2tbsp sunflower oil

For the curry paste:
1 onion
A thumb size of fresh ginger, peeled
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 fresh red chilli, unseeded
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tbsp tomato purée

3 sweet potatoes, or normal white potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
Water
Salt and pepper

1 - In a food processor or pestle and mortar, place in the curry paste ingredients and blend to a paste.
2 - In a large frying pan, heat the oil and add the beef. Quickly cook and turn until coloured then remove with a slotted spoon and add to the slow cooker.
3 - Add a little more oil if necessary, then add the paste and cook, stirring all if the time, for 5 minutes until coloured and fragrant.
4 - Add the tomatoes and a little water and combine. Add to the slow cooker along with the potatoes, cinnamon stick and cloves.
5 - Cook on its lowest setting for 6-7 hours. If you are at home, check after a few hours to see if it has gone dry which it should not.
6 - Taste for seasoning then serve with rice, breads and fresh coriander.

Sticky Sweet and Sour Peppers

2011-11-29T18:59:00.001Z

This recipe is one of those I always keep handy in my little head of culinary delights for when a vegetable accompaniment for anything is required and time is against me. As long as you have some peppers, garlic and a few store cupboard ingredients, you can have some delicious sticky sweet and sour peppers on your plate by the time it takes to look through the Yellow Pages to find a decent takeaway.

These are perfect with a simple piece of fish or chicken, but are an equal delight on a piece of toast for a quick veggie lunch.

Sticky Sweet and Sour Peppers
Serves 2 on toast or as an accompaniment

2 peppers, I use red and yellow, sliced into thin slivers
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tbsp muscovado sugar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
A pinch of chilli flakes
Salt and pepper

1 - In a non-stick frying pan, preferably with a lid, heat up the oil until very hot. Lower in the pepper slices and cook for 5 minutes with the lid on, removing now and again to give it a good stir. You are looking to get them broken down and caramelised as soon as possible. Don't worry if any begin to look slightly charred, this will just benefit the flavour.
2 - Once caramelised, remove the lid and quickly stir in the garlic.
3 - Stir in the sugar, vinegar, chilli and a good grinding of black pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes until it starts to look nice and sticky and reduced. Taste for seasoning, it may need a pinch of salt.

Hot potato, bacon and nasturtium salad

2011-08-03T19:53:00.004+01:00

It's potato-tastic down at the allotment at the moment. We have 5 different varieties blooming and I cannot wait for the shoots to die off so I can get digging for what is easily human being's most popular vegetable.

I grew a few salad potatoes in a couple of large pots so that we had a few easy to hand. These were eagerly dug out by my daughter and then quickly boiled up ready for a quick and simple supper.

I fried up a little bacon in a pan then added the potatoes, crushed by hand, into the bacon fat and cooked until golden. A few spinach leaves and olives were tossed amongst the hot potatoes and plated up. Some pretty nasturtiums and a simple vinaigrette completed the dish making our humble little potatoes growing out of a cheap plastic tub into a thing of beauty.

If you like this recipe, please vote for me here - thanks in advance!

Hot potato, bacon and nasturtium salad
Feeds 4

2 tbsp olive oil
6 slices of bacon, roughly chopped
A medium pan of small waxy salad potatoes, boiled
A few handfuls of spinach and olives
Nasturtium petals, washed

For the vinaigrette
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper

1 - Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Add the bacon and cook until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep aside.
2 - Crush the potatoes by hand straight into the hot oil and cook, turning regularly, until golden brown.
3 - Return the bacon to the pan along with the olives and spinach.
4 - To make the vinaigrette, thoroughly combine the ingredients.
5 - To serve, plate up the salad, scatter over nasturtium petals and drizzle over a little dressing.

Hail the blackcurrant

2011-07-10T19:23:00.004+01:00

A welcome view in the allotment today was a bush stuffed full of fat blackcurrants almost dropping off with the weight of their heady juice.

I set my daughter and her friend straight off picking and within 30 minutes we had a pan full of them.

Blackcurrants are a strange thing raw straight from the plant. You expect that unique flavour that you associate with this fine currant to whack you in the mouth but instead, you are left with a slightly earthy and sour fruit taste. Perhaps they should have been left slightly longer but then that would run the risk of them being pinched by our feathered friends.

Instead, I washed and picked them through, poured on honey and brought to the boil. Switch off the heat and allow to cool and you are left with heaven in a pan ready for a multitude of things to use them with.

I've stirred some through a tub of Greek yoghurt and left in the freezer for a delicious blackcurrant ripple ice cream of sorts. I crunched a few meringues through whipped cream and drizzled over the fruit for an alternative to the Eton Mess. The rest will be kept for breakfast to be stirred through porridge or muesli, yoghurt and honey. And if I'm lucky, there still may be left to make a little cassis for those winter months. Hail the blackcurrant.

Ricotta Dumplings

2011-06-03T10:12:00.003+01:00

These little dumplings are so easy to make and a real treat on a hot summer's day as an alternative to pasta.

This is the kind of food that makes Italy great. Simple ingredients combined to perfection, no frills and no pretention.

We served ours with a quick tomato sauce. Heat up a little olive oil in a pan, add a clove of sliced garlic and a pinch of dried chilli. Tip in a tin of tomatoes and a tablespoon of Balsamic vinegar. Cook for 5 minutes and taste for seasoning.

Serve with chives, chive flowers and with plenty of Parmesan cheese. Great to make with your children too, give them a go.

Ricotta Dumplings
Feeds 3 as a light lunch

200g Ricotta cheese
3 egg yolks
A grating of nutmeg
30g Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
200g plain flour

1 - In a bowl, mash together the Ricotta cheese and egg yolks then stir in the nutmeg, Parmesan and seasoning.
2 - Pour in the flour then form to a dough using your hands.
3 - On a floured bench, roll out into a sausage shape (you may need to do it in portions). Cut off 1 inch dumplings and set aside.
4 - Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the dumplings. Once they float to the surface, they are ready to drain and eat with the sauce.

Wild Nettle Pakora

2011-05-25T14:51:00.001+01:00

The weeds are taking over at the allotment, none more so than the common nettle.

I've grown to respect the nettle recently. Touch one and it has the power to numb a finger or two for several hours. But that isn't the reason for new-found respect; it is simply because I like eating them.

Nettles are packed full of iron and minerals and treat carefully, they are a welcome replacement for spinach in a curry or to be made into a soup.

My favourite way with nettles is to make Indian pakoras, all spicy, crispy, mysterious and green. They are a doddle to make and amazing to eat, even my 6 year old loves them. So next time you are tutting at the nettles in your garden, just don the gloves and pick off all of the tops of the nettles and use them in your recipes. Delicious.

Wild Nettle Pakora
Makes lots

1 large colander full of young nettle leaves
300g chickpea flour (I sometimes used rice flour, it's a little more dense)
1 tsp garam masala
Half tsp ground tumeric
Half tsp ground chilli powder
Salt and pepper
Vegetable or sunflower oil

1 - With gloves on, carefully pick through the nettles discarding any tough or bruised leaves. Wash thoroughly in a sink full of water.
2 - Pick the leaves up and put them straight into a deep pan. Turn up the heat and cook until wilted. Allow to cool, squeeze out excess water then roughly chop.
3 - In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, spices and seasoning. Add the wilted chopped nettles. Stir in enough water to make a thick batter.
4 - Heat up the oil in a deep pan. Test by dropping in a little batter. Add teaspoons of the batter mixture and cook in batches until golden and crisp. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
5 - Serve either as a snack with mango chutney or as an accompaniment to a curry.

Breakfast Rhubarb Cranachan

2011-05-01T08:59:00.000+01:00

Scottish cranachan is one of those quick fix creamy desserts that are a doddle to knock up when time is short.

Traditionally made with whipped cream, honey, toasted oats and fresh raspberries, it is a car crash of a recipe, a bit like an Eton Mess which is neither here nor there but utterly delicious.

This is a healthier version which uses seasonal rhubarb stewed in a little honey and omits the whisky, meaning it can be eaten for breakfast. If you want to use it as a dessert, add a drop of decent single malt whisky if desired.

Toast the oats in advance, combine a pro-biotic yoghurt with Greek yoghurt, flavour with a little vanilla extract or if you are feeling posh, a whole vanilla pod and sweeten with honey. It's a great way to start the day even if you are going to upset the traditionalists.

Breakfast Rhubarb Cranachan
Feeds 2-3 people

150g rolled Scottish oats
6 sticks of rhubarb, cut into pieces and stewed in a little honey until soft, cooled
250g pro-biotic yoghurt
250g Greek yoghurt
50g honey
1 tsp vanilla extract or seeds of 1 vanilla pod

1 - Put the oats into a dry frying pan. Heat up and cook until beginning to toast. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
2 - In a mixing bowl, combine the yoghurts, honey and vanilla. Mix in a couple of handfuls of rolled oats and stewed rhubarb.
3 - Place a tablespoon of stewed rhubarb into each of your serving glasses. Top with the yoghurt mixture then top with a little more rhubarb, toasted oats and honey.

Simnel Cake

2011-04-22T19:12:00.001+01:00

With Easter comes much indulgence and on this most holy of days, there is one indulgence I can't do without - Simnel cake.

Simnel cake is one of those traditional British foods that probably change recipe in every town. Eaten since medieval times, it is simply a spiced fruit cake layered with marzipan and topped with 11 little marzipan balls that represent the true disciples of Jesus.

My version is as simple as can be and one that has become an annual tradition for my daughter and I to make. Sticky and soft from a layer of molten marzipan, it is difficult for me to explain in words just how wonderful this cake is. So go ahead and make one for yourself. Easter or not Easter, it is a sure-fire crowd pleaser. And if you do make an Easter related cake, make sure that you enter into the Easter Cake Bake competition over at the superb Julia Parsons 'A Slice of Cherry Pie' blog.

Simnel Cake

150g butter
150g caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
2 tsp mixed spice
50g ground almonds
150g self raising flour
300g mixed fruit
Zest and juice of 1 orange
500g ready-made marzipan

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 160C/GM3. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin with a removable base.
2 - In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Quickly beat in the eggs, pour in the almonds and sieve in the flour. Tip in the remaining ingredients (except for the marzipan) then combine thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
3 - Pour half of the mixture into the cake tin. Half the marzipan and roll out on a piece of cling-film (to prevent it sticking to the bench) until roughly the same size as the cake tin. Press the cake tin on top to make a line then roughly cut out. Fit into the cake tin and press down. Pour over the remaining cake mixture.
4 - Bake on the middle shelf for 1 hour 30 minutes. If it begins to brown too quickly, loosely cover with a piece of baking paper.
5 - Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin.
6 - To finish, roll out the remaining marzipan and do exactly the same as with the middle section, cutting out the left overs to roll into 11 little balls. Top with the marzipan and decorate the edges with the balls. If you have a small blow torch, lightly toast the marzipan in places. Alternatively, flash under a hot grill.

Voice of the Beehive

2011-04-10T20:14:00.001+01:00

This weekend was a hark back to my old life as a cook and what a special day it was. For it wasn't just any old cooking job. Yesterday I was helping out fellow Masterchef finalist Stacie Stewart, cooking in the wonderful Durham Town Hall for a wedding party.

Stacie had me whipping up some of her wonderful canape creations such as lemon tarts, rare beef and slow roast tomatoes, king prawns with marie rose sauce, sweetcorn fritters with avocado salsa and mini burgers. I'm still exhausted now but it was worth every minute.

The best part of the day was working alongside and getting to know a lady who is very quickly rising to the top her game in what she loves to do the most - cook. With an energy that puts mine to shame, Stacie has built up a fabulous business in her Beehive Bakery where any occasion is catered for with skill and precision. As well as the business, Stacie has also been cutting herself as a celebrity TV chef and you can see her most weeks on ITV's This Morning with her trademark beehive haircut and charismatic style. Check out her videos and recipes here.

I'm not sure how many cookery events I can squeeze into my busy schedule but I sincerely hope that I can work with Stacie again. She is a pleasure to know and work with and I cannot recommend her business highly enough - give her a go! Cheers Stacie x

Slow roast paper wrapped leg of lamb

2011-04-05T20:06:00.003+01:00

As Easter approaches, a food that seems synonymous with this time of the year is lamb. We like our lamb in the United Kingdom and most British families will have a good old leg on their plate over the long Easter weekend.

Believe it or not, it isn't exactly the right time to be eating British lamb. Most of our lambs are born in February/March meaning that come April, they are still too young to give you a matured flavour. Come August or September, our spring lambs are perfect and really, that is the time to be consuming outdoor reared grass fed British lambs.

The lamb that you eat at this time of the year, if British, is more than likely barn reared and born around October or November. However, that doesn't mean its a bad thing and if you want British lamb at Easter, it is there in abundance and there are some high quality British lamb cuts to be found at this time of the year.

We love a leg of lamb. Lots of meat, packed full of flavour and value for money, it is the perfect roast for the Sunday dinner table. A great way of cooking it is to seal it in paper before roasting slowly. The paper seals in all of the juices meaning that flavour is high and you lose none of that essential gravy making stuff. It's also fuss free, something that you can prepare in advance and then leave to cook whilst you prepare the veg and puddings whilst having a cheeky slurp.

Slow roast paper wrapped leg of lamb
Feeds 4-6

2-3kg leg of lamb
1 sprig of rosemary
3 cloves garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
4 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 150C/GM3. With a sharp knife, skewer the leg all over to form small holes.
2 - Put the rosemary leaves and garlic into a pestle and mortar with a good pinch of salt. Bash it to a puree then squeeze in the lemon juice and stir together with the olive oil and a good grinding of pepper.
3 - In a baking tray, lay over a large piece of baking paper. Cross it over with another piece the same length. Put the halved and squeezed lemon pieces onto the paper then place on the lamb leg. Pour over the marinade then rub in thoroughly all over.
4 - Wrap around the paper before wrapping around another large piece to ensure that it is thoroughly wrapped. Tie roughly with string then leave to marinade for an hour or so.
5 - Place into the oven and cook for 3 hours. Once coked, remove and allow to rest for 30 minutes. Remove the paper and serve with your choice of vegetables, spooning over the delicious juices. Or to make a more substantial gravy, place the roasting tray over a hob, pour in a glass of red wine and bring to the boil before stirring in a nob of butter.

Honey Crème Caramels

2011-03-12T15:48:00.000Z

There's something a bit 1980s about food at the moment. When once it was considered tired, old hat and completely unacceptable, the likes of prawn cocktails, chicken Kiev and Black Forest Gateau are appearing on menus again and that's completely fine by me.

In this ever-fickle world, it is easy to forget the things that made us what we are. I'm not asking for a nostalgic look at everything that we consumed, wore or listened too 'back in the day', but why get snobbish about things that you once loved? And why always yearn for something new and 'challenging'?

We've been hitting the nostalgia trail today, teaching my daughter one of her new favourite puddings, the long lost crème caramel. We usually buy in those ready-made efforts, all crinkled in their plastic houses with a satisfying puddle of watery caramel at the bottom of every one.

Of course, homemade food - if made correctly - is usually better every time. The key to a successful crème caramel is to keep your oven low, GM1 or 140C, and to keep your little custards in a bath of hot water to ensure slow and gentle cooking to give you that silky smooth set custard. The result is really satisfying as each spoonful gives a resounding 'squelch' sound and the cold smoothness sinks down with ease.

I made an alternative to the caramel as I had a little extra custard left over, so rather than pour in caramel to the remaining mould I put in honey. It was delicious and avoided the risk of the hot caramel curdling the custard or even worse, being stuck in the end. Give them a go and bring back nostalgic grub to your menu.

Honey Crème Caramels
Makes 4-5

4 medium eggs
100g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, deseeded
450ml whole milk
Runny honey

1 - Pre-heat the oven to GM1/140C.
2 - In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, caster sugar and vanilla seeds. Pour in the milk, whisk then pour through a sieve into a jug.
3 - Lightly grease 4-5 moulds. At this stage you can make a simple caramel by slowly heating 150g sugar and a little water in a pan without stirring until it turns golden brown. Or go for my version by pouring in a couple of tablespoons of runny honey into each mould.
4 - Gently pour in the custard to fill the moulds. Place into a baking tray with sides and pour in hot water to fill at least halfway up the moulds.
5 - Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the custards have a very slight 'wobble' when shaken.
6 - Remove from the oven, then the water and allow to cool to room temperature before placing in the fridge. Serve cold with or without berries.

Thai Steamed Fish

2011-02-08T19:20:00.000Z

It's been a while I have to admit. I could come up with a multitude of excuses as to why I haven't posted for so long but they would all be pathetic. So on with the food.

One thing I have had to adapt to since becoming a full-time teacher is simply not spending enough time in the kitchen. We all have to eat of course so rather than spend hours at the stove concocting new recipes like I used to, it comes down to survival on weekdays and just getting on with something quick and tasty.

This recipe ticks all of those boxes. It is Thai food in a bag, put together in minutes, sealed up with all those hot and sour flavours that makes Thai food so great then simply steamed. And it is super healthy too. Great. I insist that you try it this week.

Thanks for all of your support and watch this space for a new website coming very soon...

Thai Steamed Fish
Feeds 4

4 pieces of white fish such as cod, haddock or pollack, approx 100g each
1 large or 2 small chillies, deseeded and finely sliced
1 thumb size of ginger, peeled and cut into thin strips
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
2 carrots, peeled and cut into thin strips
6 spring onions, sliced thin
Juice of 1 lime
4 tbsp Nam Pla (fish sauce)
100ml coconut milk
Fresh coriander
Sesame seeds

1 – Take a large piece of foil, enough to fold over the fish to form a bag with room at the top for air to circulate and the right size to fit into a steamer.
2 – Put the fish fillets onto the foil.
3 – Top each piece of fish evenly in layers starting with ginger, then garlic, chilli, carrots and spring onions.
4 – Drizzle over evenly the lime juice, fish sauce and coconut milk.
5 – Seal the bag firmly them place into a steamer. Steam for 10 minutes.
6 – Slit the bag and pour over hot noodles or Thai jasmine rice. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with fresh coriander and fresh lime.

Quince Cheese (Membrillo)

2010-12-30T09:48:00.004Z

Quince is an odd old fruit. Looking not quite like a pear or an apple, hard as a rock and almost inedible in its raw form, you would think it would sit in the 'pointless foods of the world' basket. But cook it like a jam and the fruit is transformed into a delicious paste/jelly that is simply sensational with good cheese, cold meats or a baste for a leg of lamb or even a fruity addition to a stock or gravy.

The Spanish have been using this technique since day one for their 'membrillo' and they traditionally serve it with their lovely sheep's cheese manchego. Cooked into a solid form like my version it becomes a quince 'cheese' and can just be sliced into chunks and served with the cheese board. Floral and sweet, it is a surprising addition and one that blows away most chutneys that usually make the cheese board.

It can be tampered with, and an addition of chilli can be a welcome to the sweetness of the quince cheese, or add the traditional spices of Christmas such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. A blob on top of some rice pudding is classy.

If you still aren't convinced, think of our traditional apple jelly and add a floral punch and a sticky, chewy almost fruit gum type chewiness and you have the quince cheese. Delicious.

Quince Cheese (Membrillo)
Makes 2 large wedges

2 large quinces
Juice of 1 lemon
Sugar
Optional spices such as a dried chilli, cinnamon stick, cloves and a little nutmeg

1 - Cut the quince into large chunks and take out the seeds. Leave the skin intact and add to a large pan with the lemon juice. If adding spices, put them in now. Cover with just enough water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30-40 minutes or until the fruit is soft.
2 - Over a bowl, pour the fruit into a sieve and using the back of a spoon, push the fruit through until all you have is the pulp left in the bowl. Measure out the pulp in a measuring jug then add the same quantity sugar.
3 - Pour back into the pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for anything between 1-2 hours, stirring regularly to prevent burning and sticking. The 'jam' will turn a deep orange colour and it is ready when you run a wooden spoon down the bottom of the pan and it leaves a clean line.
4 - Pour the 'jam' into lightly oiled moulds and leave to set. It can eaten immediately once cooled or it will keep covered in the fridge for 3-4 weeks. To serve, simply tip out onto a cheese board and slice into chunks.

Santa’s Special Christmas Granola

2010-12-16T20:23:00.003Z

Granola is one of those moreish cereals, all crunchy, nutty and oaty, that you usually eat straight out of the box as opposed to pouring it in a bowl like a conventional bowl of cereal. One of America's better food inventions, we love it with yoghurt and honey in the morning for a great kick start.

Instead of buying some of the commercial products, it is actually really easy to make your own. Mix oats, nuts, honey, a little butter, margarine or vegetable oil together and bake in a low oven and you have it. It is great to experiment with too, adding spices, fruit and different nuts to the whole mixture.

I've invented a lovely Christmas tinged granola which hits healthy highs with the addition of pumpkin seeds. It will keep in an airtight container for 3-4 weeks so make a large batch now to feed your family with over the Christmas holidays.

Santa’s Special Christmas Granola

100g Oats
50g almonds, roughly chopped
30g shredded coconut
30g pumpkin seeds
Half tsp ground cinnamon
Half tsp ground ginger
50g butter or margarine
50g honey
50g dried cranberries
50g dates, roughly chopped
50g dried apricots, roughly chopped

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 160C/GM3.
2 – Stir together all of the ingredients except for the dried fruit in a large mixing bowl.
3 – Put the butter/margarine and honey into a small pan and melt.
4 – Stir this thoroughly through the dried mixture then spread out evenly onto a large nin-stick baking tray.
5 – Place onto the middle shelf and bake for 20-30 minutes, turning over every 10 minutes, until golden and baked.
6 – Allow to cool then mix in the dried fruit. Serve with natural yoghurt and honey.
7 - Keep in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Breakfast Pancakes

2010-12-04T08:57:00.006Z

There are so many reasons that I love being a dad. I feel an overall sense of being lucky when I think about it too much.

Cooking with Cerys has always been high on the list of 'why I love being a dad'. Ever since she was old enough to sit up straight without falling over, I have had her in the kitchen with me prodding, poking, tasting and smelling which have all evolved 5 years on to moulding, shaping, more prodding and poking and lots of tasting and smelling. It is invariably messy business and that of course adds to the fun. This is education of the highest order, mixed with a lot of love and giggles.

One of our weekend treats are homemade pancakes. Not the thin ones you usually eat on Shrove Tuesday. I'm talking about the thick American pancakes, almost like a flat spongy cake that can soak up anything you add to it, whether that is butter and honey or the grease from a few slices of crisp bacon.

They are incredibly easy to make, 5 minutes from start to plate, just a cup of milk, flour and eggs. But the best bit is of course the sense of sharing with your children, giving them that responsibility and inevitable sense of pride once they have achieved a few of these magnificent breakfast pancakes. Feel free to experiment with flavours, such as adding a sprinkle of cinnamon or perhaps some lemon juice and sultanas. We like ours plain and simple, just like us.

Breakfast Pancakes
Makes 12

1 tea mug of self-raising flour
2 eggs
1 tea mug of milk
1 grated apple or pear
1 pinch of cinnamon
25g melted butter

1 - Tip the flour into a mixing bowl.
2 - Make a well in the middle of the flour and crack the eggs into it.
3 - Pour in the milk a little at a time whilst stirring. You are looking for the pancake batter to be the consistency of thick paint.
4 - Finally, stir in the fruit and spice (optional).
5 - Melt a little butter in a non-stick frying pan. Wipe clean with kitchen towel then add 2 tablespoons of the batter per pancake. Watch it carefully until small holes appear on the top of the pancakes, then it is time to flip. Cook for a further minute until golden brown then serve with your accompaniment of choice.

