Too Hungry to wait for supper

The likelihood of me ever being 'too hungry' to wait for my grub is pretty slim!

But last night i was so 'hungry' that i decided to create a little snackette.

Very easy. Very Quick. Not very healthy.

You will need:

1 vine tomato

a lump of cheese

sprinkle of Thyme

A sprig of parsley if you're feeling poncy and are planning on taking a photo of your snack!

Turn on the grill

Cut the tomato in half

Roughly cut off a lump of cheese

Sprinkle some thyme on the tomato halves

Balance the cheese on to the tomato halves

If you're tomatoes aren't balancing, with a serrated knife slice a very very very think slice off the bottom of the tomato so each half has a flat bottom.
Sprinkle a little more thyme on top of the cheese and a little grindy pepper

Place under the grill until the cheese has melted.

Scoff!

Super Fast Pea Soup

The girls came round for dinner a couple of nights ago, so I absolutely HAD to cook to impress - while at the same time remembering that i only had a short time to prepare!!

A time that was made even shorter by my soon to be new employer asking me in for a meeting (which is a good thing...........................)

I got home at around 7pm with everyone due to arrive at 7.30. I can't tell you how much i was hoping the Tudor Girls were going to be traditional and thus; turn up late!

Menu:

Minted Pea Soup

Roast Pork Belly

Mashed Potato

Leeks

Balsamic Strawberries

Crisis #1

No peas. I chose minted pea soup because i knew i DEFINITELY had loads of peas in the freezer!! Aaaah! The corner shop had a minute bag of petit pois - phew!

1 bag of frozen peas

1 leek chopped up

1 large garlic clove finely chopped

1 small glass of wine

Almost 2 pints vegetable stock

A large knob of butter

Salt & pepper

Put all the dry ingredients into the saucepan.

Add the stock.

Bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Then blitz the ingredients.

I just served it straight away, BUT if i were you, I would sieve it before serving as I found there were a few too many pea shells in there for my liking...

A fantastic starter for four or a midweek meal for 2.

The Great Afternoon Tea!

I confess I've been a bit useless at writing over the last couple of weeks. Rest assured good people of the Blog-o-sphere I am a) alive and b) still speedily expending my waistline!

I've been having tea!

Summer is apparently here, the sun has shone a handful of times and us Brits are excited! Tom Aikens has opened a deli where Townies and Bumpkin Tourists can feel like they are in their local farm shop, yet pop across the road to visit Somerset House, The London Eye and The National Gallery. Gordon Ramsay is suddenly waxing lyrical about picnic hampers. And of course every glossy food related article i see brings back a haunting memory of my burnt strawberry jam a couple of weeks ago.

Am i more susceptible to this foodie culture that has hit us because I'm writing about it? Or is it because I'