Cajun Bean Soup

2010-11-27T13:32:00.004Z

It's snowing! And of course with that, it's freezing, and I need feeding when I'm cold.

I love 'big' soups at this time of the year. None of your thin, texture-less efforts please. I want big chunks of meat and vegetables, a soup you can stand your spoon up in, almost like a meal in a bowl.

Soups are simple to knock up and this spicy Cajun spiced one is no exception. Delicious, healthy, filling and sustaining, it's just what you need when walking into the house with an inch of snow on your head. Eat with crisp tortilla chips and a spoon of yoghurt.

Cajun Bean Soup
Feeds 4

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 carrot, cubed
1 celery stick, cubed
1 red pepper, deseeded and cubed
1 tbsp Cajun seasoning or 1 tsp each of cumin, ground ginger and dried thyme and a pinch of chilli
Juice of 1 lemon
1 large potato, peeled and cut into chunks
1 400ml tin of tomatoes
300ml vegetable stock
1 tin of red kidney beans
A handful of green beans, sliced into chunks

1 - Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook for 5 minutes until starting to soften. Add the garlic and pepper and cook for a further 5 minutes.
2 - Add the spices, potato, tomatoes and stock and bring to the boil. Turn down and simmer for 15 minutes until the potato has softened.
3 - Add the beans for the final 5 minutes. Squeeze in the lemon juice.
4 - Taste for seasoning. Serve with yoghurt and tortilla chips.

Spiced Pickled Beetroot

2010-11-20T09:51:00.003Z

Alongside the potatoes, this year's debut allotment project has also produced bumper crops of beetroot.

Beetroot are an acquired taste. Boiled to submission, they can retain all of the character of a Saturday night singing contest. However, roasted slowly to tease out the sugars makes for a unique vegetable that sits perfectly alongside your Sunday roast or simply diced and tossed into a cold pasta or rice salad.

They are probably more used to the pickling treatment in this country. This process can demolish the beet's subtle flavours but when you have more beetroot than you can juggle with, sometimes the pickling jars are the only option. I've devised a simple spiced version with a balanced flavour of sweet and sour. Placed in between two doorsteps of bread with a hunk of strong Cheddar cheese, it helps make arguably one of the best sandwiches in the world.

Spiced Pickled Beetroot
Makes approximately 4 large jars

8 whole beetroot
Olive oil
500ml malt vinegar
200g caster sugar
4 whole chillies
4 bay leaves
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1 tsp salt
4 large picking jars

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 180C/GM4. Clean the beetroot and place into a square of foil. Drizzle with a little olive oil, wrap thoroughly then place onto the middle shelf and bake for 2 hours. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
2 - Sterilise your jars by placing into a warm oven for 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
3 - To make the pickling liquor, place the vinegar, sugar, chillies and spices into a large pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes then remove from the heat.
3 - Peel the skin from the beetroot. Slice thickly then place equally into the jars. Pour over the spiced pickling liquor and share out the chillies and spices. Seal and put into a cool dark place for at least 2 weeks to allow the flavours to develop before eating.

The Best Christmas Cake

2010-11-15T19:04:00.005Z

It's less than 6 weeks until Christmas Day and right now it is time to start getting that cake done. I post this recipe up each year as it is much requested and is officially the best Christmas cake in the world.

It is a tried, tested, tweaked, tested then tweaked again recipe. It is moist, fruity, not too boozy and has added chocolate, coffee and orange that leaves Christmas cake haters new converts to this indulgent cake.

If you can handle the alcohol, ‘feed’ your cake every 2 weeks with a shot glass of brandy or whisky. A few knitting needle holes will help the booze soak into the rich concoction of fruit, sugar, cocoa, orange and coffee. Wrap it tightly in greaseproof paper and foil and keep in an airtight cake tin.

What helps too is if you make it a family affair, and my daughter doesn't need too much encouragement to get stirring, dropping the odd 'gold coin' in and of course, the ubiquitous licking of bowl and utensils. So get mucking about in the kitchen with the kids this weekend and knock up a Christmas cake to beat all Christmas cakes.

The Best Christmas Cake

200g dark muscovado sugar
100g honey
250g butter
100g each of raisins, currants, sultanas, dried figs and dried prunes, roughly chopped
1 espresso cup of coffee
A large splash of brandy or whisky
Tablespoon of mixed spice
Zest and juice of an orange or 2 satsuma, tangerines or clementine
1 tbsp of cocoa powder
3 large eggs
100g plain flour, sifted
150g ground almonds
Teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda
Salt

1 - Preheat the oven to 160C, GM3. Grease and line a 22cm spring form cake tin.
2 - Melt the butter and sugars in a large pan then add the fruit, coffee, brandy or whisky, spice and honey. Zest and juice the oranges and add along with the cocoa powder. Stir until dark, caramelised and fragrant.
3 - Beat the eggs and add to the mixture along with the flour, ground almonds, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt. Fold in thoroughly until not a trace of flour is left.
4 - Pour into the prepared cake tin, top with a round of buttered baking paper and bake on the middle shelf for 1 hour 45 minutes or until a knitting needle inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Apple, Bramble and Muesli Crumble

2010-10-29T10:07:00.003+01:00

I'm a sucker for a freebie, who wouldn't be? Those lovely purveyors of sugar, Tate & Lyle, recently sent me a few bags of their Fairtrade sugar which was gratefully received by yours truly.

When the weather is drawing in and hats, scarves and gloves are being donned more often, nothing beats a good pudding to warm the soul and make you feel all cosy and happy.

The humble crumble, in all of its sweet, chewy and fruity beauty, seems the perfect choice for our British importers of sugar. It is a British classic and without the likes of Tate & Lyle, we probably wouldn't be taking our favourite sweetener for granted as much as we do. If you want to find out a bit more as to how it ends up in our cupboards, visit their website.

So here you go, a simple crumble with a little twist. Serve it with custard, cream or yoghurt. Either way, it takes some beating.

Apple, Bramble and Muesli Crumble
Feeds 4

1kg bramble apples, peeled, cored and cut into thick slices
300g brambles
150g Tate & Lyle caster sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
A pinch of ground ginger and cinnamon

For the crumble
300g good muesli with lots of oats, nuts, seeds and dried fruit in it
A pinch of ginger and cinnamon
150g butter
75g Tate & Lyle light brown sugar

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 200C/GM6.
2 - Put the apple slices, lemon juice, sugar and spices into a pan. Bring to the boil then simmer for a few minutes until the apples soften a little. Stir in the brambles.
3 - Butter an oven-proof dish. Tip in the fruit mixture.
4 - In a mixing bowl, mix together the muesli, spices and sugar. Using your fingers, mix in the butter so that you have almost large chunks of muesli. If it seems too dry, mix in a little more butter.
5 - Pour on top of the fruit and gently shake to level. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the topping is golden and crisp and the purple coloured sugary juices are bubbling around the sides.

Sloe, Sloe, Quick Quick, Sloe

2010-10-24T10:12:00.007+01:00

Amongst the many pleasures of this fine season of autumn is the plundering of free food. And by that, I mean getting wrapped up and scouring the hedgerows, fields and trees of the English countryside.

October and November is sloe berry picking time, and each year for as long as I can remember, my family and I have braved the spiny thorns of the blackthorn shrub to gather in our favourite boozy berry. I call it a boozy berry as they are only good for one thing, and that is being laced with sugar and alcohol and left to allow it to slowly release its subtle flavour into your booze of choice. Taste one raw and your face will scrunch up akin to a bulldog chewing a wasp. But take my word for it; this most acrid of berries can turn alcohol into liquid gold.

I like to go for two or three options, with gin always a certainty. Vodka is probably a better option that gin as it is a flavourless liquid and you actually get more of the sloe flavour from it. Brandy can also be a fine choice. Whatever you decide, the quantities remain the same. For every 2 kg of fruit you need 1 kg of sugar and 3 litres of alcohol. Once you have carefully washed and picked the berries, allowing for the odd baby snail, prick the berries and tip into a demi-john or a large sealable container. I freeze mine for a week then defrost which means that the skins naturally burst. Then tip on the sugar and alcohol, shake several times to break down the sugars then put away in a dark place for a few months, shaking around every week or so.

6 months is the recommended time before pouring through muslin into clean bottles, but mine rarely lasts past Christmas Eve before being sampled. Warming and reassuringly comforting in the knowledge that you made it yourself, sloes are the quiet champions of the autumn harvest.

Beef and Root Vegetable Stew with Herb and Mustard Dumplings

2010-10-04T20:04:00.003+01:00

Autumn is finally here in the UK and for me, it is the finest of seasons. The nights may be getting darker, the weather is certainly getting colder, but it all adds to the cosiness of a season that I always anticipate.

When it comes to comforting food, this is the season to eat; hot stews and casseroles, filling sticky puddings and hot custard, steaming oat porridge with syrup. These are the foods of the North East England Gods and I champion every single one of them.

The slow cooker comes into its own during these frugal and busy times and it sits there begging for yet another meaty stew to help fill the house with mouth-watering smells to come home to each evening. Some decent chunks of braising beef, lots of root vegetables, woody herbs and a slosh of red wine and stock are all that is required to make a heavenly stew. And if you can top it with some dumplings, an invention born to stick to your insides and fill the most rumbling of tummies, you can guarantee smiles on faces all round. Enjoy the seasons.

Beef and Root Vegetable Stew with Herb and Mustard Dumplings
Feeds 4

2 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
800g braising beef cut into large chunks
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 handful of roughly chopped thyme or 1 tbsp dried thyme
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 heaped tbsp seasoned plain flour
250ml red wine
250ml beef stock
4 carrots, peeled and sliced into thick chunks
2 leeks, sliced into large chunks
1 small swede, peeled and cut into chunks

For the dumplings
200g self-raising flour
100g margarine or butter
1 tbsp English mustard
4 tbsp chopped chives, thyme and parsley
Salt and pepper
Water

1 - Pre-heat the slow cooker or the oven to 160C/GM4.
2 - In a large pan or casserole dish, heat up the oil. Add the beef and fry quickly to seal all over. Remove with a slotted spoon.
3 - Add the onion and cook for a further 5 minutes. Return the beef and stir in the herbs and tomato puree. Sprinkle in the flour and stir for 1 minute.
4 - Add the wine and stock and bring to the boil. Add the vegetables then either pour into the slow cooker or place the casserole dish into the oven.
5 - If cooking in the slow cooker, cook on a low setting for 5-6 hours. If cooking in the oven, cook for 2- 2 and a half hours, checking every hour to see if the liquid is sufficient.
6 - To make the dumplings, run the flour and margarine together then stir in the mustard, herbs and a little salt and pepper. Pour in enough water so that when mixed with hands you have a soft sticky dough. With floured hands form walnut sized balls.
7 - For the final 45 minutes cooking time, place the dumplings on top of the stew and cook until plump and cooked through.
8 - Taste for seasoning. Serve with seasonal greens.

Herbed Chicken with Roasted Roots and Borlotti Beans

2010-09-18T13:50:00.001+01:00

Herbed Chicken with Roasted Roots and Borlotti Beans
Serves 4

For the chicken
4 chicken breasts, fillets removed
2 egg whites
75g Oat Bran or breadcrumbs
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp chopped fresh or dried thyme
25g Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and pepper
Olive oil spray

For the vegetables
2 beetroot, peeled and chopped into 1 inch cubes
2 turnips, peeled and chopped into 1 inch cubes
4 carrots, peeled and sliced thick
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lemon
1 tbsp caraway seeds
2 tbsp chopped mint
2 tomatoes, diced
Salt and pepper

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 200C/GM6. Place all of the chopped vegetables into a baking tray, scatter over the caraway seeds, season with salt and pepper, drizzle over the oil and squeeze on the lemon. Mix it all together and roast on the middle shelf for 30 minutes, checking now and again that it isn’t starting to burn.
2 – Put the chicken breast between a large slice of non-stick baking paper. With a rolling pin, flatten the breasts slightly.
3 – Put the egg whites into a bowl. In another bowl, mix together the Mornflake Oat Bran, lemon zest, thyme, Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper.
4 – Dip the chicken breasts into the egg white, shaking off any excess, then cover liberally in the oat bran mixture. Put onto a non-stick baking tray, spray lightly with olive oil spray then bake on a high shelf for 20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
5 – Take out the roasted vegetables and tip in the tomatoes, beans and mint. Season and mix together.
6 – Serve the chicken breasts sliced on top of a pile of roast vegetables and beans with a side serving of pasta tomato sauce blended until smooth and heated through.

Golden Salt and Pepper Pumpkin Seeds

2010-09-04T17:38:00.003+01:00

Having just plundered an early fat pumpkin from the allotment and chopped it up ready for a Thai curry this evening, it got me thinking about one of the true food crimes people up and down the country commit - throwing away those precious pumpkin seeds.

You sometimes see chefs on television doing it and I can guarantee that some of my readers will admit to it, but throwing away those seeds are a big mistake. Roasted with a little oil and tossed in salt and pepper, perhaps a little chilli and lemon, they make for a delicious snack with a cold beer or an accompaniment to the food you are cooking, whether that is the Thai curry I'm about to have or with slices of roast pumpkin for your evening meal.

Fresh from the pumpkin, they are still coated in a little flesh and cooked for barely 10 minutes, they turn all lovely, crunchy and caramelised. Packed with protein and minerals, they are also really good for you. So do yourself a favour the next time you are slicing up a squash or a pumpkin and toast those seeds to golden perfection for an irreplaceable easy food.

Golden Salt and Pepper Pumpkin Seeds

Fresh pumpkin or squash seeds
Sunflower oil
Salt and pepper

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 160C/GM4.
2 - Put the seeds onto an oven tray and toss in a couple of tablespoons of sunflower oil. Place onto the middle shelf and roast for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
3 - Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly, then pile into a bowl and toss with salt and pepper, or experiment with your herbs and spices. Delicious.

Warm Potato, Bacon, Leek and Caper Salad

2010-08-29T13:26:00.006+01:00

Things became slightly exciting down at the allotment this week as we unearthed a large amount of an unusual potato that we planted earlier this year.

One of my most favourite potatoes, and certainly one that you never see in the huge superstore near me, is the pink fir apple potato. Distinctive by its nobbly exterior and ever so slight pink shady skin, this is a salad potato with style. You hear people describe certain potatoes having a 'nutty' taste. The pink fir apple is nutty and creamy, absolutely perfect for those first warm salads of the year.

So I now have my own pink fir apple potatoes, a potato that you simply cannot find in the superstores. If you do find some, and I encourage you to seek an alternative such as this to the usual floury white potatoes, you will understand why I'm easily pleased.

Warm Potato, Bacon, Leek and Caper Salad
Feeds 2

10 pink fir apple potatoes
2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
4 rashers of un-smoked middle back bacon, trimmed and cut into strips
1 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
1 large or 2 small leeks, trimmed and sliced into 1 cm chunks
A couple of handfuls of baby spinach leaves
A handful of fresh chives and parsley, chopped

For the dressing
A handful of capers, rinsed
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp white wine or cider vinegar
2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
Freshly ground pepper

1 - Scrub the potatoes then place into a pan of cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until just cooked through. Drain and allow to cool.
2 - Half the potatoes. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan and place the potatoes in, cut side down. Cook for 5-10 minutes until golden brown, then turn and cook the other side.
3 - Heat a little more oil in a separate pan and add the bacon and leeks. Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes until cooked and golden.
4 - Throw in the spinach and quickly toss in the heat of the pan until slightly wilted.
5 - Mix together the salad dressing ingredients in a bowl.
6 - Arrange the salad onto a plate along with the fresh herbs and a good drizzle of the dressing.

Onion and Roast Garlic Soup

2010-08-11T15:58:00.002+01:00

Happy days at the allotment recently when we plundered the first vegetables that were planted, the onion and garlic.

I can remember putting my onion and garlic sets in back in November when the allotment still resembled a council tip. We were optimistic, what with the forthcoming winter in store, but our onions and garlic survived quite spectacularly, producing fat vegetables that now hang proudly in our shed ready for the coming months.

I've noticed pungency and flavour in these onion and garlic like I have never tasted before. And for me, the ultimate of all recipes to show off our plucked beauties were in a classic French onion soup. I adore this soup so much and for some reason, it works in the hot months just as well as the cold. Maybe that is because it reminds me of lazy carefree summers in Brittany, but either way it is a soup that must be made and devoured.

A whole bulb of my deep purple garlic, roasted until sweet, just took the flavour levels up a notch and guaranteed a soup to banish any lingering cold bugs as well as the odd vampire. Served with simple toasted bread, rubbed with a clove of garlic and drizzled with olive oil, is all that is needed for that most majestic of onion celebrating dishes. Alternatively, if you want to be all traditional, top with a slice of crusty white bread, pile on grated Gruyere cheese and place under the grill until golden and melting.

Onion and Roast Garlic Soup
Serves 4

1 whole bulb of garlic
Olive oil
25g butter
6 large fat onions, peeled, halved and sliced thin
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
2 tbsp flour
800ml hot beef stock (fresh or from cube)
Salt and pepper

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 200C/GM6. Place the whole unpeeled bulb of garlic into a square of foil. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap tightly. Place on a baking tray and roast for 1 hour until soft. Remove and allow to cool. Squash out the cloves onto a plate then mash with a fork. Set aside.
2 - In a large pan, heat up the butter with 2 tbsp olive oil. Add the onions and cook gently for 30-45 minutes, stirring regularly to help tease out the sugars and make it all golden and caramelised. You can add a teaspoon of sugar to help it along if time is against you.
3 - When caramelised, add the thyme and stir through. Stir in the flour and stir for 2 minutes.
4 - Add the hot beef stock and stir thoroughly. Stir in the mashed roasted garlic. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning then serve.

Sussex Pond Pudding

2010-07-27T13:04:00.001+01:00

Puddings, Great British puddings, are a thing close to my heart. You may or may not have read my past ramblings on our puds, but it is something I can't speak about without excitement. I want to shout each and every pud that we have created from the rooftops and demand that that they return to our menus; jam roly poly, treacle puds and spotted dick to name a few.

British puddings are rarely elegant. No thin crispy wafer like pastry, no towers, and no quenelles. Our puds are tummy fillings monsters that banish any lingering hunger within a few mouthfuls. Usually smothered in delicious creamy custard (hopefully home made; quicker and far more delicious that waiting for a kettle to boil before pouring onto powder), it takes a brave man to face a bowlful immediately after a full Sunday roast.

This is the Sussex Pond Pudding. Not only does this pudding have a brilliant name, it is also delicious and a great conversation point when served at the table. Cut into a Sussex Pond Pudding, and you are met by a whole lemon. This lemon has been steamed in a rich suet crust for hours on end along with some butter and sugar to create a heavenly zest packed sauce, or 'pond'.

Any foreign friends who are reading this who harbour a suspicion of our tummy busting puds, I beg you to give this one a go. It will hopefully indicate that we Brits hide subtle beauty behind a wall of suet pastry. And also that we make the best puddings in the whole wide world...

Sussex Pond Pudding
Serves 4

200g self-raising flour
A pinch of salt
100g shredded suet, normal or vegetarian
Water
150g cold butter, cut into small cubes
150g demerara sugar
1 large lemon, pricked all over with a sharp knife

1 - Butter a medium pudding basin. Place a steamer onto boil then lower to a simmer ready to place the pudding in.
2 - In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, suet and salt, then pour in enough water to form a firm dough when mixed.
3 - Roll out onto a floured surface and roll into a disc just larger than the bowl. Cut out one quarter of the pastry to use as a lid. Line the pudding basin with the dough, wet the seam where it was cut and press to seal. Trim off the top just above the rim of the bowl.
4 - Take the cut off dough and roll until slightly bigger than the bowl. Cut into a rough circle.
5 - Place half of the butter and sugar into the bottom of the dough, place the lemon on top then put the remaining sugar and butter onto the lemon.
6 - Place on the pastry lid, wet the edges then press down the edges of the pastry until well sealed.
7 - Take a large piece of foil and fold in half. Butter one side then form a pleat in the middle by folding over slightly twice. Place this over the bowl then tie securely with a piece of string.
8 - Place into the steamer and steam for 3 and a half hours.
9 - When cooked, turn up onto a plate and serve with custard or cream.

Tomatoless Beef and Squash Curry

2010-07-16T10:50:00.004+01:00

I've a friend who has certain food allergies. Not many, but there are some key foods that are a certain no that seem to be commonplace in a lot of food that I cook.

One of them is the tomato. He has to be the only person I know that can't eat this fruit which is evident in everything from soups to casseroles. So one evening during the World Cup it was a challenge to invent something I had never attempted before; a tomatoless curry.

I've a great recipe which uses yoghurt as the main base for the sauce but even that uses tomato paste to colour and flavour. Thinking along the same lines, the curry I ended up with uses a rich paste of onion, garlic, chilli and ginger, lots of Indian spice and tamarind pulp, a sweet and sour fruit available in good Asian stores and one heavily used in Keralan food in south India.

The verdict? For something so simple and easy to make, it was delicious; hot, pungent, spicy and slightly sweet, the tomato wasn't missed one bit and it completely took me by surprise, becoming one of the best curries I've ever made. Try it this weekend, it will put smiles on faces, even ones with certain food allergies.

Tomatoless Beef and Squash Curry
Feeds 4

2 onions, peeled
1 thumb size of ginger, peeled
6 cloves garlic, peeled
1 red chilli, deseeded
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
2 bay leaves
600g stewing beef cut into large chunks
1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and sliced thin
200ml tamarind water (use concentrated tamarind paste)
Water
Salt and pepper

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 160C/GM3. Put the onions, ginger, garlic and chilli into a blender. Blend to a course paste.
2 - Heat up the oil in a flame-proof casserole dish. Add the paste and cook for 5-10 minutes until it begins to colour. Stir in the spices and cook for a further minute.
3 - Stir in the beef and thoroughly combine with the spiced paste. Cook for 5 minutes until the beef browns.
4 - Add the tamarind water. Stir and then stir in more water to just cover. Bring to the boil then place into the oven and cook for 2 hours. Check on the hour to ensure it isn't cooking dry. Add the squash on the hour. The finished product should have a light gravy rather than be watery. Continue to cook if it is too watery.
4 - Remove the bay leaves and taste for seasoning. Serve with plain boiled basmati rice, fresh mint and Indian breads.

Squid, Ham and Samphire Salad

2010-07-11T17:12:00.007+01:00

My lovely Geordie expat friends Iain and Gayle at Orce Serrano Hams recently sent me some of their amazing 16 month aged serrano ham. It is seriously good, everything you would expect from a quality meat that has been lovingly cured by these special people. I might be biased being a fellow Geordie but I beg you to get some ordered. You will not regret it.

Trying to do it justice in a recipe is another matter. Of course, the best way to eat such an amazing meat is to simply slice it off in generous slivers and consume with good bread, oil, olives and a gutsy Spanish red. But I couldn't resist the challenge of pairing it with something.

Thanks to the recent bout of hot weather, squid are being caught in their droves off our North East coast at the moment. And salty samphire, one of my highlights of the summer, is also in abundance.

A simple salt and pepper squid, crispy and hot, tossed with crunchy samphire, salty creamy ham and some sweet roasted peppers made for an excellent plate - a kind of surf and turf but more delicate - and I think it just did that sensational ham some justice. I'll leave that to the owners and your good selves to assess...

Squid, Ham and Samphire Salad
Feeds 2

1 red pepper or a jar of quality roasted peppers
1 medium squid, prepared and sliced into 1cm slices
2 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp plain flour
Salt and pepper
Sunflower oil
2 good handfuls of samphire
8 slices of Serrano ham

For the dressing
A handful of basil leaves
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

1 - To prepare the pepper, place directly onto your hob flames and using a pair of tongs, turn until it is black everywhere. Place into a plastic food bag, seal and leave to cool. When cool, remove the skin and seeds then slice into thin slices.
2 - Put the samphire into a bowl and pour over some boiling hot water. Leave for 1 minute, drain and cool under cold water. Drain and set aside.
3 - Fill a medium saucepan halfway with oil. Heat up. To test when it is ready, drop a piece of bread in. If it turns golden brown within 1 minute it is ready.
4 - Toss the squid in the flours, salt and pepper. Carefully lower into the oil and cook for no more than 1 minute when it will turn slightly golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
5 - Make a dressing by bashing up the basil in a pestle and mortar, stirring in the lemon juice and oil and seasoning.
6 - To plate up, arrange the samphire, roast peppers and squid on a plate then drizzle over a little of the basil oil.

Rhubarb and Orange Cake

2010-07-04T19:16:00.004+01:00

The rhubarb season is nearing it's end now and this year we have had more than our fair share from the allotment crop.

As our allotment had invented a new word for neglect before we got our hands on it, we thought that the existing plant would benefit from a few days in the dark to force new shoots. We ended up creating a monster, a rather delicious one at that.

Stems have been given away to eager family members week after week and still we have a drawer full in the freezer for the coming months. Stewed rhubarb for our morning cereal is always there and crumbles are a certainty each Sunday. It has been a happy year for our rhubarb.

This cake partners the sharp rhubarb with orange, an excellent pairing of flavours. Topped onto an almond and polenta based sponge, it is excellent served warm as a dessert with double cream or room temperature with a strong cup of tea. Either way, you are in for a treat.

Rhubarb and Orange Cake

200g butter
150g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
100g ground almonds
100g polenta
100g self raising flour
200g rhubarb puree, made by cutting the stems up, washing, putting into a pan with 75g sugar and simmering until soft.
Zest and juice or 1 orange

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 180C/GM4.
2 - In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Stir in the vanilla essence and then stir in the eggs one by one.
3 - Fold in the almonds and polenta. Sieve in the flour and fold in along with the orange zest and juice and 2 tbsp of the rhubarb puree until you have a soft batter.
4 - Pour into a lined cake tin with a removable base. Top with the remaining rhubarb puree. Bake on the centre shelf for 50-60 minutes until golden brown. If it starts to catch too soon, cover loosely with baking paper.
5 - Rest and allow to cool.

Lettuce and Mint Soup

2010-06-19T19:40:00.005+01:00

It's been a 'trial and error' year of growing so far in 2010. The allotment that masqueraded as a council tip is now up and running and bearing some resemblance to an allotment. It may not win any awards, but there are things growing out of the ground that we can actually eat as opposed to want to throw in a skip.

One of the first things I planted as seedlings were a whole host of lettuce, and by far and the most prolific to be coming to maturity are the majestic Cos or Romaine lettuce. We have been eating the long slightly bitter leaves for a couple of weeks now in an effort to keep it under control, which is no bad thing.

If you have never tried lettuce in soup form I urge you to give it a go. A whole Cos went into a simmering pot of stock with potatoes, onion and garlic and a handful of new mint to produce a smooth summer soup bursting with freshness and subtle flavours. And it took all of 20 minutes from chop to slurp.

Lettuce and Mint Soup
Feeds 4

1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, sliced
2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
6 small new potatoes, peeled and chopped in half
500ml vegetable stock
1 Cos lettuce, roughly chopped
1 handful of mint, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper

1 - Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook until softened.
2 - Add the potatoes and stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes until the potatoes are soft.
3 - Add the lettuce and mint and stir through for 1 minute.
4 - Blend until smooth and taste for seasoning.

Wild Garlic Bhajis

2010-05-03T16:43:00.003+01:00

It's that time of they year when the bizarre smell of garlic hits your nostrils when walking through woodland. Each year I completely forget that my favourite free food is available in large quantities in British woodland. And it is only when I'm walking, such as yesterday, and somebody like my daughter says, 'Can you smell garlic dad?', that I remember what I really should be doing.

With large fistfuls of stalks, leaves and flowers in hand, it was straight to the kitchen for some garlic related cooking. Wild garlic, or ramson, is much milder that the commercial bulb that we are used to, therefore it is perfect for giving your food a hit of flavour. A simple soup with potato is perfect for this delicate herb. Or bash it up with a little lemon and olive oil and it becomes a superb rub for a roast chicken, something which is currently filling my house with stomach rumbling aroma.

It is also a great addition to some spiced batter, which can be dropped into hot oil for some simple homemade bhajis. We impatiently stood around the pan whilst the smell of garlic and Indian spice smacked our nostrils, and then greedily devoured each one with some mango chutney. Hot, crispy, garlic and spice cakes; amazing.

So please do remember to responsibly pick a few handfuls if you see or smell some next time you are walking. It is free and delicious, just like some of the best things in life.

Wild Garlic Bhajis
Makes Lots

200g rice or chickpea flour (plain flour will be fine)
2 tbsp garam masala
Half tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
Salt and pepper
Soda water (plain water will do)
2 large handfuls of wild garlic, washed
Vegetable or sunflower oil

1 - Place the flour, spices and seasoning in a mixing bowl. Pour in the water and whisk until you have a batter that is reasonably thick but still wet enough to mix in the wild garlic.
2 - Roughly chop the wild garlic then stir into the batter.
3 - Heat a good few inches of oil for deep-frying in a pan. Drop in a piece of bread and if it turns golden brown within a minute, it is ready.
4 - Carefully place tablespoons of the mixture into the pan and fry for 5 minutes or until the mixture has turned golden brown. Cook in batches and drain on kitchen towel.

Chorizo and Cabbage Soup

2010-04-06T09:53:00.007+01:00

I recently took a call from a food business that wanted to know if I would take a few samples to cook with. It took all of a millisecond to make that decision.

Orce Serrano Hams are a very special cured meat business based in Orce, Andalucia. But rather than them being Spanish born and bred, the owners behind Orce Serrano Hams are thoroughbred Geordies, just like yours truly. Iain and Gayle did what we all dream of but dare not to do several years back when they packed up from the frozen north and left for foreign shores to follow a little dream.

They are now producing their own amazing Spanish hams such as the famous Serrano, as well as salchichon, pancetta, morcilla, and a full range of chorizo sausages of varying heat. Oh, and they run a nice little Blog full of authentic Spanish recipes. Their food is incredible and as a huge fan of chorizo, their own version is streets ahead of anything that I have tasted. The Orce Fire Chorizo is packed with intense paprika and cayenne heat. Rather that slice it and eat it as a tapas with a cold beer, I thought I would use it in a rustic soup, packed full of garlic, smoked paprika and crunchy cabbage and of course, chorizo sausage.

I want to congratulate Iain and Gayle for doing something that I'm sure most of us only wish we could do. They have taken risks to follow a passion and a dream and by the looks of the reviews I have seen, it is going places. Thanks for the samples and I hope that my soup does their special food justice.

Orce Chorizo and Cabbage Soup
Feeds 4

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, sliced thin
3 garlic cloves, sliced
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
2 sticks of celery, sliced
4 small chorizo sausages or 1 large (I used hot, any will do), sliced
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 litre chicken or ham stock
1 cabbage, halved, cored and sliced thin
Salt and pepper

1 - Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add the onion. Cook until softened then add the garlic, potatoes, carrots, celery and half of the chorizo. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring.
2 - Stir in the paprika, tomato pureee and red wine vinegar and cook for 1 minute, then pour over the stock. Bring to the boil then simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
3 - Stir in the cabbage then simmer for 10 minutes so that the cabbage still retains some bite. Taste for seasoning.
4 - To finish, fry off the remaining chorizo in a little olive oil until golden and drain. Serve the soup in bowls topped with the crisp chorizo and some crusty bread.

Chocolate and Orange Mousse

2010-03-21T21:08:00.004Z

In my humble repertoire of food entertaining, it seems that nothing pleases guests more than a good old chocolate mousse. And that has to be a major plus for the busy home cook. Simple to make and utterly delicious, a mousse never draws complaint.

The other plus is that it is a pleasant thing to eat for both children and adults and if my daughter is anything to go by, it is also a lot of fun to make. All elements of fun cooking with children are here, from smashing or cracking of eggs, to whipping up so that it sits over your head without giving you an egg white hat, to dripping messily into serving glasses and finally the ubiquitous licking of the bowl.

A couple of hours in the fridge and a dream dessert is ready and your little ones can claim glory. Try experimenting with flavours, adding grated orange or lemon, a spoonful of ground almonds, broken biscuit or toasted hazelnuts. Serve with or without cream.

Chocolate and Orange Mousse
Makes 4-5 glasses

200g 70% proof chocolate
50g butter
4 eggs
25g sugar
Zest of 1 orange

1 – Place the chocolate and butter into an ovenproof bowl and place into a pre-heated medium oven for 5 minutes to melt. Remove and mix thoroughly. Set aside to cool slightly.
2 – Crack the eggs and separate the whites and yolks into mixing bowls. Add the sugar to the yolks and beat with a whisk until frothy and paler.
3 – Whisk the egg whites until it will sit over your head without falling out.
4 – Grate the orange zest into the chocolate and butter mixture then mix in the sugar and egg yolk mixture. Quickly fold in a large spoonful of the egg whites then gently fold in the remaining until thoroughly mixed in.
5 – Drip spoonfuls of the mixture into serving glasses then put into the fridge for 1-2 hours until set.

Courgette Pakora

2010-02-14T09:04:00.005Z

If you are like me and adore Indian food, you might understand the one issue that I have with it.

When entering an Indian restaurant I'm usually hungry on the verge of cannibalism. I scan the starters and mentally choose everything on there, before settling for one with a mound of popadoms and a pickle tray. I then proceed to eat it too fast that the next thing I know, I'm picking over the main course.

The point I'm trying to make is that I love Indian starters. Samosa, pakora, bhaji, aloo chaat, Seekh kebab; you name them, I devour them. So much so that I would actually prefer to just have a table full of them and nothing else.

So this week I turned my hand to transforming a few courgettes into pakora, that little bundle of Indian spiced batter and vegetable that crisps to perfection and pops perfectly into one's hungry gob. They could not be easier to make and the best thing about it is you can make a table full of them with ease using a variety of vegetables. Everything from onion, courgette, aubergine and carrot works. Just remember to get out as much water as you can before frying to ensure crispiness.

Courgette Pakora
Makes lots

3 courgette, grated
100g rice flour
Half tsp baking powder
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp chilli powder
Salt and pepper
Fresh coriander, chopped
Vegetable oil

1 - Put the grated courgette into a tea towel and squeeze thoroughly to get as much water out as possible.
2 - In a bowl, tip in the flour, spices and seasoning. Whisk in enough water to form a paste that's the consistency of double cream and coats the back of a spoon. So not too thick, not too thin. Stir in the courgette and fresh coriander.
3 - Heat up a deep frying pan with vegetable oil. Test a pakora out by dropping in a small teaspoon if the batter. If it immediately begins to fry and turns golden in a minute, the oil is hot enough. Taste for seasoning.
4 - Fry heaped teaspoons in batches, draining on kitchen paper. Serve with fresh coriander and an accompaniment of yoghurt, pickles and/or chutney.

Asian Cabbage and Fish Noodles

2010-01-08T09:35:00.005Z

Happy belated 2010 readers.

2010 brought a milestone to yours truly's door on 1st January when the grand old age of 40 was reached. And looking at my tired, overindulged face and frame on that morning I certainly knew the day had arrived. Time to put things straight at the risk of another broken resolution, or just carry on as normal?

The new year is always a time of false starts and bruised beginnings and I for one am guilty of many a resolution that has failed to stand the test of time. And this year I've decided to skip it completely and carry on as normal. Why? Because I'm happy. Simple as.

One 'change' I will be making on the food front though is to consume more food from South East Asia. It is quickly becoming my favourite world cuisine by far, even surpassing my love of British puds and meaty casseroles. I adore the simplicity of the food that covers this vast continent that amazingly packs in so much flavour. Always hot, sometimes sour, usually salty with a little bit of sweet. It shakes you up from taste buds to toes and makes you feel happy to be alive. 40 or not 40.

This is one of those recipes that can be tweaked according to what vegetables that you have in your fridge along with any leftover meat for a weekend supper to please all. As in this recipe, crunchy cabbage and a piece of fish keep it light, fresh and wholesome. Add the heat of the chilli after serving to your little ones and it becomes family friendly.

Asian Cabbage and Fish Noodles
Feeds 4

1 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
1 tbsp onion seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 onion, finely chopped
1 thumb size of ginger, grated
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced finely
Half a large cabbage, sliced thinly
100ml water
2 fillets of salmon, sliced thin
A portion of cooked noodles
1 tbsp fish sauce (optional)
Milk of one coconut or 100ml coconut milk
Half a coconut, finely grated
Juice of 1 lime
A handful of fresh coriander

1 - Heat the oil in a wok and add the cumin and onion seeds. Cook for 1 minute until they crackle then add the onion, ginger, garlic and chilli. Stir fry for 2 minutes until softened.
2 - Add the cabbage and water, stir thoroughly, bring to the boil and place a lid onto the wok. Steam for 5 minutes until the cabbage has slightly softened.
3 - Remove the lid and stir in the salmon. Cook for 2 minutes then stir in the noodles, fish sauce, coconut milk, fresh coconut, lime juice and coriander. Heat through. Taste for seasoning - you want a nice blend of heat, salt and sourness from the lime.
4 - Serve in bowls with more fresh coconut, coriander and lime wedges.

Traditional Roast Turkey with Chestnut and Wild Mushroom and Oat Stuffing

2009-12-22T09:06:00.002Z

The holiday season is finally upon us and with three days to go it is time to start finalising shopping lists and beginning to prep for the feast.

I'm often asked what meat we have as a family on Christmas Day. The turkey has become the traditional bird to be eaten at Yuletide in the UK. Many years ago it was the goose with all of its rich dark meat and perfect roast potato making fat. The turkey was introduced to our shores from the Americas and due to its large yield in meat and value for money it fast took over the goose as the bird of choice.

It is worth having a change now and again and most game, such as pheasant and grouse, is more than suitable for the Christmas table. Duck and a top quality chicken or even a decent piece of beef are great replacements but this year I’m going for the good old turkey. With a superb supplier of the famous Kelly Bronze just down the road from where I live it would be foolish to not go for this great bird.

The turkey does have a reputation for being dry. There are so many different tips and techniques for supposedly keeping the bird moist but my foolproof technique is simple and non-fussy. The majority of the fat is on its back so roasting the bird at the same temperature on breast down should guarantee succulent meat. A traditional stuffing containing a little sausage meat, wild mushrooms and the turkey liver will add moistness to the bird.

Merry Christmas everybody and best of for 2010. x

Traditional Roast Turkey with Chestnut and Wild Mushroom and Oat Stuffing
Serves 8

1 quality oven ready turkey weighing approximately 6kg
1 onion, peeled
Salt and pepper

For the stuffing
1 tbsp olive oil
25g butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
150g wild mushrooms, finely chopped
A handful of fresh thyme, leaves stripped from the stalks and finely chopped
The liver of the turkey, finely chopped
300g prepared chestnuts, finely chopped
150g pork sausage meat
1 egg
100g oats
Nutmeg
Salt and pepper

1 – Ensure your turkey has sat at room temperature for 2 hours before cooking. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/GM4.
2 – To make the stuffing, heat the oil and butter in a frying pan. Add the shallot, mushrooms and thyme and sweat for 5-10 minutes until the water has evaporated from the mushrooms.
3 – Tip into a mixing bowl then combine with the remaining ingredients, seasoning with a little grating of nutmeg and salt and pepper. If the mixture looks too wet, stir in a little more oats a handful at a time until it stiffens.
4 – Stuff the neck of the turkey with the stuffing by loosening the skin around the neck and pushing the stuffing up towards the breast. Secure the skin with a couple of cocktail sticks or a skewer.
5 – Season the turkey all over with salt and pepper and place the onion into the cavity. Place breast side down in a roasting tin.
6 – Cook the turkey for the allotted cooking time (2 hours for a 4kg bird, adding 15 minutes per kg) turning the turkey breast side up for the final 30 minutes to crisp up the skin. To be on the safe side, buy a good meat thermometer and check the thighs of the bird for the correct temperature as per the thermometer.
7 – Remove from the oven and rest for 30-45 minutes. To make a simple gravy, skim off the excess fat from the roasting juices and add a glass of white wine. Bring to the boil and taste for seasoning.

Spiced Orange and Chocolate Stars

2009-12-08T07:00:00.005Z

Is it just me or is time flying by faster than ever? It seems like only a few months since last Christmas. The cupboard is now teetering with gifts that Santa has kindly left for us there, the cake is maturing in the cupboard, the turkey is ordered and the Stilton takes up a large part of our fridge. So it's a good job I love this time of the year.

What I love about Christmas is it is the one time of the year that we can indulge with a great excuse. It is refreshing that in this current world of 'celebrity' chefs, as well as health 'experts' who claim to know it all on our televisions telling us what we are doing wrong with our bodies, we can gorge to our hearts content without being tutted at.

I for one will be pigging out as usual and facing the consequences in the New Year when sensibility returns. It has already started if truth be known and at the weekend it was time for the nipper and I to get the pots and pans out and begin making jams, chutneys and edible decorations for the tree including Marron Glace and sugar almonds.

Some little orange and spice biscuits, thickly covered in chocolate and decorated with silver balls, now speckle our modest tree and make for a tempting treat each time you see it. Like anything edible sitting around the house, the difficult part is not eating them too early. But I reckon you could be forgiven for this. After all, it is Christmas. Go on, just the one...

Spiced Orange and Chocolate Stars
Makes lots

125g plain flour
50g rolled oats
125g butter or margarine
75g caster sugar
A pinch of baking powder
Zest and juice of one orange
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
A pinch of fresh nutmeg
100g dark chocolate
100g milk chocolate

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 180C/GM4.
2 - Tip the flour, oats, sugar, spice and orange zest into a large bowl.
3 - Melt the butter in a pan then stir into the dry ingredients thoroughly along with the orange juice. If it seems too sticky add a little more flour but you want a very soft dough.
3 - Roll out the dough until approximately 1cm thick. Using a star shaped biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits and place onto a greased baking tray.
4 - Bake on a high shelf for 8-10 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown and slightly risen.
5 - Cool on a wire rack.
6 - Melt the chocolates in an ovenproof bowl in the oven. Stir thoroughly with more zest of orange. Using two forks, gently toss each biscuit into the melted chocolate then drain on a wire rack until dry.
7 - Cover each biscuit in foil. Thread the biscuits with a needle and thread, form loops and decorate your tree.

The Best Christmas Cake

2009-12-02T08:08:00.004Z

Each year around this time in the calendar we have approached that most sacred of tasks of making the Christmas cake. And each year I post about it.

I'm a sucker for a good fruit cake. Whether with tea, coffee or something a bit stronger, it almost seems like the healthy option of the cake world and I fool myself that I can have huge slabs of it without any poundage being added to the waistline. The Christmas cake however can sometimes be a step too far for the cake lover, often being accused of being too rich, too heavy or too boozy.

Some years back I tweaked around with a recipe to come up with something that would suit the whole family: rich, but rich with succulent fruit; heavy, but heavy with mysterious spice, orange and cocoa; boozy, but boozy enough to just give you a hint of sharp brandy or whisky.

We all stir it, we all prod it, we all lick the spoon. And this year we went all traditional and threw in 3 silver coins. If my slice puts that pound back in my pocket I would still swap it for another slice. Thank the heavens that Christmas is almost here...

The Best Christmas Cake

200g dark muscovado sugar
100g honey
250g butter
100g each of raisins, currants, sultanas, dried figs and dried prunes, roughly chopped
1 espresso cup of coffee
A large splash of brandy or whisky
Tablespoon of mixed spice
Zest and juice of an orange or 2 satsuma, tangerines or clementine
1 tbsp of cocoa powder
3 large eggs
100g plain flour, sifted
150g ground almonds
Teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda
Salt

1 - Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C, GM3. Grease and line a 22cm spring form cake tin.
2 - Melt the butter and sugars in a large pan then add the fruit, coffee, brandy or whisky, spice and honey. Zest and juice the oranges and add along with the cocoa powder. Stir until dark, caramelised and fragrant.
3 - Beat the eggs and add to the mixture along with the flour, ground almonds, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt. Fold in thoroughly until not a trace of flour is left.
4 - Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake on the middle shelf for 2 hours. If the top looks like it is catching, cover with baking paper.

Toad in the Hole

2009-11-21T12:08:00.003Z

Toad in the hole. It's a recipe that most Brits have all eaten but probably have no idea where the name comes from. Don't ask me - I haven't got a clue.

If I had to guess, I would suggest that the image of a sausage poking its head out of crisped batter probably resembles a toad sticking its head out of a hole. After a few beers that is. Like I say, who cares? It is delicious, warming and comforting and that is what's important here.

Toad in the hole is a recipe I want to see in more restaurants at this time of the year, alongside shepherds' pie, steak and kidney pudding and chicken and leek pie. I've no ideas why more chefs are reluctant to put such fabulous food on their menus but it probably comes down to the image. Comforting British food such as these dishes seems so appropriate during the colder months and of course we make the best comfort food in the world. Don't we?

This is a simple family favourite that is ace for those cold midweek nights when the soul and tummy need cheering up. Serve with mash, greens and lots of onion gravy. Right now.

Toad in the Hole
Feeds 4

250g plain flour
A pinch of salt and pepper
3 eggs, beaten
500ml milk
3 tbsp sunflower oil
500g quality sausages

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 220C/GM7.
2 - Put the oil into a roasting tin and place into the oven. When the oil is hot, add the sausages and bake for 5 minutes, turning every now and again until beginning to brown.
3 - Put the flour, salt and pepper into a large bowl. Make a well and add the beaten eggs. Begin to whisk in the milk until the batter has the consistency of double cream.
4 - Remove the roasting tin from the oven then pour the batter in and over the sausages. Place back onto a high shelf and bake for 30-40 minutes until the batter is risen, golden and crunchy.

Slow Cooker Pork Curry

2009-11-11T19:57:00.004Z

As the cold nights set in and we don ever thicker socks and silly winter hats, we turn our thoughts to sustaining food that fills stomachs and warms the soul. Rich stews and broths, packed with chunky vegetables and barley, pulses and meat that melts in the mouth and fat dumplings to fill up any missed corners of the tummy.

I've embraced my slow cooker like an old friend this past few weeks. They are ideal for the busy household at this time of the year and they need not cost the earth. Mine was £7 and it does exactly what I want it to do.

I've perfected the art of the busy man getting tea ready at 7am. No softening of onions and garlic, no sealing of meat. I literally 'plonk' everything into the chamber, set it to the lowest heating and go to work. When I arrive home the house is filled with the aromas of something that you just know will do the job.

We have all had the sniffles of late (who hasn't?) and I always find that an onion, garlic and ginger packed curry of some form is a great antidote. And amazingly, all that pre-frying of onions and toasting of spices seems to have been an unnecessary 'cheffy' thing to do as the slow cooker way appears to work every time, making it a healthier option too. If you don't believe me, give this one a go and tell me if it didn't work. It is utterly delicious, fuss free and an absolute winner for the busy family.

Slow Cooker Pork Curry
Feeds 4

4 pork leg steaks
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 thumb of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cinnamon
Half tsp chilli powder
1 whole dried chilli (optional for heat)
1 tbsp ground coriander
3 cardamon pods, whole
3 cloves
2 bay leaves
1 tin chopped tomatoes
100ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 tbsp tomato puree
Salt and pepper

1 - Cut the pork steaks into large chunks.
2 - Place everything, and I mean everything, into the chamber of your slow cooker. Give it a good stir until thoroughly combined.
3 - Put it onto the low setting (6-8 hours cooking time). Let it cook.
4 - When cooked, taste for seasoning. Serve with boiled rice and fresh coriander.

Mini pumpkin and black treacle pies

2009-10-27T10:51:00.003Z

Hallow’s Eve is almost here and little ones up and down the land are getting excited at the prospect of free food in exchange for a fright.

Like any annual event in the calendar it is a great opportunity to have a party and as it is a child friendly time, they can get involved with the making as well as the eating. This year we will be making home made spooky pizza faces, wormy bug pasta and ghoulishly green apple and avocado smoothies.

The Americans are the masters of Halloween celebrations and they have used the pumpkin - something we usually simply carve out then throw onto the rubbish tip - to its full potential in a whole range of delicious pumpkin related recipes, including desserts. Pumpkin pie is a fabulous concoction of pureed pumpkin, sugar, cream and eggs and if you can get your head around the fact that there is a vegetable in the mix you will love it.

I like to use molasses packed sticky black treacle in mine, and they can be made into individual ‘pies’ for little hands by using mini pudding moulds such as in this recipe or jam tart cases. They are seasonal, delicious and frightfully fantastic. Happy Halloween kids.

Witches' Cauldrons
(Mini pumpkin and black treacle pies)

One pack of short crust pastry
500g peeled and chopped pumpkin
300ml double cream
100g muscovado sugar
3 eggs, beaten
3 tbsp black treacle
½ tsp ground cinnamon
A little ground nutmeg
1 tsp ginger

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 180C/GM4. Roll out the pastry then portion and line some mini pudding moulds leaving the edges overlapped. Put into the fridge to rest.
2 - Bring a pan of water to the boil then cook the chopped pumpkin until tender. Blend to a puree.
3 - Pour the cream into a pan then add the sugar and spices then heat up to just under boiling point.
4 - Pour in the eggs and whisk well, then add the black treacle. Stir in the pumpkin puree and pour into the pudding moulds.
5 - Bake for 25-30 minutes or until just set.

Bramble Ripple Ice Cream

2009-10-15T18:04:00.003+01:00

Autumn is well and truly here and you don’t have to look too hard around the hedgerows of the United Kingdom at this time of the year to find some free food.

It is such a great season for getting out with your children and doing a bit of food detective work. Plums, apples, pears and brambles are just some of the delicious fruit we have been plucking recently.

Brambles are a big favourite of my daughter. We make a day of it by donning protective gloves and collecting a few plastic bowls full before returning home to cook a multitude of dishes, from bramble pies, crumbles, jams and ice creams to sticky sauces for rich meats.

It’s free, fun and delicious, therefore making it priceless for the whole family.

Bramble Ripple Ice Cream

300g brambles
2 tbsp sugar
300ml double cream
200ml milk
4 egg yolks
100g sugar

1 – Put the brambles and sugar into a pan. Bring to the boil then cook gently for 5 minutes, crushing with a fork as you go. Allow to cool then push through a sieve and reserve the juice.  
2 – Put the cream and milk into a pan and bring to just under the boil.
3 – Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl then pour in the hot cream and milk. Stir then return to the pan on the heat, stirring all of the time. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon and cook on a low heat. The custard is ready once you can wipe a finger across the wooden spoon without the custard running.
4 – Allow to cool then pour into an airtight container and place into the freezer. Check every hour and stir with a fork to distribute the crystals. This can all be done in an ice cream maker of course.
5 – Once the ice cream is almost frozen but still loose enough to stir a fork through, pour over the bramble juice and lightly fold through. Return to the freezer to freeze through.
6 – Serve with fresh brambles and optional meringues.

Sloe Gin

2009-09-22T19:57:00.002+01:00

Last week's wild fruit horde was sweeter than ever for the simple reason that we brought home a huge amount of that acrid berry, the sloe.

Sloes are only really good for one thing and that is plonked in a jar or a bottle with a load of sugar and alcohol. In the raw form a bitten sloe can make even the most beautiful of faces turn inwards and cause children to run screaming. However, a long soak in sugar and booze and the true qualities show, permeating gin or vodka with unique floral flavour and smells making the risk of a nasty cut from its spiky home in the blackthorn bush all worthwhile.

I now wait patiently as the sloes sit in a demijohn in the garage doing what they do best. 3 months should do it but if you can resist it, the longer the marinade the better the flavour and a more intense, purple colour.

Sloe Gin
(Multiply the ingredients depending on your pickings)

1kg sloes
500g caster sugar
2 litres gin

1 - Wash and pick your sloes. Now the bit that causes debate. Do you spend an age pricking each berry to allow the juices to flow or do you freeze then thaw allowing the skin to burst naturally? It is up to you, but I bashed mine in a pestle and mortar and will sieve carefully when it comes to bottling.
2 - Pile into a sterilised demijohn or large clean bottles. Pour in the sugar and gin, seal tightly, shake well and place in a cool dark place. Give it a shake every week.
3 - After a minimum of 3 months, pour through a muslin cloth into clean sterilised bottles and it is ready to drink, however the longer you leave it the better it will get.

Wild Fruit Jam

2009-09-13T13:06:00.004+01:00

A day of plundering this weekend, and what a plunder it turned out to be. We sneaked over to our 'secret' sloe berry location anticipating disappointment after last year's wash out. And there before our eyes were bush after bush of the acrid berry that somehow transforms gin into liquid gold and, quite possibly, my favourite drink.

After plucking several kilos of sloes, the trip home became bonus time as we came across damsons aplenty. A quick shake of the branches and it rained wild plums onto our heads. Nature has more than made up for last year's harvest drought.

It helps to have a few little ones in tow when it comes to gathering fruit. Make sure they have some protective gloves on and away you go. With elderberries and brambles being thrown into the mix too, we eventually came home with more fruit than you can, erm, shake a tree at.

The sloe gin can wait until next week but the other wild fruit went into the pot for some loose jam ready for the yoghurt and muesli, porridge, hot muffins and one or two cakes and scones. There is something uniquely satisfying having made something almost for free and that pleasure doubles when you can have fun with your friends and family during the process. Happy days...

Wild Fruit Jam
Makes one large jar

1kg of wild fruit such as damsons, brambles, elderberries and sloes
200g caster sugar

1 - Put a couple of clean jars with the lids off onto a hot oven and heat through for 10 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave in.
2 - Put the fruit and sugar into a pan and bring to the boil. Give it a stir then fast boil for 10 minutes.
3 - Take out your hot jars then push the jam through a sieve into the jam jars. Put on the lids and once cool, refrigerate. The jam should keep for 4 weeks.

Peanut and Beef Curry

2009-09-04T07:52:00.005+01:00

The use of nuts in stews, casseroles and curries may seem unusual to some. However in West Africa, curries made using the peanut are common staple food.

I've used the likes of ground almonds in an Indian curry to thicken it but I was a little sceptical about using peanuts. But the result was nothing short of fabulous.

It is so easy to make. Whiz the main ingredients up in a blender to make a paste, fry it is a little oil with a few spices, add tomatoes, water and your choice of meat or vegetable then let it cook out. Thick, sweet, hot and the unmistakable hit of roasted peanut. The use of peanut butter is of course completely unauthentic and optional, but a tablespoon of the stuff seems to make everything more smooth and creamy.

You can serve this with just plain old rice but why not do as the Africans do? Boil your rice then form balls the size of golf balls using spoons or asbestos hands. You can do the same with left over rice too. Make them whilst they are cold then steam for 5 minutes until piping hot right through.

Peanut and Beef Curry
Feeds 4

1 onion, peeled
2 piece of thumbsize ginger, peeled
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1 red pepper, deseeded
1 red chilli, seeded or deseeded depending on how hot you like it
2 tbsp peanut or sunflower oil
3 large handfuls of peanuts
1 tbsp coriander seeds
3 cloves
1 Cinnamon stick
A little nutmeg
750g braising beef, chopped into large chunks
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
300ml water
1 tbsp peanut butter (optional)
Salt and pepper

1 - Put the onion, ginger, garlic, pepper and chilli into a blender and blitz to a puree. Pre-heat the oven to 160C/GM3.
2 - In a large dry frying pan, add the peanuts, coriander seeds and cloves and put onto the hob. Cook through for 5 minutes until fragrant, watching carefully that they are not burning. Bash to a rough powder in a pestle and mortar or use a plastic bag and rolling pin.
3 - Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the paste and cook for 10 minutes, stirring all of the time until slightly coloured. Stir in the spices including the cinnamon stick and cook for a further 2 minutes.
4 - Add the beef and heat through for 2 minutes until covered in the spice mixture thoroughly.
5 - Add the tomato puree, tomatoes and water. Grate in a little nutmeg. Bring to the boil then transfer to a casserole dish. Place in the oven for 2 hours, checking on the hour that it isn't cooking dry.
6 - Once cooked, remove the cinnamon stick, stir through the optional peanut butter and taste for seasoning. Serve with rice balls and warm flatbreads.

Salmon and Crab Chowder

2009-08-28T14:17:00.005+01:00

The weather has taken a distinct turn for the worse this past week and after having images of a scorching hot August we are all resigned to the fact that the hotter days are over.

Far from being the pessimist I actually prefer it when it is a little cooler anyway. Exercise and sleep become easier and I can put my legs away for another year, which is always a plus for family and friends.

Food becomes more sustainable too and I love a good homemade soup or broth. A chowder is more of a complete meal than a soup, a kind children's food for adults if that makes any sense, what with chunks of half processed solids floating in a liquid. My 4 year old loves the stuff.

They can take on many forms, using a multitude of vegetables but generally always containing sweetcorn. Smoked fish works particularly well with a chowder, as does shellfish such as clams, mussels and crab.

So if it is feeling a tad nippier where you are in the world, warm yourself with good chowder. It is simple to make, perfect for the whole family and makes you feel a little bit better if you are British and you suspect that sun catching is over for another year...

Salmon and Crab Chowder
Feeds 4

3 rashers of smoked bacon, sliced (optional)
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large potatoes or the equivalent in new potatoes, cut into 2 cm chunks (skin on or off)
1 medium tin of sweetcorn or the fresh kernels of 2 cobs
500ml hot chicken or vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
100ml crème fraiche or double cream
2 pieces of fresh salmon, skinned and cut into chunks
The brown and white meat of 1 crab
A handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper

1 - Heat the oil in a large pan and add the bacon if using, the onion and celery. Cook for 10 minutes until softened and beginning to colour. Stir in the garlic.
2 - Add the potatoes, sweetcorn, bay and stock. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.
3 - Take a handheld blender and blend for a short while until you have broken up some of the potatoes to thicken it, or remove half to a blender and do the same before adding back to the pan.
4 - Stir through the salmon and crabmeat and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the cream or crème fraiche and taste for seasoning. Serve with fresh parsley and some good crusty bread.

Devilled Mackerel with Tomato, Onion and Mint Salad

2009-08-12T18:49:00.005+01:00

An early start today with a 6am rendezvous on South Shields pier with a spinning rod and a shiny spinner. Mackerel season is in full force and I love this fish with a passion. Cheap, delicious and plentiful, it is the fish for frugal times.

Trying to catch them is another matter. They should be the easiest fish in the ocean to catch when they are in season. 3 hours of spinning and 2 dropped mackerel later, I packed away veritably fishless. But thanks to a very generous Graham Slesser and his daughter, the best fishermen in the world, and a couple more generous chaps alongside me, I came home heavy laden with 8 fat mackerel. And before you ask, and despite the temptation to pretend to be the caveman returning with his meat for the family, I told the truth to my girls.

Now to the treatment - devilled mackerel. A beautifully rich fish to eat, the combination of spices in this recipe cuts through the oiliness to create the most delicious of fish suppers. Devilling is a combination of 'British spices' from our East India Trading days, and our Victorian ancestors utilised this combination of cayenne, mustard, paprika and coriander to perfection. It needs nothing other than a simple salad of tomatoes, onions and mint and a few crisped potatoes.

This is typical Rick Stein grub, the kind of simple pleasurable food that gets both of us excited and one that I am proud to reproduce with a few tweaks from his 'Seafood Lovers Guide' for your pleasure. But the main thanks go to real fishermen, Graham and his daughter who despite fighting out a 2-2 draw became true champions in my grateful and greedy eyes...

Devilled Mackerel with Tomato, Onion and Mint Salad
Feeds 4

4x mackerel, gutted, cleaned and trimmed
20g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp English mustard
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp teaspoon paprika
1 tsp teaspoon ground coriander
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper

For the tomato and onion salad
4 onions, thinly sliced
1 small onion thinly sliced
A handful of mint
1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

1 - Heat a grill to high.
2 - Slash the mackerel skin at 1cm intervals from the head to the tail, ensuring you do not go through to the bone.
3 - Melt the butter in a shallow pan. Remove and stir in the sugar, spices, vinegar and plenty of salt and pepper to make a paste. Turn the mackerel in the paste ensuring it enters the slashes you made as well as the cavity.
4 - Transfer to the grill pan and grill for 5 minutes each side until blistered and fragrant.
5 - To make the tomato and onion salad, bash the mint in a pestle and mortar then stir in the olive oil, lemon juice and a little seasoning. Arrange the tomato and onion on a plate and pour over the dressing.

Off For a Dip

2009-08-02T18:05:00.003+01:00

If you have children and they are anything like my nipper, they will love the fact that berries of all kinds are sprouting up right now over the summer.

My girl adores strawberries and raspberries. Nothing new or surprising there then but it is a bonus for a parent on the dessert front if your wee ones love fruit. A simple dessert can be knocked up in no time keeping them happy and contented until bed time.

Another thing children like to do is get messy and nothing becomes messier than the fondue concept of dipping solid edible things into warm gooey liquid. It is also highly satisfying. Not just for the children but people like me who should know better.

Melt some chocolate in a low oven (a mix of dark and milk), perhaps stir in a little grated orange, scatter a plate with strawberries and marshmallows, hand out the toothpicks and let the fun begin. I don't even need to give you a recipe. Delicious, simple and something everybody should do at least once a week whilst the berries are here.

Smokey Pork and Pepper Stew

2009-07-27T09:53:00.006+01:00

"Tiiiime, is on my side, yes it is!” Mr Jagger once belted this out with his Stones, probably after realising how rich he was and reality hitting home that he probably didn't have to do anything else ever if he didn't want to. 40 odd years on they still keep ploughing on; I wish they would get the hint.

For little old me I too have, albeit briefly, time on my side for the first time in years. In September I'm off to fulfil what I should have done years back when I finally become a teacher. So until the hard work begins then, I'm taking it steady and enjoying my final weeks of freedom.

Aside from maximum time with the nipper, this freedom inevitably entails lots of food related activities. I've cleaned out the demi johns ready for some summer wine and champagne making and the jars sterilised for lots of jam making. And although quick suppers are still the order of the day, with lots of exciting salads hitting the family table, I can indulge more in some good old slow cooking.

Slow braised well worked joints such as shoulder, brisket and blade are being marinated in all kinds of herbed spiced sauces before cooking until melting point. Pork shoulder still remains one of my favourite joints to cook with and this meal, a kind of Hungarian goulash, remains a true family classic and the kids love it. A sauce containing plenty of char-grilled pepper, zesty orange and smokey paprika breaks down the meat seductively. You need time on your side and a little patience, especially when the tummy rumbling smells fills your home, but it is time and patience more than worth dedicating.

Smokey Pork and Pepper Stew
Feeds 4

6 red peppers
1-1.5kg pork shoulder, boned and skinned
1 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
1 onion, chopped roughly
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 tbsp paprika, smoked or un-smoked
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tin of tomatoes
Zest and juice of 1 orange
A pinch of chilli
Salt and pepper
2 handfuls of fresh parsley, roughly chopped

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 160C/GM3. Put the peppers straight onto the gas hobs and cook, turning regularly, until blackened. Pop into a plastic bag and leave to cool. When cool, remove the skin as best possible (don't be tempted to wash) and remove the seeds. Chop up into a pulp and put into a bowl with any smokey juices.
2 - In a large frying pan or flameproof casserole dish, add the olive oil then add the pork. Cook, turning regularly, until golden all over. Remove and keep aside.
3 - Add the onions then slice the remaining peppers and add them. Cook, stirring regularly, until softened and beginning to colour. Add the garlic, paprika and tomato puree and cook for a further minute.
4 - Add the tomatoes, zest and juice of the orange and a pinch of chilli. Taste for seasoning. Stir thoroughly then add the pork shoulder. Pour in water until it just hits the top of the pork. Stir again then put on the lid and place in the oven. Cook for 2 and a half hours. Check it is done by trying to prise open the meat with two forks. If it doesn't come apart easily put back in the oven for 30 minutes then try again.
5 - When cooked, separate as much meat as possible so that it breaks up into the whole stew. Taste for seasoning then stir in the parsley. Serve with plain boiled rice, a spoonful of yoghurt or soured cream and more fresh parsley.

Cherry and Ginger Cordial

2009-07-19T14:42:00.004+01:00

When we were kids I can vividly remember getting more than excited at the sound of the 'pop van' arriving in our street. My cousin Jannine and I would race out with the empties, swap them for a penny each and then choose our favourite pop to guzzle.

Jannine's was pretty much Cream Soda every time but for me it was Cherryade. Now I don't want to come across all northern and downtrodden but I think the closest I every got to an actual cherry was a bag of cherry lips (remember them?) and that artificial cherry flavour and colour seemed to pass onto the drink form perfectly. Those 70's summers were happy days for us and amazingly, the 'pop van' seemed to make it just that bit more special. We were easily pleased.

We don't get 'pop vans' these days and I can't remember the last time I saw any cherryade. That of course if probably a good thing. But you can simply make your own cherry cordial with a bag of juicy cherries that replicate the actual flavour of cherry as opposed to E287 and E992 which I drank in large quantities all those years ago.

The ginger in this 'cordial' is optional but adds an interesting heat. And from this you can make an instant sauce for duck, a filling for a sponge cake, a sauce for ice cream or the way I like to do it, in a glass with lots of ice and soda poured on top for a rustic home made cherryade. Push it through a sieve if you don't like 'bits' but sometimes life is just too short.

Cherry and Ginger Cordial

200g cherries, stoned
1 piece of stem ginger, roughly chopped
2 tbsp ginger syrup from the jar
4 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp water

1 - Put the cherries, stem ginger, ginger syrup, sugar and water into a pan. Bring to the boil then simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the cherries are really soft.
2 - Pour it all into a blender and blend until smooth then pour into a sterilised bottle. It will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks.

Indian Spiced Lamb 'Burgers'

2009-07-06T17:52:00.003+01:00

Continuing with the BBQ/Indian food theme (well, the weather continues to be good so why not?!) it's time to turn to that modern day and much consumed in various guises of foods, the burger.

Now the burger gets a hard time from the food police. Blamed for the continuing obesity 'crisis' that has hit our shores, burger bars and other fast food joints are being ganged up on one side from the 'you must be insane to eat in such a place you fool' lot and the doors battered down by the 'we don't care, we'll eat what we want thank you very much' gang. Agree or disagree with what amounts to be some minced meat, flattened, fried then stuffed in between a bun, there is no doubt the power of the thing. We bleedin' love 'em really don't we?

Me, I prefer to make my own, and with the BBQ out it seems foolish to not get 'squidging' with the nipper and form a few patties for the grill. Served once every few weeks with a decent bun, some salad and wedges and it becomes a balanced meal. Therefore I plead not guilty PC Food Snob. And so should you as long as you aren't living in one of the places. Enjoy.

Indian Spiced Lamb 'Burgers'
Makes 6 large burgers

500g quality minced lamb
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 thumb of fresh ginger, grated
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
2 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
A handful each of fresh mint and coriander
1 egg, beaten
Salt and pepper
2 handfuls of stale breadcrumbs

1 - Put the mustard seeds into a dry frying pan and toast until fragrant. Remove.
2 - Put all of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl them combine thoroughly with your hands.
3 - Form into your preferred burger size then grill or BBQ to your desired rareness. Or form around BBQ sticks and call them a shish kebab.
4 - Serve with toasted sesame seed buns, fresh salad and raita.

Tandoori Turkey Sticks with Mint Raita

2009-06-26T09:24:00.006+01:00

It has been absolutely scorching recently and our commitment to a British only holiday this year is appearing to be a wise choice if it continues like this. We risked getting the BBQ out yesterday. From the garage was wheeled the creaking cookery platform with distant memories of BBQs long gone still evident. A good scrub, some new coals and it was ready for some food.

Now I've always been a bit sceptical of BBQs of the British variety. Anything that gets a bloke who never cooks donned in a comedy pinny, lager in one hand and tongs in the other ready to tease a few economy sausages over the flames isn't my idea of culinary heaven. Put it this way; I've had a few close shaves in one or two smokefilled gardens over the years. And salmonella roulette isn't a game I enjoy too much.

Thankfully it was just the family around and it all turned out to be rather lovely if a little optimistic; 6pm in a small garden in South Tyneside is never going to be the Algarve no matter how you look at it. But a few sticks of tandoori turkey stuffed into warm flatbreads and smothered with cooling raita made for a nice introduction to, fingers crossed, good times to come this summer.

Tandoori Turkey Sticks with Mint Raita

1 tsp each of ground cumin, ground turmeric, ground coriander and chilli powder
4 ground cardamom pods
Salt and pepper
200ml natural yoghurt
Juice of half a lemon
500g turkey breast cut into chunks
4 wooden skewers, soaked in water for a couple of hours, or metal skewers

For the Raita
3 tbsp fresh mint, roughly chopped
Half a cucumber, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
200ml natural yoghurt
Salt and pepper

1 – Put the yoghurt into a bowl and stir in the spices along with a little seasoning and the lemon juice.
2 – Thread the turkey onto the skewers. Put the turkey skewers into a shallow dish and pour over the marinade, ensuring that it is covered. Leave to marinade for 2-3 hours or overnight in the fridge.
3 – To make the raita, mix everything together in a bowl with a little seasoning.
4 – BBQ the turkey skewers for 10 minutes, turning regularly, until golden and charred in places.
5 – Serve with chapattis or naan breads, plain or lemon rice and the raita.

Crab and Aubergine Spaghetti

2009-06-14T10:57:00.005+01:00

I can feel the anticipation already. Silver shoals of mackerel are now heading for our shores and the greediest, most delicious and easiest to catch of all fish will be getting caught using nothing more than a piece of foil on a hook by yours truly.

I've been fishing with my daughter recently in an effort to get her passionate about our nearby free food larder. Unfortunately the experience has been fruitless. Hopefully the bounty of mackerel we will soon be catching will make up for it.

The people in the know on South Shields pier reckon it will be another couple of weeks before they appear. So in the meantime I've been grabbing the odd brown crab, my favourite food by far, and making all kinds with their sweet meat. From crabby tatties to crab salads, not a week passes when I don't indulge in our classy crustacean.

Like the mackerel, they are cheap and sustainable and it is worth every effort buying live crabs, boiling and cooling then spending some time with the back of a small spoon extracting every last piece of creamy white meat from the body. And if you are lucky enough to get hold of some sea spinach, salty and packed with iron flavour, it will only benefit your crab themed plate.

Crab and Aubergine Spaghetti
Feeds 4

1 onion, roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic, sliced
1 aubergine, cut into roughly 1 cm dice
2 tbsp olive oil
4 anchovies, roughly chopped
A handful of black olives, stoned and roughly chopped
A handful of capers, rinsed
A handful of sun dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
A pinch of chilli flakes
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 400ml tin of chopped tomatoes
White and brown meat of 1 crab
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper
A couple of handfuls of sea spinach or baby spinach

1 - Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the onion, garlic and aubergine. Cook and stir for 5-10 minutes until they are softened and beginning to colour.
2 - Stir in the anchovies and cook until dissolved. Then add the olives, capers, sun dried tomatoes, tomato puree and tinned tomatoes. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes until slightly reduced.
3 - Stir in the crab meat and lemon juice and heat through for 2 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Serve stirred into spaghetti with spinach scattered on top.

Rhubarb and Custard Burnt Cream

2009-06-06T07:30:00.007+01:00

What does a man do with excess supply of rhubarb? Well, the sensible option is to of course eat it. Rhubarb isn't around for too long and like I said last week, you need to at least try to make the most of the seasonal vegetables and fruit that are now beginning to appear.

Rhubarb has long been subjected to the old crumble treatment and although there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, we usually stop there, wondering what else to do with this highly acrid vegetable that requires a good dose of sugar to stop your face disappearing into itself on eating.

Grated and stuffed into duck with some fresh herbs is a good place to start, sitting the bird on a few sticks as a roasting bed which makes superb gravy. A tart rhubarb puree perhaps with a kick of chilli makes for a great accompaniment to oily fish such as the soon to appear mackerel or sardines. Or you could always do what my mam used to do to us as kids and walk around with a bag of sugar and a stick of rhubarb and give yourself an unusual belly churning Geordie treat, the treat being 'Treat with caution.'

Rhubarb and custard is probably the simplest partnership and a nice way to transform this classic into an alternative dessert is to mix the two together, bake slowly in the oven then burn a little sugar on the top for a rhubarb and custard burnt cream, or crème brulée to the masses. I prefer the word 'burnt' in the description. If anything it may put people off eating it and leaving more of this delicious dessert for yours truly...

Rhubarb and Custard Burnt Cream
Feeds 4-6 people depending on size of ramekin

4 small sticks or 2 large sticks of rhubarb, washed and trimmed
50g sugar
200ml double cream
100ml single cream or full fat milk
3 large egg yolks
1 vanilla pod
50g sugar
Icing sugar

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 140C, GM1.
2 - Chop the rhubarb into chunks and place in a saucepan with a little water and the sugar. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10-15 minutes until broken up completely. Leave to cool then stir to a puree.
3 - Pour the creams into a pan. Spilt the vanilla pod and scrape in the seeds then bring almost to boiling point before taking off the heat.
4 - Beat the egg yolks with the sugar thoroughly, and then pour onto the hot cream, stirring all of the time. Fold in the rhubarb puree.
5 - Pour the hot custard into the ramekins. Place into an oven tray then pour enough hot water in to reach halfway up the ramekins. Cook for 45 mins-1 hour or until it is just cooked with a slight wobble when you shake them.
6 - Cool completely, place in the fridge then when ready to eat, sieve on a good layer of icing sugar and tidy up the sides. Use either a cook's blow torch or a hot grill to 'burn' the sugar to a crispy topping to smash your spoon through.

Bacon, Lettuce, Asparagus and Tomato Sandwich (The BLAT)

2009-05-27T11:43:00.004+01:00

I know that the old 'eat seasonal and local' phrase has become an over-used mantra to some people, and I also know that this philosophy is a difficult one to stick by when you are struggling with a large family and little money. So I choose to use it wisely and with caution when teaching; some people simply cannot follow the foodie idealist way of life and I can sympathise.

However, there are certain products that I feel so strongly about that I almost urge the nation to buy them when they are in season. Products that are in such abundance that you would be a fool to not make the most of their short window of growth.

At the moment asparagus and rhubarb are everywhere and I'm being given both of these vegetables on a regular basis from kind mates and family. I'm cooking with and eating rhubarb almost every other day and there are only so many crumbles a portly gent is allowed to consume in a week. So more rhubarb recipes, both sweet and savoury, will be appearing soon.

The best asparagus is almost at an end and this 'King of the vegetables' should be treated with great respect. My favourite way is to simply roast them in a little olive oil and balsamic and eat with a few shavings of Parmesan, Cheddar or crumbly Lancashire. Another great thing to do is team them up with some quality bacon in a kind of BLT or 'BLAT' which becomes a sandwich to beat all sandwiches. Probably the best sandwich in the world? I would say.

Bacon, Lettuce, Asparagus and Tomato Sandwich (The BLAT)
Feeds 2

4 pieces of thick white bread
8 asparagus spears, trimmed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
4 tbsp quality mayonnaise
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
8 slices of good smoked bacon
A handful of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil or 2 tomatoes thinly sliced
Lettuce leaves

1 - Pre-heat the oven to GM6/200C. Put the asparagus into a baking tray and toss in the olive oil and balsamic vinegar with a little seasoning. Roast for 10 minutes.
2 - Grill the bacon until crisp and golden. Reserve on kitchen towel.
3 - Lightly toast the bread.
4 - Mix the mayonnaise with the mustard and spread liberally onto the toasted bread.
5 - Layer the bread with lettuce, hot bacon, asparagus and tomatoes and devour.

Harissa Sauce

2009-05-14T14:25:00.005+01:00

We've recently been turning to ways of transforming otherwise bland leftover food into something amazing. In our fridge there are always airtight containers with last night’s rice, pasta, cooked vegetables, fish or meat in. Waste not want not is the mantra.

A great way of making, say, a load of cooked vegetables and cooked pasta taste good is to whack it all into a casserole dish, cover it in a good tomato sauce (hopefully one that you have made and stored in the freezer) top with a cheese sauce and cook until golden and bubbling. Or take your rice and combine with leftover chicken, lemons, cardamon and cinnamon and bake in foil for a lovely quick 'leftover pilaf'. I'll post that one up here soon.

I like to make sauces such as salsa verdé or 'green sauce', a strong, piquant sauce made from store cupboard ingredients that transform the blandest of meals into a thing of pleasure and beauty. A close second to that is harissa, a fiery North African sauce of red pepper and chilli that is so easy to make yourself and again, transforms the boring to the beautiful. Try it with fish or white meats, rice and salad. Make the most of your own little store in your kitchen and soon you will be a master of the leftovers.

Harissa Sauce

2 red peppers
1 large or 2 small red chillies, deseeded
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp paprika (smoked or unsmoked)
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

1 - If you have a gas hob, light 2 rings and place the peppers straight onto the flame. Using tongs, turn regularly until the skin is black all over. Pop into plastic food bags, seal and leave to cool. If you don't have a gas hob, rub in a little olive oil and roast in a hot oven until collapsed. Put into the food bags, seal and allow to cool.
2 - Once cooled, peel off the skin and discard the stalks and seeds. Pop into a food processor along with the chillies and garlic.
3 - Put the coriander seeds and cumin seeds into a dry frying pan and pan roast for 2 minutes until fragrant. Add to the food processor along with the paprika and lemon juice. Blend until smooth. Taste for seasoning.
4 - Pour into an airtight jar and top with the olive oil. This will keep for a couple of weeks in a fridge.

Rhubarb and Ginger Ice Cream

2009-05-08T10:25:00.001+01:00

I’ve always avoided buying an ice cream maker for one reason only. I reckon that I would make a new ice cream at least once a week and that would do nothing for the old love handles. Unfortunately I’ve found a way of making perfect ice cream that doesn’t involve an expensive ice cream maker.

We have been experimenting with different flavoured ice creams for some time now using the patient method of freezing your ‘custard’ in a sealed container and freezing, remembering to churn the mixture at least every hour to help the ice crystals evenly distribute. Pain staking and easy to forget, you inevitably end up with a solid lump that needs a good 30 minutes of thawing. No good when you have children demanding the fruits of their labour NOW!

Cerys and I took a load of rhubarb from the garden and stewed it in honey and stem ginger, a difficult task when you have a ginger addicted daughter trying to eat whole stems and licking the sticky syrup dribbling down her arms. Once cooled, I could safely hand the reigns over to the little one for stirring in yoghurt and cream before sealing and freezing.

And the magic bit? Blitzing it in a food processor to make the most perfectly smooth rhubarb and ginger ice cream. Don’t forget to reserve some of the pink rhubarb syrup to make your own ‘monkey’s blood’ as we Geordies affectionately call it.

Rhubarb and Ginger Ice Cream

300g rhubarb, cleaned and chopped into chunks
100g honey or sugar
3 stem gingers and a little syrup to taste, roughly chopped
150ml natural yoghurt
100ml double cream

1 – Put the rhubarb, honey or sugar and a little water into a saucepan. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10-15 minutes until the rhubarb has broken up. Allow to cool.
2 – Remove a little of the pink syrup with a tablespoon and reserve. Stir in the stem ginger and syrup.
3 – Put the yoghurt, cream and rhubarb into a large bowl and beat thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Pour into an airtight container and freeze until frozen.
4 – Remove and put into a food processor. Blend until smooth. Scoop into cones and drizzle on the rhubarb syrup.

Pastitsio

2009-05-01T12:29:00.007+01:00

One of the biggest problems I have as a dad and a cook is figuring out what to put on the family menu each evening. My worst fear is eating the same things all of the time. I want my daughter to try new things as much as possible but of course with work and timing issues that makes it all that bit more difficult.

Most families have the same problem and lots opt for the easy option of the ready meal. I'm not going to mock that but I will always say that just 15 minutes each evening prepping food is usually all that is needed to knock up a cracking family meal. Learning a few simple skills and getting cooking has to be the answer.

The other issue is money and we have to stretch out pennies wisely. So I'm always on the lookout for new no fuss family meals that will do the job. A quick look over the waters to countries such as Italy, Spain and Greece will give you a multitude of recipes that match these criteria.

Pastitsio is like a Greek Moussaka with pasta, a delicious combination of meat, spice, egg and cheese that feeds the whole family for less than a fiver. I'm sure my Greek friends who read this will no doubt pick me up on how unauthentic it looks but that is of little importance to the common man. Serve it with a big green salad and enjoy the simplicity of easy, inexpensive and great family food.

Pastitsio
Feeds 4

2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 celery sticks, diced
2 carrots, diced
500g minced beef
400g chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp dried oregano
100ml beef or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper
300g rigatoni pasta50g Parmesan cheese

For the cheese sauce
50g butter
50g plain flour
500ml milk
100g Cheddar Cheese grated
A little freshly grated nutmeg
2 eggs beaten

1 – Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan and add the onion, celery, carrot and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes until beginning to soften. Add the minced beef and cook for 5 minutes until browned.
2 – Add the tomatoes, tomato purée, cinnamon and oregano and stir through for 1 minute. Then add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 30-40 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Taste for seasoning.
3 – Boil the pasta according to the instructions then drain and set aside.
4 – To make the cheese sauce, melt the butter in a pan and add the flour. Stir and cook for 1 minute then gradually beat in the milk until you have a thick white sauce. Stir in the cheese and nutmeg then taste for seasoning. Finally stir in the eggs.
5 - Grease a large ovenproof dish with the butter. Spread one-third of the pasta over the base of the dish and cover with half the meat sauce. Add another third of the pasta and then the rest of the meat sauce then cover with a final layer of pasta. Spoon over the cheese sauce.
6 – Sprinkle over the Parmesan cheese and bake on the middle shelf for 40 minutes until golden brown. Serve with a simple green salad.

Pease Pudding

2009-04-21T16:46:00.006+01:00

The 23rd April brings what should be the English day of celebration in St George's Day. I often wonder how many of us English people will actually raise a glass to our patron saint as well as get stuck into a good old English meal. Not many I reckon.

Whilst we don comedy 'Guinness' hats for St Patrick's Day and have a 'wee dram' of the single malt stuff for St Andrew's Day, we all seem to forget our heritage when it comes to our special day.

Can we please bring it back oh folk of England? Can we please just retain some heritage and tradition and remember where we come from for one day of the year? I don't mean rampage down the street with faces painted destroying all in your way - we have enough of that around International footy day. I mean have some food and drink with your loved ones, feel positive about your heritage and be proud to be English for a change. I'm all for a multi-culturist society, love it in fact. But we should not be afraid to be proud to be English. Perhaps a bit of pride and a positive outlook is the key to this damned recession eh?

I'll be celebrating with some local food, pease pudding to be precise. I'm getting into making large batches of our most famed Geordie split pea concoction and freezing it for rainy days. I'll be simmering a load of split peas in a muslin bag along with a ham hock before toasting some stottie cakes, another one of our traditional foods, smearing liberally in English mustard and making the best ham and pease pudding butties in town. All washed down with a bottle of Jarrow Brewery Rivet Catcher.

You will have a load of local traditional dishes where you come from. As we don't seem to have one dish that describes our wonderfully diverse food in England, it's time to look local and knock one up for you and your family this Thursday. Enjoy it and tell the world that it's okay to be English.

Pease Pudding

250g yellow split peas
1 ham hock
1 onion
1 carrot
2 sticks of celery
2 bay leaves
A handful of fresh thyme
5 black peppercorns
Water

1 - Place the yellow split peas into a muslin cloth and tie securely. Place them along with the rest of the ingredients into a stock pan.
2 - Cover with water, bring to the boil then simmer for 2 and a half hours.
3 - Drain the split peas then mash with a fork or blend depending on how smooth or rough you like them.
4 - Serve spread thickly in buttered thick bread, slithers of ham hock and English mustard.

Fish and Pea Kedgeree

2009-04-14T16:24:00.003+01:00

I've been writing a new column for Times Online this past couple of weeks and failed to indulge myself by mentioning it here - so now I am!

Kids In The Kitchen will be a weekly column which I hope you all enjoy. The title says it all - it's all about cooking with the kids - and it's a subject that has been close to my heart in the time I have been writing this Blog.

This week is a take on a kedgeree. The recipe is below but please check out the article at The Times and feel free to comment over there if not here.

Fish and Pea Kedgeree
Feeds 4

Prep time – 15 minutes
Cook Time – 10 minutes

4 eggs, boiled for 5 minutes then left to cool in cold water
50g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
A pinch of cayenne pepper
200g basmati rice, cooked and drained
100g frozen peas
1 tin of your choice of fish, drained
Salt and pepper
A handful of fresh dill, parsley or coriander, roughly chopped
2 lemons, halved

1 – Heat a non-stick pan and melt the butter. Add the oil then stir in the onion. Cook for 5 minutes until softened.
2 – Add the spices and combine thoroughly. Cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
3 – Stir in the cooked rice and peas and heat through for 5 minutes, stirring all of the time until piping hot.
4 – Flake in the fish and stir in the fresh herbs. Taste for seasoning.
5 – Plate up and decorate with the boiled eggs – food faces optional. Serve with a wedge of fresh lemon.

Wild Garlic and Hazelnut Sauce

2009-04-05T20:02:00.003+01:00

If you go down to the woods today you're in for a big surprise. And if you do have a walk around any British woodland at this time of the year you may be really surprised to have your nasal passages hit with the heavy smell of mild onion.

It is right now that you will find wild garlic, or ramsons, growing in thick patches all over our green and pleasant land. Recognisable by their wide thick leaves and depending on the time of year, a cluster of small white flowers, they are the easiest to harvest and most widely available free food you will find.

Milder and more onion-like than the garlic widely available in stores, ramsons are perfect for injecting subtle flavour into food. Try a bunch of them stuffed into a fish before baking, or chopped raw and thrown into a simple pasta dish or a salad. I like to bash them up in a pestle and mortar with walnuts or hazelnuts for a rough pesto or sharpening with capers and mustard for a green sauce to go with pasta, fish or a good steak.

Make the most of this wonderful spring wild food. They aren't difficult to find and if you have never harvested wild food before, it will inspire you to take your first steps in becoming a true wild food forager. Just keep an eye out for those bears.

Wild Garlic and Hazelnut Sauce
Makes a small jar full - will keep for 3 days in the fridge

4 handfuls of fresh wild garlic leaves
2 handfuls of hazelnuts, lightly toasted in a dry pan
1 tsp English mustard
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp cider vinegar
25g Parmesan or Pecorino Cheese, grated
100ml extra virgin olive oil or rapeseed oil
Salt and pepper

1 - In a pestle and mortar or a food processor, bash the wild garlic and hazelnuts to a rough pulp.
2 - Stir in the remaining ingredients and taste for seasoning. Seal in a sterilised jar.
3 - Serve stirred into warm pasta, with cooked fish or steak.

Cheddar Cheese Soda Bread

2009-03-26T14:15:00.004Z

Is there anything more simple and basic than taking some flour, water and yeast, pounding them together for a few minutes then whacking in the oven? Bread making has lost its way in the standard home over the years for the simple reason that ready made bread in all forms can be purchased reasonably cheap.

So why bother going through the whole bread making process when it is so readily available? The end result is usually because there is nothing like home baked bread. If you have ever wandered into a baker's shop with bread in the oven you will know that the smell alone is of a heavenly nature. Take warm crisp bread, break it open and the smells get better. Slather it is butter and devour and at that very moment you know exactly why it is worth every effort.

I also enjoy the process of kneading and forming, watching dough rise in a warm cupboard before being baked to a golden crust. Getting the kids involved makes it even better and baking bread can be the basis of making your very own little confident foodie. Disasters will happen but who cares as long as you have fun and enjoy the fruits of your labour?

This bread is soda bread, an Irish recipe which uses soda rather than yeast as the rising agent. This means you don't need to wait for a couple of hours for the rising process - happy days - and the resulting loaf is surprisingly light. It can be on the table within an hour of first making and the warm bread is amazing smeared with a good butter and dunked into soups. So get them mixing bowls out, chuck in the basic ingredients and get you and your little one's hands 'squidging' for a bit of home baking.

Cheddar Cheese Soda Bread

125g plain flour
125g wholemeal flour
1 tbs demerera or brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g Cheddar cheese, grated
250ml plain yoghurt

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 220C/GM7.
2 - Sift the flours into a large mixing bowl, reserving the sieved whole grains. Stir in the sugar, salt, soda and cheese.
3 - Pour in the yoghurt and bring together with a wooden spoon. Then lightly knead for a minute or two. You are looking for a reasonably firm dough but not too dry. If it seems that way, add more yoghurt and knead.
4 - Shape the dough into a rough ball and place it onto a floured baking sheet. Cut a cross into the top of the loaf, sprinkle on the whole-wheat then bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 200C/GM6 and cook for another 20 minutes until golden brown.
5 - Cool on wire rack for a little while before serving.

Spiced Pumpkin and Whisky Bread Pudding

2009-03-21T21:00:00.015Z

The last time I visited London to attempt to win something I failed miserably at the final hurdle. MasterChef has been discussed a lot in the 2 years since that fateful day, probably too much for my comfort, and I’ve been working my socks off to try to make some form of living from the world of food ever since.

It hasn’t been easy and I haven’t exactly followed the natural conventional route that I thought I would take such as working in restaurants and training to be a professional chef. Instead I take great pleasure from trying to help people to cook and eat better in my work with Expo Chef. And I’ve also found that I adore writing about food, expressing my natural love for the subject and best of all, writing recipes for fun and trying them out on my friends and family.

Last month I received a call from my favourite publication, Observer Food Monthly, to tell me that I had won an award. I had to stop my car and ring them back such was the shock. One of my recipes was chosen by the likes of Nigel Slater, Jay Rayner and Tom Parker-Bowles to win one of their new categories in the annual OFM awards as best reader’s recipe.

I've just returned from a fantastic awards ceremony where a large amount of my food heroes were present. I tried my best to look cool in their company and realised that I didn’t need to when Alex James shouted at me, ‘That was a f***ing great pudding David’. They are as down to earth as us man! I even found time to feel like the elder statesman and offer a little advice to the MasterChef boys who were all there. Not that they will need my advice as I know they are going to do special things.

Seriously though, for little old me to receive praise from our finest food writer, Mr Nigel Slater, means more to me than I can explain. As for getting a kiss and a cuddle from Mariella Frostrup - these are things that dreams are made of. As I explained in garbled and excited fashion to Jay Rayner, in a scene reminiscent of Alan Partridge in which he proclaimed to the Geordie hotel porter, ‘That was just noise’, I’ve only ever won one award and that was as player of the season for Newcastle Hibs in the 1992 South Tyneside 4th division. So I’ve hardly broken down doors.

So there you go. A bit of self-indulgence but hey, these things come very rarely in my life. So I’m more than happy – I’m positively delirious – and although I am realistic enough to know that this award pales into insignificance in this increasingly glitzy world of food, it will sit on my mantelpiece gathering dust here in sunny East Boldon until such time comes where my wife relegates it to the bottom draw. Thanks for listening. Oh, and here’s the recipe…

Spiced Pumpkin and Whisky Bread Pudding
Serves 6

100g raisins
3 tbsp whisky
3 tbsp hot water

For the sauce
100g muscovado sugar
25g butter
1 tbsp golden treacle

For the pudding
1 whole egg and 3 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
100g pumpkin, cubed, steamed until soft then puréed
250ml double cream
50ml milk
Half tsp ground cinnamon
A few grates of fresh nutmeg
Half tsp ground ginger
1 vanilla pod, split and seeded
Approximately half of a stale white baguette cut into cubes

1 - Pre-heat the oven to GM2, 150 degrees C.
2 - Soak the raisins in the whisky and hot water until plump. You may want to do this overnight, entirely up to you. Drain.
3 - To make the sauce, heat the muscovado sugar, treacle and butter in a pan until melted then pour equal measures into 6 buttered ramekins.
4 - In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and eggs until pale. Pour in the cream, milk, purée, spices and vanilla pod and whisk until thoroughly combined. Stir in the bread cubes and leave for 10 minutes to soak.
5 - Place the ramekins into a deep baking tray and pour in boiling water until it comes half way up the sides. Fill the ramekins with a few cubes of bread and the custard mixture.
6 - Place on the middle shelf of the oven and cook for approximately 1 hour or until the custard is firm. If the top starts to colour too quickly, cover loosely with foil.
7 - Remove from the oven and leave to rest for a few minutes. Then run a knife around and turn out onto a plate. Serve with créme fraiche, yoghurt or whipped cream.

Slow Cooked Lamb Ragu

2009-03-15T10:25:00.005Z

If you live in the UK and think of Ragu, a certain commercial tomato based pasta sauce available everywhere probably comes to mind. Those marketing boys did well when they managed to register that name.

Ragu is a classic Italian tomato based sauce which will be being made in every house in every town in Italy. And each town or household will boast there own method which will no doubt make their region's the best in the world.

There is nothing simpler than making your own pasta sauce and it is a whole lot tastier and cheaper than buying the commercial jars. An onion and garlic softened in olive oil, a cheap tin of tomatoes or a handful of fresh chopped tomatoes when the season is here, a pinch of oregano and a splash of red wine or balsamic vinegar is all you need. Take that basic concept and experiment to your heart's desire. That's what simple cooking should be all about.

If I'm not in a rush, I like to slowly cook lamb in a ragu with additional ingredients such as chilli, juniper, sun dried tomatoes and orange peel, the latter dispensing a subtle citrus to the sauce. It may not be authentic but neither is a certain bottled sauce we all know and buy in our droves. Do yourself a favour and attempt your own some time.

Slow Cooked Lamb Ragu
Feeds 4

1 onion, chopped
2 sticks of celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
3 juniper berries, crushed
1 whole dried chilli or a pinch of chilli flakes
2 tbsp tomato purée
500g lamb shoulder, cubed
2 tins tomatoes
A handful of sun dried tomatoes, sliced
1 glass of white wine
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 bay leaves
A slice of pared orange peel
1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 160C, GM3.
2 - Heat the olive oil in a flame-proof casserole dish, or make this in a large pan and add to the casserole dish later.
3 - Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and cook until softened to make a 'soffrito'. Stir in the juniper, chilli and tomato purée and cook for 1 minute.
4 - Add the lamb and quickly brown then add the remaining ingredients except the seasoning. Bring to the boil, cover and place in the oven for 2 hours.
5 - Check every 30 minutes to ensure it isn't cooking dry. If it is, stir in a glass of water.
6 - When cooked, remove the bay, whole chilli and orange peel. Taste for seasoning and serve with your choice of pasta and Parmesan cheese.

Wet Pear, Almond and Polenta Cake

2009-02-20T15:31:00.003Z

Think of a British cake and images of afternoon tea and sponge come to mind. Just a basic Victoria with a thin layer of raspberry jam and a dusting of icing sugar is the perfect accompaniment to a good old cuppa.

There aren't any cakes I can think of that I dislike and although I will always hold a special place for our own concoctions of nothing more than eggs, sugar, butter and flour, I've grown to love some of our European cakes a little more. The more wet the better; think of Greek honey cake or a Turkish Baklava. Those things are moist and heavy and entail plenty of finger licking afterwards.

At a decent Italian restaurant some years back I had a delicious lemon and polenta cake. Crispy outer layer thanks to the polenta leading to a lemon syrup sponge, it was a memorable end to the meal. So memorable that I've tried to make that very cake several times with varying degrees of success.

Using the same techniques, which entails stewing fruit into a purée or boiling lemons or oranges whole before puréeing, I've tried all kinds of fruit. You will always be guaranteed a moist cake flavoured heavily with your choice of fruit. This one uses pears, one of my favourite fruit. Go for pears that are almost on the edge of going off and you will have an incredibly fragrant yet subtle tasting cake.

Wet Pear, Almond and Polenta Cake

200g butter
150g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
100g ground almonds
100g polenta
100g self raising flour
200g pear puree, made from 4-5 pears, peeled and chopped and softened in a little water

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 180C, GM4.
2 - In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Stir in the vanilla essence and then stir in the eggs one by one.
3 - Fold in the almonds and polenta. Sieve in the flour and fold in. Finally, fold in the pear purée.
4 - Pour into a lined cake tin with a removable base. Bake on the centre shelf for 50-60 minutes until golden brown. If it starts to catch too soon, cover loosely with baking paper.
5 - Rest and allow to cool.

Smoky Jerusalem Artichoke and Ginger Soup

2009-02-13T09:10:00.004Z

February is proving to be as miserable as it generally succeeds in being. Not only has this recession become a scary reality, we are also going through the coldest snap of weather we have seen in years. It's dark, cold and miserable and I for one cannot wait to see March in a couple of week’s time.

To add to this, it is also a poor month for edible produce. Aside from early forced rhubarb and winter staples such as potatoes, onions, leeks and swedes, British fruit and vegetable choices are few and far between.

The one light at the end of this tunnel of depression is a brilliant vegetable, the Jerusalem artichoke. Much like last week's discussion on chard, it is a misunderstood and under-used vegetable. The name doesn't help as it has absolutely no relation the globe artichoke you will be more familiar with. It is actually the root or tuber of a particular sunflower and if you have never seen one, think of a ginger root with cylindrical rings on the surface of their gnarly skin.

The taste is quite nutty with a bit of sweetness from their natural sugars depending on how old they are. Roasted, steamed, boiled or mashed, they are such a lovely addition to the plate. My favourite thing to do with a Jerusalem artichoke is to turn it into a soup; they blend perfectly to make for the silkiest of textures. The one downside to them are their famous wind-inducing properties due to their complex carbohydrates or inulin. This of course may be an added to bonus to fans of flatulence...

Smoky Jerusalem Artichoke and Ginger Soup
Serves 2

500g Jerusalem Artichokes, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 thumb size of ginger, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp tomato purée
2 tsp smoked paprika
A pinch of cayenne pepper
750ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp natural yoghurt
Salt and pepper
Pumpkin seeds (optional) lightly toasted in a dry pan

1 - Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the Jerusalem artichokes, onion, garlic and ginger. Cook for around 5 minutes until beginning to soften.
2 - Add the tomato purée, smoked paprika and cayenne pepper and cook for 1 minute, stirring all of the time.
3 - Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30 minutes until the Jerusalem artichokes are soft.
4 - Using a hand blender or food processor, blend the soup until smooth. Stir in the yoghurt and taste for seasoning. Serve with optional toasted pumpkin seeds and a sprinkling of paprika.

Orange and Honey Braised Chicory

2009-02-04T14:15:00.003Z

There are few edible things that test me. I'm a hog at the best of times and not many foodstuffs that grow or walk on our earth are unpleasant to my palate. Not bad considering I was an incredibly fussy eater as a child.

However there is a vegetable that did test me until recently. Chicory, or the Belgian Endive, is one of those vegetables at this time of the year when they are high in season that you see sitting on a superstore shelf with the 'Reduced' tag on it as people tend to walk past wondering what it is. I've been eating them for years having great difficulty coming to terms with their natural bitterness. Often found shredded and tossed in salads with equally pungent ingredients such as blue cheese, walnuts and mustard, I've tried hard to love it and failed miserably.

Right at the core of the chicory sits the predominant bitterness. A sharp knife will remove the core making a much more pleasant vegetable. But braising the vegetable in a liquid makes things much more interesting. And that is what has turned me around to loving chicory like no other. An hour braising in an oven with orange, honey and mustard will caramelise the leaves, sweeten up the core and make for a brilliant bed for such things as poached fish or game.

Never give up on a lost cause is my motto. We aren't always going to instantly fall in love with particular foods no matter how much you love eating. Give it time, experiment with different flavours and cooking techniques and like the chicory with me, you will soon grow to love them.

Orange and Honey Braised Chicory
Serves 2 as an accompaniment

2 heads of chicory, cored and cut in half
2 tbsp olive oil
100ml fresh orange juice
3 tbsp honey
1 tbsp Dijon or English mustard
Salt and pepper

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 180C, GM4.
2 - Heat the olive oil in an ovenproof frying pan. Season the chicory with a little salt and pepper then put them into the pan cut side down. Cook for 2 minutes until it begins to colour.
3 - Pour over the orange and honey and bring to the boil. Stir in the mustard then place in the oven for 45 minutes, turning and basting every now and again.

White Turnips with Hazelnuts, Thyme and Lemon

2009-01-30T08:26:00.006Z

Here's a little amusing task for you. Get a turnip and a swede then walk up to random people in the street and ask them if they know which one is which. You will probably get a lot of strange looks, certainly people running away from you and most likely the possibility of being arrested. But when you do get answers, the chances are that an awful lot of people will get it completely wrong.

I grew up thinking a swede was a turnip and vice versa. Despite mashed swede (the orange stuff) always being either on the Sunday dinner or crudely chopped into tiny cubes and boiled to smithereens on the school dinners, a little part of my tiny mind still could not distinguish which was which. And judging by the tests I have done when I'm in a 'Is it a swede or a turnip?' mood, the British public have the same problem.

In these days of food obsession and the fact that I have a responsibility to teach people about food in my everyday job, it is a culinary stumbling block I have had to get right. Swedes are the larger orange fleshed variety and called 'neeps' up in bonny Scotland. Turnips are generally the smaller white fleshed variety with a light purple tinge to their skin. Got that?

I managed to get some British baby white turnips this week which was surprising for this time of the year. But no complaints as these small, sweet and delicate vegetables are a true treat that with the right attention can be transformed into a complete dish on their own. My turnips are given royal treatment with the addition of roasted hazelnuts, thyme and lemon and just a hint of garlic to allow the vegetable's natural pepper heat to shine through. If you get some with their luscious green tops complete, wilt them in the pan as you are finishing them off to give you the complete dish. If you can't be bothered to cook them, a few thin slices added to a salad adds a welcome crunch and heat.

So get your swedes and your turnips the right way around. Both are quite the most amazing vegetable in their own right and certainly vegetables that should be promoted to higher status on the British dinner plate. Of course, I could be wrong and I could be right.

White Turnips with Hazelnuts, Thyme and Lemon
Feeds 2 as a lunch or 4 as a side dish

6 baby white turnips
2 handfuls of whole hazelnuts
25g butter
1 small clove of garlic, sliced thin
A handful of fresh thyme, leaves stripped from the stalks and roughly chopped
The juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper

1 - Cut off any leaves from the turnips and roughly chop and set aside. You can leave the skins on small white turnips but if you prefer, peel and cut into medium chunks. Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the turnips. Boil for 5 minutes - you want a bit of bite to them - then drain and set aside.
2 - Bash your hazelnuts up into pieces, not too small. Heat up a frying pan and add the hazelnuts. Gently toss them until toasted but be careful as they will burn easily.
3 - Add the butter to the pan and melt. Add the garlic and thyme along with the cooked turnips and gently toss until coated. Squeeze in the lemon juice, grate in some black pepper and taste for seasoning. If you have the leaves left, toss them in and cook for a few seconds until wilted.

Kipper Kedgeree

2009-01-25T09:57:00.006Z

It is a much used statement but I have to agree, breakfast is undoubtedly the most important meal of the day. I can't argue with my stomach, and it is this organ that dominates the way that I think each day, an organ that demands food on waking. I've heard of people say that they don't or can't eat breakfast and I always eye these people with suspicion. How on earth do you focus for the day on an empty stomach?

Even worse are people who shove anything down their necks in order to appease hunger. I won't even begin to tell you some of the foods that I know the children that I teach are given each day; heart breaking is not strong enough an expression. We also have the rise of the modern Western breakfast with sugary cereals that disintegrate into some soft slurry in a bowl at the mere splash of milk. My daughter knows what they are and I would be a liar if I said that I did not cave in to her demands for this artificially formed 'cereal' every now and again.

What ever happened to an imaginative start to the day? Time is often against us first thing in the morning but I do believe that you should put at least one day of the week aside to put a bit of effort into your breakfast. We all know about the classic and not to be messed with English breakfast. Muffins with crisped bacon, poached egg and hollandaise sauce takes some beating as does a pile of American pancakes, smokey bacon and a drizzle of sweet maple syrup. Porridge is my daily choice which I mix up with cinnamon, sultanas, mashed banana and honey. It sustains and energises the body and keeps you full for most of the morning.

Last words go out to a much misunderstood and classic Anglo-Indian breakfast of kedgeree, a highly spiced rice, fish and egg breakfast that is a doddle to make and one that is primed for experimenting with. Traditionally used with smoked haddock, I like to use some of our brilliant North East kippers; not too salty and just the right kick of smokiness. And with one eye on frugal times, it is also a great way of using up left over rice. This is a meal that also works for lunch or dinner which makes it even more adaptable.

So be inspired and be a little more resourceful and creative at breakfast time. It might make those dark winter mornings a little happier and I can guarantee that your body will be all the more grateful to you. Good morning my friends.

Kipper Kedgeree
Feeds 4

4 eggs, boiled for 5 minutes then left to cool in cold water
200g basmati rice, cooked and drained
4 kippers
50g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
A pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper
A handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1 lemon, quartered

Pork, Root and Cider Casserole

2009-01-18T17:46:00.005Z

A brisk walk along Seaburn beach near Sunderland on any day of the year can have its moments but in mid-January, the wind whistles up your trouser leg and mocks your private parts. It's cold up north.

Nothing beats getting wrapped up in your best woollies and driving against the wind on a beach. It clears the cobwebs, fills your lungs with clean sea air and if you can stretch it out for a few hours, the sea air makes you ravenous meaning you can stuff your face once finished.

A sustaining casserole is always a welcome plate after a cold winter walk, especially a slow cooked one that you can set off before a walk then polish off on your return. Pork cooked with roots and cider makes for a sweet and satisfying plate of food, the roots natural sweetness teased out with the addition of a drop of honey. The meat falls apart with each mouthful; it is as easy to eat as it is to make.

So walk out to winter and make the most of it, as well as remembering to sustain yourself afterwards with a simple and reviving casserole such as this.

Pork, Root and Cider Casserole
Feeds 4

3 shallots, finely sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 swede, peeled and chopped into chunks
1 celeriac, peeled and chopped into chunks
4 large carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
4 juniper berries, squashed
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp dried sage
1 tbsp plain flour
200ml dry cider
300ml hot vegetable stock
1 tbsp honey
4 pork leg steaks
A handful of fresh sage, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 160C, GM4.
2 - Heat the olive oil in a large casserole dish and add the shallots. Cook for 5 minutes without colouring.
3 - Add the root vegetables, juniper berries, dried sage and bay leaves. Combine for 1 minute before stirring in the flour.
4 - Pour in the cider and stock and bring to the boil. Stir in the honey, place the pork steaks on top then cover and place into the oven. Cook for 2 hours, checking every 30 minutes to ensure it isn't boiling dry.
5 – Stir in the sage then taste for seasoning and serve with boiled or mashed potatoes and seasonal greens.

Beef, Prune and Vegetable Stew

2009-01-06T15:08:00.009Z

Slow cooked meat and root vegetables with gentle warm spices, just a touch of sweetness from the fruit and honey to take the edge off any potential heat and it can only be the unmistakeable Moroccan style stews that satisfy me every time.

The North Africans knew what they were doing when they took a clay pot with raised sides and called it a tagine, enabling them to create moist and tender stews from basic ingredients. I use a domestic casserole pot for my slow braising, and the addition of a few familiar spices and a little honey and fruit are all that are needed to transform an equally beautiful British stew into one that smells and tastes all mysterious and exotic.

Lots of people I speak to received an electric slow cooker off Santa Claus, meaning that they can easily achieve this most delectable of stews to serve with a little cous cous to soak up the juices. And it is a winner for the children too; even the fussiest of children can't help but have their taste buds given a wake up call when sampling something so delicious. Even my current favourite vegetable, the much misunderstood swede, turns into a 'melt in your mouth' treat. Any doubters out there, all I ask of you is to give it a go.

Beef, Prune and Vegetable Stew
Feeds 4

2 onions, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
500g topside beef, cut into large chunks
1 swede, peeled and cut into cubes
Half red cabbage, sliced thinly
2 handfuls dried prunes
2 pears, peeled and sliced thinly
1 tsp each of cumin, coriander and ground ginger
Half tsp each of cinnamon and cayenne
Water
3 tbsp honey
2 handfuls of fresh coriander, including the root
Salt and pepper
Lemon rind, thinly peeled from 1 lemon

1 - Preheat the oven to 160C, FM4.
2 - In a large casserole pot, heat the olive oil and add the onions and garlic. Slowly cook for 10 minutes until beginning to colour.
3 - Add the spices, remaining vegetables and beef. Warm through for 5 minutes, and then pour over enough water to just about cover it. Stir through the coriander, honey and lemon rind. Bring to the boil then cover and place in the oven for 2 hours.
4 - Taste for seasoning. Serve with cous cous and fresh coriander.

Swede, Lemon and Sage Risotto

2009-01-04T19:08:00.002Z

With the New Year upon us the traditional resolutions have, for many, been made and probably already forgotten or broken. I make a few each year and although I have been prone to the odd lapse, I do tend to be a good boy and stick them out.

Due to health reasons, this year has become even more vital that I retain full control of my will power and see out the year as well as the rest of my life with the the old resolutions. The doctor duly delivered me a small shock not long back and as I'm the perennial optimist, I see the New Year as good an excuse as ever to make resolve and start all over again - 4 days in and it's so far so good.

One resolution that certainly won't be broken is my love and commitment to good food. I can get cynical about the sheer 'in your face' of television food and the host of 'celebrities' that come with it. But as the years tick on, I find my own solace in the simplicity of an honest plate of grub as opposed to the complications of unnecessary techniques and over-dressing. And as 2009 is going to be my very own dedication to frugal foods it only magnifies the importance of keeping it basic.

So happy new year to everybody and may you remain resolute to your resolve. Keep it simple, be strengthened from your mistakes and be inspired by the beauty of sensible and honest food.

Swede, Lemon and Sage Risotto
Feeds 4

1 medium swede, peeled and cut into cubes
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, sliced
25g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
500g risotto rice such, I use Carnaroli
1 small glass of white wine or Noilly Prat
1 litre hot vegetable or chicken stock
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
50g Parmesan cheese
Fresh sage leaves
Salt and pepper

1 – Put the cubed swede into a steamer and steam for 10 minutes or until soft. Blend to a puree and put aside.
2 – Heat the butter and olive oil in a pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook briefly until soft but not coloured. Stir in the rice then pour in the wine. Cook, stirring, until evaporated.
3 – Add a couple of ladles of stock to the rice and cook, stirring, until evaporated. Continue like this for 15-20 minutes until the rice is cooked but still retains a bit of bite. You are looking for a loose consistency, not too dry.
4 – Stir in the pureed swede, Parmesan cheese, lemon zest and juice. Taste for seasoning. Heat a little olive oil in a non-stick pan and crisp up the sage leaves.
5 – Serve in bowls with a scattering of cheese, the crisp sage leaves and a wedge of lemon.

Leftover Turkey, Ham and Vegetable Pie

2008-12-27T17:46:00.003Z

The week of traditional excess is almost over and if you are anything like me, it is almost a relief once 2nd January arrives in order to give your body a break from it all.

Our Christmas leftovers have been gradually reduced and keeping in line with my early resolution of being even more frugal, not a scrap was wasted. It wasn’t all about endless turkey sandwiches and omelettes; we gave the huge bird a full range of delicacies to be the main star in, from Thai curries and stir fries to rich broths with herb dumplings. Probably the favourite of the family is this delicious pie that takes no time to prepare and is pretty much guaranteed to please even the most turkey sickened family member.

There is never a better time than the present to start thinking about the way that you eat and utilise your ingredients; we all need to watch the pennies and waste is simply not an option. Therefore, the turkey leftovers become the perfect base to practice a few techniques and recipes that can be put to use throughout the year with other roasts. Start with this one and look forward to a more frugal and sensible 2009. Happy New Year readers.

Leftover Turkey, Ham and Vegetable Pie
Feeds 4

2 tbsp olive oil
2 large leeks, sliced
1 stick of celery, sliced
100g mushrooms, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and cut into small pieces
2 tbsp crème fraiche
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
100ml chicken or turkey stock
Several handfuls of leftover turkey and ham cut into chunks
An optional handful of chopped fresh parsley
Puff pastry
Salt and pepper

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 200C GM8.
2 - Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the leek, celery, mushrooms and carrots and cook for 10 minutes,
3 - Add the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer until slightly reduced and thickened. Stir in the crème fraiche and mustard and taste for seasoning.
4 - Stir in the meat and parsley then pour into a baking dish. Roll out the puff pastry, dampen the edges of the baking dish and cover, trimming off any excess and sealing with your thumb or a fork. Brush with a beaten egg and push a small hole into the centre.
5 – Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and puffed up.

Yuletide Log

2008-12-21T18:21:00.004Z

Christmas is almost upon us, and no matter how cynical you are about the modern Christmas and all of its clinical marketing and sales techniques, there is still something magical about this time of the year. The excitement in our house is crackling in the air, especially with a mischievous 3 year old desperate to open some presents that Santa has somehow already managed to place underneath our tree.

I can still remember feeling the presents when nobody was around in a nervous effort to work out what they were. And on more than one occasion, the Sellotape was peeled carefully aside in order to have a peek. I can only apologise to my family right now as I admit this unscrupulous crime after all of these years. But I reckon everybody has tried this once or twice.

I also can't recall an event in which all forms of nature are painted and decorated with such lavish attention. From a tinsel necked dog to a town street tree, few escape the Western gaudiness of our Christmas decorations. And in my opinion, the world is a much better place when we can forget about our earthly troubles and don the tack to such effect. My house is covered in the stuff - taste has no place at Christmas time.

No surprises, but it is the food that gets me excited. At no other time of the year can you indulge yourself so heavily and not have to be made to feel guilty in some way. The smells of Christmas food are unique and just the waft of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves brings back a thousand memories in one swift sniff. So enjoy this mainstay of the Yuletide season - it is a lot easier to make than you might first think - and don't forget to get the kids involved when making it. After all, Christmas should always be about our little ones. Happy Christmas readers x

Yuletide Log

3 eggs
Plain flour
Butter
Caster sugar
25g cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
250ml double cream
A splash of rum
1 tsp coffee granules dissolved in a little hot water
150g butter
200g 70% cocoa chocolate
Icing sugar to dust

1 – Pre-heat the oven to 180C, GM4. Grease and line a small baking tray with baking paper.
2 – Weight the eggs in their shells. Then weight out the same quantity butter, sugar and flour. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Whisk in the eggs one by one then gently fold in the flour, cocoa powder and vanilla extract.
3 – Pour the sponge mixture into the baking tray and bake on the middle shelf for 10-15 mins until cooked. Allow to cool slightly.
4 – Place a piece of greaseproof paper onto your bench and tip the sponge out onto it. Peel off the baking paper then roll the sponge with the greaseproof inside. Leave to cool and shape.
5 – Melt the butter and chocolate in a pan then allow to cool and thicken. Whip the cream into soft peaks and fold in the coffee and rum. Unroll the sponge and spread with the cream. Roll back up without the greaseproof paper.
6 – Place onto a plate then spread on the chocolate butter with a palette knife, lifting off here and there to try to form a bark effect. Dust with icing sugar and decorate with holy.

Warming 3 Root and Coriander Soup

2008-12-17T13:09:00.004Z

'Tis the season to be jolly, but I’m sad to report that it has been far from it in our family household. With December being a fine combination of illness, injury, damaged cars and various other misdemeanours, I could be forgiven for being the ultimate Scrooge coming into the week before Christmas.

Thankfully we are all bringing ourselves around. My daughter, the cause of the various ills due to her new favourite pastime since starting nursery, Pass the Germ Parcel, appears to have the cheeky glint back in her eye and the bounce back in her step. My wife ploughs on into the storm with the strength that the female of the species only possess. And I still moan on a daily basis, but I can see the Christmas light at the end of the December tunnel. Man flu - need I say more?

Soups play a big part of any revival in our kitchen, and with cheap roots everywhere at this time of the year it is amazing what kind of super soups you can achieve with a bit of experimentation. Some old carrots, half a squash, a parsnip and a potato were the main ingredients for this winter warmer.

Blended with warming chilli and ginger and flecked with coriander, it makes for a nice alternative to the popular carrot and coriander. A squeeze of lime and a swirl of yoghurt adds sharpness to the heat and completes an otherwise impressive but simple soup, one that just about bent the corners of my mouth into some form of smile. Here's to the build up to Christmas, I can’t wait.

Warming 3 Root and Coriander Soup
Feeds 4

1 onion, sliced
1 clove of garlic, sliced
1 fresh of dried chilli, chopped or crumbled
1 thumb size of ginger, peeled and sliced
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 parsnip, peeled and sliced
Half a large or 1 small butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and sliced
1 large potato, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 litre hot vegetable stock
1 large handful of fresh coriander, roots and leaves
100ml natural yoghurt
Juice of 1 lime (optional)
Dried chilli for garnish

1 - Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the vegetables including the chilli, garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, for 5-10 minutes until they start to soften.
2 - Pour in the hot stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
3 - Pour into a blender and blend until smooth. Put in the fresh coriander and yoghurt and blend until the coriander has broken up into small pieces rather than completely broken up.
4 - Taste for seasoning then stir in the lime juice. Pour into bowls and garnish with a sprinkle of dried chilli and a spoonful of yoghurt.

Jerusalem Artichoke and Cheese Scones

2008-12-12T10:21:00.003Z

Up on the chilly coastline of Newbiggin by the sea here in the North East, a cafe owner has decided to claim a unique record of having the most varieties of homebaked scones for sale. Jackie Nevin and her husband Colin have invented everything from a mince and onion variety to a black cherry and white chocolate. And why not? Call it bizarre, but it is these little quirky finds in the world of food that makes it such an interesting subject.

I love a scone; it is about as English as a foodstuff can be and a visit to Cornwall is not complete without a feast on one of their famous scones with strawberries and clotted cream and a nice cup of tea. Being a bit of a traditionalist, I'm torn between a plain old fruit scone or a warm cheese scone, fresh from the oven with a slab of salted butter dripping from it. Last year I remember catering for a large birthday party and as they wanted an English tea party, I created my own little record of baking what seemed like a thousand scones in my own tiny kitchen. I believe some of them are still residing in their freezer.

This week it was my turn to go all bizarre with the scone. I've made a potato scone several times and that works a treat. With a handful of that wind inducing vegetable the Jerusalem artichoke, I thought a smooth puree folded into a strong cheese scone mixture would work just perfectly. And it did; strong Cheddar and the nutty artichoke are such a lovely combination. I might send this recipe to that scone shop in Newbiggin to see if I can help towards getting them into that famous book.

Jerusalem Artichoke and Cheese Scones
Makes 12

100g Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and sliced
200ml milk
300g plain flour
200g wholemeal flour
4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g salted butter
50g Cheddar cheese, grated
100ml milk
1 egg

1 – Put the Jerusalem artichoke into a pan with the milk. Bring to the boil then simmer until the Jerusalem artichoke is tender, approximately 10 minutes. Put the artichoke and milk into a blender and blend to a loose puree. Keep aside.
2 – Preheat the oven to 200C, GM6. Grease and flour a baking tray.
3 – Sift the flour into a food processor along with the bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar. Add the butter and blend until combined.
4 – Add the cheese and Jerusalem artichoke puree and blend. Begin to pour the milk gradually through the blender funnel until the dough comes together into a soft dough.
5 – Tip out onto a floured surface and roll to approximately 4 cm depth. Using a scone cutter, cut out the dough and place the scones snugly onto the baking tray. Beat the egg and brush the tops of the scones. Cook on the middle shelf for 10-15 minutes until risen and golden brown. Cool slightly on a wire rack and eat warm with lots of butter. The scones are also a great accompaniment to a rich beef stew.

Swede, Rosemary and Parmesan Wedges

2008-12-05T14:37:00.003Z

I may have mentioned this before, but much to the surprise of anybody that knows me, I used to be a fussy one. Just like a lot of the children I teach now, most vegetables were a 'no go area' to me. Can you remember ever hiding your cabbage under the mashed potato and pretending that you weren't hungry? That was me.

The one vegetable that was like an arch enemy in my little world of battles with vegetables was the swede. Boiled within an inch of its life and pulverised by school cooks with blunt instruments, the smell wafted into the school dining hall straight into my nostrils and made me gag each time. Mixed with the sulphurous smell of over-boiled cabbage, things got worse.

These days I've grown to love the humble swede, just as I have with all of the vegetables I used to loathe. Mashed with plenty of good butter, perhaps with a touch of nutmeg, I can't work out why I kicked up such a fuss about it when I was young.

But the swede still remains an unfashionable food in this modern world of trendy food fads. So here is a swede makeover that brings it into the 21st Century. Punchy rosemary and a dousing of Parmesan cheese and baked to caramelised glory, it gives you a delicious side vegetable or perhaps a wedge to dip into a sweet chilli sauce or a little sour cream and chives. Hail the humble swede!

Swede, Rosemary and Parmesan Wedges

1 swede, peeled and cut into wedges
3 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
2 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and pepper

1 – Pre-heat the oven to 200C, GM6.
2 – In a baking tray, toss the swede wedges with the olive oil, rosemary, Parmesan cheese and a little salt and pepper.
3 – Place onto a high shelf in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

Beef, Ale and Chestnut Stew

2008-11-28T12:40:00.003Z

'Waste not, want not,' my mam always used to say to me, and despite screwing my face up each time she said it, it has been a lifelong lesson in frugality that has never been more relevant than it is now. The one positive thing to take from the current economic downturn is that it is making us all - hopefully - think a little more creatively in the home. So everything from using every scrap of food to budgeting your shopping is the hot topic in this crazy world we live in.

Making food for the whole family using cheaper cuts of meat is also a current much discussed topic, and in my opinion, the country is all the better for it. In days not so long ago when the country did not have the option of takeaways, ready meals and endless processed snacks, the nation cooked creatively using whatever they could get their hands on. How times have changed. But if there was ever a time to start being inspired to use a cheaper cut of meat, it is now.

The dinner plate isn't all about fillet steaks and racks of lamb; take a scrag end of lamb or perhaps a shin of beef and you can make all kinds of wonderful, tasty, filling and economic casseroles and soups to keep you all warm this winter without breaking the bank. Slow cooking is perhaps my favourite way of treating a piece of meat and the fattier, cheaper cuts of meat lend themselves to slow braising perfectly. What that process does is give you the tastiest, most sumptuous and tender meat you can wish for. So get the slow cookers out, spend a fiver on a cheap cut of meat and treat the family to a meal that laughs in the face of the credit crunch.

Beef, Ale and Chestnut Stew
Feeds 4

1kg skirt of beef, cut into large chunks
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion, chopped roughly
2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
2 celery sticks, sliced
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 bottle of ale
250ml beef stock
2 handfuls of cooked chestnuts
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
Salt and pepper

1 - Preheat the oven to 150C, GM2.
2 - In a large casserole dish, heat up the oil. Add the beef in batches and quickly cook until golden brown all over. Remove and set aside.
3 - Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook f0r 5-10 minutes until beginning to colour. Return the beef and any juices to the pot and sprinkle in the flour. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes until combined.
4 - Add the tomato puree and herbs and stir in. Pour in the ale and stock, bring to the boil, cover and cook in the oven for 2 hours, stirring on the hour.
5 - Add the chestnuts and mustard and cook for a further 20 minutes.
6 - Taste for seasoning. Serve with mashed potato and cabbage.

The Best Christmas Cake

2008-11-21T10:37:00.005Z

With 5 weeks to go before that most indulgent of days, Christmas Day, it is now time to start getting that cake done. It isn’t too early to make a Christmas cake. Thanks to the huge amount of preserved fruit and booze, it can keep for a long time if wrapped and kept in a cool, dark place.

We made ours this week. It is a tried, tested, tweaked, tested then tweaked again recipe. A lot of people I know don’t like a traditional Christmas cake, saying that it is too rich/dry/boozy. So my recipe is one that tries to appease all taste buds. Not too boozy, certainly not dry and with added ingredients that will please rather than offend.

If you can handle the alcohol, ‘feed’ your cake every 2 weeks with a shot glass of brandy or whisky. A few knitting needle holes will help the booze soak into the rich concoction of fruit, sugar, cocoa, orange and coffee – a combination from heaven in anybody’s world. Wrap it tightly in greaseproof paper and foil and keep in an airtight cake tin. Come Christmas Day, you will be knocked over by the sensational aromas as you remove the lid for the first slice.

Like all of the best things in life, it is the simple things that work. And like any child that grew up with people cooking in their family, my daughter Cerys threw herself into the ubiquitous spoon licking like a seasoned professional. So get mucking about in the kitchen with the kids this weekend and knock up a Christmas cake to beat all Christmas cakes.

The Best Christmas Cake

200g dark muscovado sugar
100g honey
250g butter
100g each of raisins, currants, sultanas, dried figs and dried prunes, roughly chopped
1 espresso cup of coffee
A large splash of brandy or whisky
Tablespoon of mixed spice
Zest and juice of an orange or 2 satsuma, tangerines or clementine
1 tbsp of cocoa powder
3 large eggs
100g plain flour, sifted
150g ground almonds
Teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda
Salt

1 - Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C, GM3. Grease and line a 22cm spring form cake tin.
2 - Melt the butter and sugars in a large pan then add the fruit, coffee, brandy or whisky, spice and honey. Zest and juice the oranges and add along with the cocoa powder. Stir until dark, caramelised and fragrant.
3 - Beat the eggs and add to the mixture along with the flour, ground almonds, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt. Fold in thoroughly until not a trace of flour is left.
4 - Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake on the middle shelf for 2 hours. If the top looks like it is catching, cover with baking paper.

Apple Pie

2008-11-14T10:28:00.005Z

It's easy to get too bogged down into the current doom and gloom that seems to dominate the news headlines these days. Think about it too much, and you can't snap out of it. I spoke about this a couple of weeks back - miserabilism I called it - and it is highly infectious.

So today I want to break free of the miserable chains and concentrate on some positive energy. Don't worry; I'm not going all new age on you and about to start rubbing the birth stones. But I am a great believer that if you think positive thoughts, get active and feed yourself properly, you will naturally feel better about yourself.

This week's post is dedicated to 2 special friends who have been through a few years of turmoil and stress, and who this week have finally turned their lives around. Mick and Sarah Craven in Wakefield had 6 months old Josh brought into their lives recently and they are now just the proudest parents of this beautiful boy. And because they let me pillage their apple trees last month when I was visiting, I just had to make the biggest apple and Cheddar pie which, despite being 80 miles north of Wakefield, was consumed with them firmly in mind. It was delicious.

Josh is so cool that already he has subscribed to my magazine Flavour - that engrossed expression on his face is him reading my recipes, honest. And anybody cringing at the thought of savoury cheese mixed with sweet apple please don’t. This flavour combination is as old as the hills and is one of those things you just have to try once in your life.

I don't normally write posts like this, preferring to concentrate on the food. But when people deserve a little nod of respect then they deserve it, and this nod goes to the Cravens 3 who I know are going to be the happiest and hippest family in town. Enjoy your lives my lovely mates - and enjoy a virtual slice of this perfect pie. x

Craven Pie
Feeds lots

For the pastry
125g salted butter
250g self raising flour
50g strong Cheddar, grated
1 egg

For the filling
2kg apples - I used lots of Bramley for sharpness but it is your choice
1 tsp cinnamon
A handful of sultanas
100g soft brown sugar
25g butter

1 - Pre-heat the oven to GM4, 180C.
2 - To make the pastry, put the flour and butter into a food processor and pulse until you have what looks like breadcrumbs. Put in the cheese and pulse. Finally, drop in the egg and pulse and begin to drizzle in cold water until it comes together into a ball. This can all be done by hand too. Wrap in Clingfilm and place into the fridge for 30 minutes.
3 - While the pastry is resting, peel and core the apples. Cut in half then slice into 1cm slices and place into a large bowl. Sprinkle in the cinnamon, sultanas and sugar and combine thoroughly.
4 - Butter and line a 20cm spring form cake tin. Remove the pastry from the fridge and cut off 1 third and leave aside. Roll out the larger piece of pastry and line the cake tin, leaving the excess hanging over the sides. Pile in the apple mixture, pressing down gently.
5 - Roll out the remaining piece of pastry. Beat an egg and dampen the edges of the pie. Place the pastry over and press down the edges with a fork or thumb. Cut off the excess and make optional decorations for your pie.
6 - Brush the top of the pie with the beaten egg, poke a couple of holes into the centre to allow steam to escape and sprinkle with a little sugar. Bake on the middle shelf for 45-60 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
7 - Allow to cool slightly then serve in large slices with cream, ice cream or crème fraice.

Roast Grouse with Lemon and Sage Butter

2008-11-07T13:04:00.007Z

What a season we are in at the moment, and what a lucky boy I’ve been during it. Not content with the piles of free apples and pears that have survived our wet summer and the bags of roots that seem to be endless, I've been even luckier with the kindness of some of the suppliers I work with and managed to bag a few pieces of game. And what a misunderstood meat game is.

As a child, I think the only game meat I ate, or what could be classed as game meat, was rabbit. So from my early years, I've never really had a problem with consuming fluffy cute things or large eyed bambies that rampage freely around our countryside. If anything, I encourage people to eat more of the things. They are naturally free range, eat their own organic produce and can be a very cheap option if you know where to shop. So they tick all of the current 'food trend' ethical boxes.

This week I received a couple of the last grouse from up in Northumberland. Naturally low in fat and packed with that unique flavour that only a wild naturally reared animal can give you, it is a bird that must be tried if you are a little sceptical of our great British game. My grouse were respectfully treat with a little fresh and pungent sage, zest of lemon and butter.

Quite why anybody could misunderstand that concoction is beyond me for it is a simple to cook and delicious treat to be served with some braised red cabbage, mashed potatoes and gravy made with the roasting juices. Now go on, be game.

Roast Grouse with Lemon and Sage Butter
Serves 2

2 prepared grouse, weighing approximately 300-350g
50g softened salted butter
2 handfuls of fresh sage leaves
Juice of one lemon
8 slices of streaky bacon
Salt and pepper

1 - Pre-heat the oven to GM6, 200C.
2 – Roughly chop the sage leaves. Grate a little of the lemon zest into a bowl and mash together with the butter and sage leaves.
3 – Place a little of the butter inside the cavity of each bird. Rub the rest all over the birds. Season with salt and pepper then drape the streaky bacon over the birds. Place them onto a baking tray and roast for 20 minutes.
4 – Remove the bacon but leave in the baking tray to allow both the birds and the bacon to go crispy. Roast for a further 10 minutes.
5 – Remove from the oven and place the birds onto a plate. Cover with foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
6 – Deglaze the roasting tray with a little stock or wine to make gravy and serve with your favourite vegetables.

Chestnut and Honey Bread

2008-11-02T08:50:00.006Z

The wild food foraging I usually enjoy at this time of the year has been poor to say the least. Last autumn, I found a lovely little patch of woodland that had plenty of my favourite autumn foods: sloes, damsons, elderberries, brambles and chestnuts, plenty to go around and to leave a few for the birds and squirrels. This year, I fear the poor summer that we have had has given the berries a torrid time. Either that or my secret patch has been rumbled.

Chestnuts are one of the best free nuts, with their versatile sweet inner just bursting with flavour and awaiting a multitude of dishes. Roasting a few and eating warm with a little salt and pepper is good enough, but a simple pot roast using a game bird such as pheasant, grouse or partridge with a few roasted chestnuts thrown in is simply amazing. Boil chestnuts, whiz in a blender and you have a nutty purée that is perfect for cakes and scones or even an ice cream.

I made bread with a handful of them over the weekend, and the warmth and smell that the bread gave off made you feel happy that the winter is almost upon us. Some good honey sweetened the bread without overpowering it. Perfect bread for a perfect season of food I thought, even if my free food patch is no more.

Chestnut and Honey Bread

500g strong bread flour
200g chestnuts, cooked and peeled
1 tsp salt
1 heaped tsp ready active yeast
150ml honey
300ml warm water

1 – Tip the flour into a large bowl. Crumble in the chestnuts and mix together with the salt and yeast.
2 – Mix the honey and water together. Make a well in the flour and begin to gradually pour the water and honey on, mixing all of the time with your other hand.
3 – When the mixture comes together, tip out onto a floured surface and begin to knead by pulling the furthest edge towards you with your fingers then pushing with the palm of your hand.
4 – Repeat this until the dough becomes smooth and an impression of your hand when pushed in springs straight back out. Place back into the bowl, sprinkle on some flour and place in a warm place for 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.
5 – Preheat the oven to 220C GM8.
6 – Gently knead the dough until you have pushed the air out then place onto a floured backing tray. Cover and leave for another hour until it has doubled in size.
7 – Gently place onto the middle shelf of your oven and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 200C GM6 and cook for a further 20-30 minutes or until it makes a ‘hollow’ sound when tapped. Leave cool on a wire tray.

Parsnip, Apple and Cheddar Soup

2008-10-27T07:27:00.002Z

There is frost on the windows this morning. This is a sure sign that I can indulge myself for (hopefully) the next few months in my love of wearing far too many of my different coats at any given opportunity. I do have too many. My wife has banned me from buying any more but I always manage to sneak one in. I am the Imelda Marcos of the coat world - well, after Liam Gallagher anyway.

Back in the kitchen, it is soup time. What with this credit crunch malarkey and the need for people to keep warm on cheap sustainable food over the winter, there is nothing better than soup to turn to. Whether it is a 'bottom of the fridge' soup in which you chuck everything into the pan, or a refined 'posh' soup using only the very best ingredients (smoked salmon and black truffle soup anybody?), soup is easy to make and accompanied with some crusty bread, becomes a meal in a bowl.

This soup uses what are in my opinion two of our very best seasonal ingredients at the moment - parsnip and apple - amongst a bumper selection of great autumnal produce. Some strong Cheddar cheese takes down the sweetness a tone or two and that is needed, especially if you decide to use some of the older and larger parsnips that have had a lot of their starch converted into sugar. So make a bowl and be happy that the cold snap has arrived. I know I am - so I'm off to get me coat.

Parsnip, Apple and Cheddar Soup
Serves 4

5 parsnips
1 large Bramley apple
1 onion
1 tbsp olive oil
1 litre hot vegetable stock
150g Cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper

1 - Pre-heat the oven to GM6, 200C.
2 – Peel and halve the parsnips and place into a baking tray. Score a line all around the apple and place into the baking tray. Finally, peel and quarter the onion and put that into the baking tray. Drizzle on the olive oil and coat the fruit and vegetables.
3 – Place onto the middle shelf and bake for 25 minutes, or until the onion and parsnip are golden and the apple has gone soft.
4 – Scrape out the apple flesh and put into a blender along with the onion and parsnips. Pour over the stock and blend until smooth. Pour through a sieve into a clean pan.
5 – Grate in the cheese and stir until melted through. Taste for seasoning. Serve in bowls with more grated cheese on top.

Chocolate and Almond Mousse Cake

2008-10-19T12:38:00.005+01:00

What a miserable bunch we seem to have become in the United Kingdom. Every time you switch the TV or radio on, there seems to be yet another piece of bad news. Whether it is the economy falling or another sunless summer, horrendous news is there for all. And the result? Miserabilism. It's my new word for it as I've never seen such a set of glum folk in my life.

It is easy to let it all get to you. But I always think that the best way to combat bad news is to get active. Whether it is a little run around the block, a brisk walk in the chilled autumn air or a belt around the park on your bike, that bit of adrenalin seems to pick you up instantly, no matter how fit you are. And after burning a few calories, it gives you a great excuse to eat to your heart's content!

You may need to burn a few calories before tackling my favourite easy cake - the chocolate mousse cake. Rich, buttery and intense with high cocoa content, it is a crowd pleaser pretty much all of the time. I love the chestnut version - so seasonal and a brilliant alternative for Christmas pudding for chocolate lovers. But I also love almonds, and with ground almonds surely being a staple cupboard ingredient for everybody, you can whip one of these up in no time. It is guaranteed to cheer up even the most miserable person in the world, guaranteed. Now, what was that about the economy?

Chocolate and Almond Mousse Cake
Feeds 8

250g 70-80% chocolate
250g butter
200g ground almonds
50g sliced almonds
5 eggs
100g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, split and seeded (optional)

1 - Preheat the oven to 180C, GM4.
2 - Break up the chocolate and put into a heatproof bowl along with the butter. Place over a pan of water and bring to the boil until the chocolate and butter have melted.
3 - Separate the eggs. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, vanilla seeds and sugar until pale. Stir in the chocolate and butter and then finally, gently fold in the ground almonds and the sliced almonds.
4 - Whisk the egg whites until they reach 'soft peak' stage, or you can hold the bowl upside down and nothing falls out. Gently fold into the mixture.
5 - Grease and paper a 20cm spring form cake tin. Pour in the cake mixture, then place on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the cake is still slightly wobbly and the surface has cracked.
6 - Remove and rest until cool. Decorate with cocoa powder and a handful of sliced almonds.

Poached Wild Salmon on Roast pumpkin with Northumbrian mussels and Samphire

2008-10-08T19:33:00.008+01:00

One of my very favourite vegetables in this season of great produce is the pumpkin. Most families around the country will soon be carving faces into them, sticking a candle inside and wandering the dark streets in an attempt to get a few sweets from people. The pumpkin will then probably get thrown into the bin and forgotten about for another year.

What a shame. Anybody that condemns this supreme vegetable to such a sorry end is missing out on one of Mother Nature's finest versatile vegetables. Carve out that face, but ensure you scrape out as much flesh as possible and use that flesh in a multitude of recipes. There is nothing simpler than a plain old pumpkin soup, hopefully roasted before pureeing to ensure a deep sweetness. Bacon added to the mix make things even better. Or get the flesh into a casserole or stew instead of the carrots or parsnips for a change. Keep the seeds and roast them with a little soy sauce and chilli flakes for a healthy snack.

I like to slice one up into thin slices, toss in a little olive oil and season with plenty of black pepper and good salt then roast until the flesh is toasty and caramelised, the skin chewy and sweet. You then have an alternative vegetable accompaniment to your fish or meat. A dressing of orange, chilli, honey and parsley and a scattering of a spicy leaf such as watercress or rocket, you can skip the rest and simply eat this beautiful vegetable as it is. Now get carving.

Poached Wild Salmon on Roast pumpkin with Northumbrian mussels and Samphire
Feeds 4

1 small pumpkin, deseeded and sliced into 16 lengths
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
4 pieces of wild salmon fillets, skinned
8 handfuls of live mussels
A small glass of water
4 handfuls of samphire
50g butter
Juice of one lemon
4 handfuls of basil leaves
4 tbsp olive oil

1 – Pre-heat the oven to 200C, GM 6. Put the pumpkin into a baking tray and rub in the olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper. Place onto a high shelf and bake for 20-30 minutes until beginning to colour and soften.
2 – Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Place in the salmon fillets, reduce the heat and poach for 5 minutes.
3 – Heat up a pan with a lid until hot then place in the mussels. Pour in the water and replace the lid. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the shells have opened. Drain in a colander, put back into the pan and add the samphire and butter. Cook for a further minute.
4 – Bash the basil with a little salt in a pestle and mortar until you have a green paste. Stir in the lemon juice and the olive oil. Taste for seasoning.
5 – Arrange 3 slices of pumpkin onto each plate. Place on the salmon. Surround with the mussels and samphire then drizzle on some dressing.

Roast Squash, Chard and Ham Soup

2008-09-29T12:07:00.004+01:00

I might be reaching for the central heating control tonight. Despite a summer to forget, the temperatures have remained fairly moderate. But this morning, that unmistakeable 'nip' of autumn was in the air. Time for the big coats and a bit of natural central heating from our lovely Autumnal foods methinks.

Soup is the easiest and most natural food stuff to turn to when you need a bit of inner core thermal warming. I can't help but experiment when it is soup time, and with a few sad squashes in my garden somehow surviving the summer floods, the soup pot was the only humane way of putting their short lives to an honourable end.

A squash sliced into chunks and skin left on - seeds removed for roasting for a delicious snack EVERY time - before roasting to golden perfection, makes for an intensely sweet base for your soup. Leaves of iron-enriched green chard and a few slices of leftover roast ham make things even better. And before you know it, you have a 45 minute soup from start to finish that will warm you up and pack you full of cold-beating goodness. Souper.

Roast Squash, Chard and Ham Soup
Feeds 2

1 medium sized squash, sliced into chunks and seeds removed
1 onion, skin removed and cut into quarters
1 bulb of garlic, cloves separated
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
4 handfuls of chard, washed and chopped roughly
A few handfuls of leftover ham
500ml hot vegetable stock or water

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees, GM6.
2 - Put the squash, garlic and onion onto a baking tray, season generously and toss with the olive oil. Roast for 30 minutes until golden and caramelised.
3 - Toss the chard in a hot pan for 5 minutes until wilted.
4 - Put the roast squash and onion into a blender. Squeeze in the sweetened roasted garlic cloves from their skins.
5 - Put in the chard, ham and stock then blitz until smooth.
6 - Pour into a pan and reheat. Taste for seasoning.

A kind of a rarebit

2008-09-24T15:23:00.005+01:00

What a place France is. Pretty much everything about it, from the obvious great food and wine, to the climate. Even their relaxed and easy going over-confidence and assurance in that everything in France is the best is appealing to me. It makes me laugh and hey, a bit of confidence never did anybody any harm.

In my opinion, the best bit about France is of course the food. They somehow manage to make the most basic of foods sound posh. Take the Croque Monsieur. Two slices of white bread with a bit of ham and cheese in the middle, dipped in egg and cream and then fried. In other words, eggy bread to you and I. Eggy bread with a bit of ham and cheese in the middle.

Stick a fried egg on the top, it becomes a Croque Madame. Hilarious and brilliant at the same time. And that is why I love the French; they could turn a dog's dinner into a Michelin meal I'm sure. Well, at least they would think it was anyway. And that is all that matters. Sod the rest and all that.

I am partial to a bit of eggy bread, so I had a play around with this idea last week. Same philosophy, egg, cheese and ham, but with a few roasted mushrooms in there for good measure. And what evolved was rather delicious, served alongside some sautéed new potatoes and watercress. And I named it my Mushyeggybreadinarushy, which isn't as posh or as desirable sounding as a Croque Monsieur, but I don't care. I'm taking the French attitude from now on. Confidence is a preference. Au revoir mon ami.

Mushyeggybreadinarushy
Feeds 2

Two large, thick slices of your bread of choice
Good sliced roast ham
200g field mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
25g butter
25g plain flour
250ml milk
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 tbsp English mustard
150g strong Cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and pepper

1 - First make your cheese and mustard sauce. Melt the butter in a pan and add the flour. Stir for one minute, then gradually add the milk, stirring all of the time until you have a thick white sauce. Stir in the egg yolks, cheese and mustard and taste for seasoning.
2 - Pre-heat the grill. Heat up the oil in a pan and add the mushrooms. Cook until beginning to turn golden and the water has evaporated.
3 - Toast the bread.
4 - Pile on the mushrooms, followed by the ham and then the cheese and mustard sauce. Place under the grill and cook until golden and bubbling.

Quick Damson Cheesecakes

2008-09-15T09:54:00.002+01:00

Lets face it, the seasons just aren't the seasons any more. After the wettest August for some years, September has continued in a similar vain. As I look out of my window at another overcast sky, it is easy to get down about the whole thing. But after the week from hell that I had last week, it is time to take positives from everything. Yes, even another grey day.

Autumn in just about upon us, and as a food obsessive, that is about as positive as it gets when it comes to great produce. I'm already saving every jar available ready for an evening or two of preserving. My demijohns are washed and sterilised in preparation for a litre or five of homemade sloe gin and sticky plum vodka. I've even put a goose on order and invited guests for Christmas Day.

A walk around a decent bit of countryside at this time of the year should indicate free food of all forms amongst the hedgerows and trees. One of my favourite is the wild plum, and in my area I've found a lovely patch of damsons. Small and oval shaped, deep purple with a powdery sheen to their skin, it is a truly great find. Slightly sweeter than a commercial plum, they can be plucked and devoured on the spot. And that can be a problem when your helper is a certain 3 year old plum lover.

I like to soften a few damsons in honey and vanilla which can then be used as a very loose jam for your toast, a great topping for yoghurt and muesli or just as it is with a little double cream for a simple dessert. If you are feeling adventurous, they also make for a nice topping on my quick and easy cheesecakes. So keep your eyes peeled and a plastic bag handy ready for them damson moments. I'm feeling positive already.

Quick Damson Cheesecakes
Feeds 4

8 ginger biscuits
50g butter
200g damson or plums
50g honey
200g cream cheese
100g icing sugar
A squeeze of lemon juice
300ml double cream
1 vanilla pod

1 – Line 4 individual ramekins with clingfilm.
2 – Grind the ginger biscuits down in a food processor. Melt the butter in a pan, add the biscuits and combine. Press the biscuit mixture into the ramekin dishes and place into the fridge.
3 – Half, stone then quarter the damsons or plums. Place into a pan with the honey and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes until soft then remove from the heat and cool.
4 – Beat the cream cheese, icing sugar and lemon juice together in a bowl. Whip the cream to soft peaks in another bowl, scrape in the vanilla seeds then fold into the cream cheese mixture.
5 – Press the mixture into the ramekins, smooth off then place back into the fridge for an hour or so.
6 – Remove from the ramekins and clingfilm, place onto serving plates and top with the softened damsons.

Wild Mushroom and Thyme Soup with Black Bream

2008-09-08T08:56:00.008+01:00

What an end to the strangest of weeks up here in the North East of England. The 'Messiah' himself, Mr Kevin Keegan, decides enough is enough at the Cirque Du Newcastle Utd and walks off in the huff. I found out somebody had been plagiarising my writing and recipes and printing them on their own website. Then some lovely people broke into my car in a school where I was working of all places and took my possessions, as well as putting a great big boot into my steering column just to make life even more miserable. Finally, the rain fell down on a humdrum town and washed us away for 3 days in a row just to remind us how miserable a week it has been. Thoroughly rotten.

Thankfully the sun shone through the black skies in the form of Flavour Magazine, the new publication that I am assistant editor for which finally came out on Friday. I just about managed to crack a smile of relief when our editor Kevin Wheatley delivered it on Friday evening. And after a weekend of digesting it, I'm back on form and wondering what all of the fuss was about.

Flavour celebrates all that is good to do with food and drink up here in the North East. If you are visiting these parts, please keep an eye out for it; all critique is appreciated. The same magazine has been established in Bristol and Bath for the past year so if you are a reader from the South West, you will already know about it. So here is a recipe adapted from the magazine that will hopefully brighten up your day if you are having a bad one. Seasonal wild mushrooms and fish in a bowl. Savour the Flavour. And if anybody offers you a 2nd hand sat nav in the pub tonight, point them in my direction.

Wild Mushroom and Thyme Soup with Black Bream
Serves 4

1kg wild mushrooms, either single variety or mixed
4 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 whole clove of garlic, unpeeled
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 litre vegetable stock
150ml single cream or crème fraiche
2 fillets of black bream
Salt and pepper

1 – Roughly chop up the mushrooms. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the mushrooms, onion, garlic clove, thyme and a good grinding of fresh black pepper. Cook off until the water has evaporated and the mushrooms are beginning to caramelise.
2 – Pour in the stock. Bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the garlic clove.
3 – Pour into a blender and puree until you have a smooth consistency.
4 – Return to a clean pan and pour in the cream or crème fraiche. Bring to the simmer and stir thoroughly. Taste for seasoning.
5 – Slice the fillets into 2 pieces. Season. Heat up a little olive oil in a pan and add the fish skin side down. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the skin is golden. Turn and cook for a further minute. Place a piece of fish into the soup and serve.

Pigeon, Squash and Beetroot with Hazelnut Dressing

2008-09-01T15:11:00.007+01:00

Linden Hall Hotel in Northumberland was the setting for Taste 2 last weekend. Once again, the place was packed with people wanting to taste and buy superb food from local suppliers. I love these types of events: likeminded people all in one field, being passionate about the subject of local and seasonal food. Well done Jane Hall at The Journal for organising yet another successful celebration of local food.

After my demonstration, I literally bumped into The Hairy Bikers who turned up as the stars of the show. It is hard to put into words how lovely they both are and it is rare that you get such 'down to earth' qualities within people who are so in demand at the moment. The people simply love them and personally, I think they deserve all of the success they get. They connect with the public with no ego or alternative motive, and that is an extremely important quality up here in the North East.

For my demonstration, I showed the audience a simple recipe using one of my favourite cheap eats at this time of the year, wood pigeon. It is a lovely little warm salad of sorts, a nice introduction to anybody who has never had pigeon before and still harbours suspicions. Judging by the elderly lady who had never eaten pigeon before who proceeded to snaffle most of the plate, it obviously worked. Roll on Taste 3.

Pigeon, Squash and Beetroot with Hazelnut Dressing
Feeds 4

1 butternut squash, deseeded, halved and sliced thinly
1 tbsp olive oil
8 rashers of streaky bacon or Parma ham
1 tbsp olive oil
2 beetroots, sliced thinly
500ml Sunflower oil
8 skinless pigeon breasts
2 tbsp fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
4 handfuls of hazelnuts, crushed
2 tbsp cider vinegar
3 tbsp apple juice
4 handfuls of watercress

1 – Pre-heat the oven to 200C, GM6. Put the squash onto a baking tray and toss with the olive oil and a little seasoning. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden.
2 – Heat a little olive oil in a non-stick frying pan then add the bacon or Parma ham. Cook on both sides until crisp and golden. Reserve on kitchen towel.
3 – Heat the sunflower oil in a large pan until. Place in a piece of beetroot and if it floats to the top instantly, it is ready. Place in the beetroot in batches and cook for 5-6 minutes until crisp. Remove and set aside on kitchen towel.
4 – Toss the pigeon breasts in the oil, thyme and a little salt and pepper. Heat up a pan until hot then place in the pigeon. Cook for 2-3 minutes each side then put aside to rest for 2 minutes. Slice each breast diagonally into 3 pieces.
5 – Keep the pan on the heat and put in the hazelnuts. Toast for 1 minute, then pour in the vinegar and apple juice. Bring to the boil then turn off the heat.
6 – To plate up, arrange the watercress on a plate. Place on a few slices of squash, followed by the pigeon. Tuck in the beetroot crisps then drizzle on a little of the hazelnut dressing.

Mustard Macaroni Cheese with Chorizo

2008-08-27T10:43:00.005+01:00

I always use holiday season as a good excuse to 'turn over' your fridge and freezer, to strip the cupboards bare ready for the winter hoard. However, if you are busy in your job, then that makes life a little awkward when it comes to feeding your family.

Knowing what to do with some store cupboard essentials and one or two fresh ingredients is the key, so it is always good to have a few simple recipes up your sleeve ready for these times.

At a food show I was presenting at on my return were the usual array of quality local suppliers. One supplier I've been a fan of for some time is Piperfield Pork of Berwick-Upon-Tweed. Using their herd of middle white pigs, Piperfield are producing incredible quality pork produce, including their take on a chorizo sausage. Not too salty, plenty of soft fat and paprika tinged meat, these chorizo are up there with some of the best Spanish chorizo I have ever tasted. If you can't take my word for it, ask Heston Blumenthal who has been using Piperfield pork at The Fat Duck some years now.

Thanks to one of their delicious sausages, it made that old standard comfort food of youth, macaroni cheese, into a memorable store cupboard meal for the family. Digging into the soft creamy pasta stuffed sauce and finding a nugget of crisp chorizo; do I really need to paint the picture? It is essential to strip, so be inspired and turn those cupboards over.

Mustard Macaroni Cheese with Chorizo
Feeds 4

50g butter
50g plain flour
500ml milk
150g Cheddar cheese, grated
1 tbsp English or Dijon mustard
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
250g macaroni cheese
1 chorizo sausage, cut into think slices
1 tbsp olive oil
50g Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 200C, GM6.
2 - Bring a pan of water up to the boil and add the macaroni. Boil for 5-6 minutes or 2-3 minutes less than the instructions state. Drain and reserve. Cool under cold running water if preparing in advance so that it does not overcook.
3 - To make the cheese and mustard sauce, melt the butter in a pan then add the flour. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Gradually add the milk, stirring all of the time until you have a smooth béchamel sauce. Stir in the cheese and mustards. Taste for seasoning.
4 - Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the chorizo. Cook until crisp in each side then drain on a piece of kitchen towel.
5 - Stir the pasta and sausage into the cheese sauce. Pour into a buttered casserole dish then cover with the Parmesan cheese. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until golden and bubbling. Serve with a simple green salad.

Easy Cassoulet

2008-08-21T08:50:00.003+01:00

The return from holiday is always an odd experience if you are British. If you have been to sunnier climates, you will know very well that sinking feeling as the aeroplane descends into your airport, especially if it is British summer time. From a week or two of freedom and hot sunny weather, you descend through the turbulence of dark clouds to a wet and familiar Britain to proceed with life as normal. The holiday is well and truly over.

Thankfully, France was delightful and the memories will linger long enough to banish any depressing thoughts. After an unsteady first few days of dark skies and the odd shower, the sun soon cracked the flags over the Pyrenees and gave us the weather that we craved. This paved the way for plenty of mountain biking, swimming in crystal clear lakes, laughing, chatting and singing and of course, eating and drinking. My favourite hobbies all in one.

The Eastern Pyrenees is home to many famous foods and wines, none more so than the cassoulet. Cassoulet is one of those recipes that have been written and debated about far too many times for little old me to cast any strong opinions on. I will leave the chemistry and history to the good people of this beautiful area of France to argue over as they have done so for many years. My description of it is posh sausage and beans. But this does not really give it the credit it deserves. Think of quality plump haricot beans with intense garlic pork sausage, rich and buttery confit duck and/or goose with a crust of crunchy breadcrumbs and you may get the picture. And I'm not even going to debate whether or not a cassoulet should have a crust on or not: it is as essential to my cassoulet as is beef with a Yorkshire pudding. But of course, that is my only culinary opinion on this fantastic, filling and sustaining peasant dish.

We ate our cassoulet with our friends, children and lovely hosts, Eileen and Alan who kindly put us up for the week. It was a famous holiday for many reasons, but Eileen and Alan were so accommodating, patient and kind. So I dedicate this famous French meal to them, as well as The Graingers for being amazing people and inviting us into their family home. And with my easy recipe which has been adapted to cut out a good few hours of preparation from some of the long and drawn out cassoulet recipes I have seen, they can impress their friends at any time of the year, summer or no summer, Britain or France. Holidays in the sun and happy days indeed, roll on the next one.

Easy Cassoulet
Feeds 6-8 people

500g dried haricot beans, soaked for at least 8 hours
8 slices of smoked streaky bacon, sliced
2 onions, roughly chopped
8 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced in half
1 handful of dried or fresh thyme leaves
3 bay leaves
3 cloves
400g tinned tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
12 large quality pork sausages, preferably Toulouse
6 pieces of confit duck or goose, or a mixture of both, excess fat removed and kept aside
500ml hot chicken stock
Salt and pepper
A bowlful of dried breadcrumbs

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees, GM3.
2 - Scrape off some of the duck or goose fat from the confit and melt in a large frying pan. Add the bacon and cook until golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep aside.
3 - Brown the sausages in the fat then remove and keep aside.
4 - Add the onions and garlic and cook until soft. Add the thyme, bay leaves, cloves, tomatoes and tomato puree and heat through. Season with a little salt and pepper.
5 - Drain the beans and reserve the liquid. Add half of the beans to a large casserole dish. Add the sausages, duck and/or goose, the bacon then the tomato, onion and herb mixture. Top with the remaining beans then pour in the stock until it just reaches the top of the beans. If there is not enough, add some of the water you used to soak the beans in.
6 - Cover and place into the oven and cook for 2 hours. Check every now and again to see if the mixture is boiling dry and top with reserved water when necessary.
7 - Melt some of the fat in a pan and add the breadcrumbs, thoroughly combining. Cover the casserole with the breadcrumbs and with the lid removed, place back into the oven and cook for a further 60-90 minutes until the topping is golden and crunchy.

Ratatouille with Mussels and Lemon Balm

2008-08-07T18:28:00.005+01:00

France beckons and I cannot wait. It is a country that I love and it has been far too long since I visited. What excites me the most is that we are hitting the south west, a region I have never been to before. And I gather that it is arguably the best region for produce. So you can guess what I will be doing whilst I'm there.

As a dedication to the more simple and rustic French cuisine that I prefer, tonight we knocked up that classic combination of fresh vegetables, ratatouille. Ratatouille has become my daughter's favourite meal. I'm not 100% sure why but I'm guessing that it might have something to do with a recently animated rat. Either way, it doesn't matter as this dish is so simple to make, packed with flavour and incredibly good for you.

In a little twist to the usual vegetables in a tomato sauce, I added a few handfuls of fresh and plump Northumbrian mussels, and a good dose of lemon balm rather than basil. Lemon balm is a herb that is rarely used in modern day cookery. But with its surprising citrus fragrance and earthy taste, it is a natural herb to accompany shellfish. It is brilliant in a lemon ice cream. And a few thrown into a teapot with hot water and a little honey makes a delicious tea. And with that, au revoir mes amis, je serai arrière bientôt!

Ratatouille with Mussels and Lemon Balm
Feeds 4

1 aubergine, cut into small chunks
2 courgettes, halved and sliced into chunks
1 yellow pepper, deseeded and sliced into chunks
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tins of plum tomatoes
1 tbsp balsamic or red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
4 handfuls of live mussels, cleaned
A handful of lemon balm or basil leaves, finely sliced

1 - Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the aubergine and cook, tossing regularly, until beginning to turn golden. Remove and set aside.
2 - Heat up the remaining tbsp olive oil and add the peppers and courgette. Cook, tossing regularly until beginning to soften and turn golden. Remove and set aside.
3 - Heat up the olive oil in a separate pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook for a few minutes then tip in the tomatoes. Bring to the boil, stir in the vinegar and cook for 10 minutes until beginning to reduce and deepen in colour.
4 - Tap any open mussels onto a hard surface. If they do not close, throw away. Put the mussels into the tomato sauce, put on the lid and cook for 5 minutes. If the mussels have not opened properly, throw away.
5 - Stir in the vegetables and heat through. Taste for seasoning. Sprinkle on the lemon balm and serve with rice or crusty bread.

Nettle and Cumin Paratha

2008-08-04T09:45:00.005+01:00

The old curry fix was required at the weekend. Sometimes I can go weeks without a hit of them familiar spices that always seem to soothe and satisfy me. And then something tells me that it is time and like a slave to Indian cuisine, I'm knocking up one of my tongue tingling curries.

I'm a big fan of Indian breads. They don't bloat me out as much as Western breads, probably due to the lack of yeast. They are also so simple to make and knock the socks off the commercially available Indian breads. Take a paratha, which is basically flour and water mixed into dough, rolled into a flatbread and dry fried. Nothing could be simpler, and it is also a basis for experimenting. Add roasted spices, stuff it with meats, fish or fresh herbs and you get a meal in a bread.

I'm still on a nettle fix, grabbing a few here and there before they soon turn tough, bitter and crystallised. A few blanched leaves with dry roasted cumin and added to the basic dough mixture produced a bread with a difference. The perfect accompaniment to any curry.

Nettle and Cumin Paratha
Makes 4

250g whole-wheat flour
1 tbsp cumin seeds
4 handfuls of spinach leaves
100ml milk
Salt and pepper
A little melted butter

1 - Pick and wash the nettles, then place into a hot pan. Wilt for 2 minutes, remove and squeeze out the water through a colander or sieve. Cool then finely chop.
2 - Put the cumin seeds into a frying pan and dry fry for 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Remove and place into a bowl with the flour and chopped nettles. Season with a little salt and pepper.
3 - Gradually pour in the milk, stirring with a wooden spoon until it combines to a stiff dough. Lightly knead then separate into 4 balls.
4 - On a floured surface, roll out the dough with your hands into a sausage shape. Then coil this around into a circle. Roll this out to a circle the size of a dinner plate. Then roll back up into a sausage and repeat 2 further times. Finish off with a circle, but not too thin.
5 - Brush one side of the paratha with a little melted butter. Place into a dry frying pan and cook for 1 minute, before turning, brushing with butter and cooking for a further minute. Keep cooking and flipping until the bread is golden brown and puffed up.
6 - Wrap in a tea towel and repeat with the rest of the dough.

Mussels, Samphire, Sage and Chilli Oil with Tagliatelle

2008-07-28T12:25:00.005+01:00

The mussels from Northumberland at this time of the year are outstanding. Plump, juicy and lightly fragranced from the sea that they are grown in, they are one of my favourite cheap and fast eats.

When I buy mussels, all I want to do with them is cook them quickly in nothing more than a glass of cider or wine, perhaps a handful of fresh herbs throw in, then eat with bread and butter. This is my personal treat, one that I can indulge myself with for no reason at all. Their taste is unique, quite hard to describe but one to savour, a true taste of the sea. Their texture is light, fluffy and melting. Unless you cook them for too long of course.

Sage is not a herb I would associate with shellfish too much but with a large sage bush in the garden not being used too much, I guessed an intense sage oil, injected with a bit of chilli heat, might be a flavour that the mussels could benefit from. With some tomatoes from the weekly organic bag, simply roasted whole and squashed with a fork, it all came together with fresh local samphire and tagliatelle to make for a very clean tasting, fresh and memorable tea. Flex your mussels.

Mussels, Samphire, Sage and Chilli Oil with Tagliatelle
Feeds 2

6 tomatoes
4 handfuls of mussels, de-bearded and cleaned
1 small glass of cider, white wine or water
2 handfuls of samphire
25g butter
8 rounds of dried tagliatelle

For the oil
A handful of sage
1 dried or fresh birds eye chilli, seeds removed
2 tbsp olive oil
A squeeze of lemon
Salt and pepper

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 180C, GM4. Cut a cross into the base of the tomatoes. Place into a baking tray and drizzle on a little oil. Bake for 20-30 minutes until softened and starting to colour. Pinch off the skins then mash the flesh roughly in a bowl.
2 - Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add the tagliatelle and cook for 7-8 minutes.
3 - Whilst the pasta is cooking, make the sage oil. In a pestle and mortar, grind together the sage and chilli with a pinch of salt and pepper to form a green paste. Add the olive oil and lemon juice. Taste for seasoning.
4 - Heat up another pan with a lid. Add the mussels then pour in your liquid of choice. Put on the lid and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the shells have opened. Discard any that remain shut. Throw in the samphire and butter and leave to sit with the lid on for 1 minute.
5 - When the pasta is cooked, drain and return to the pan. Tip in the roasted tomato flesh, mussels and samphire. Combine then serve into bowls.
6 - Drizzle with the sage oil and serve with some sage leaves crisped in a little olive oil.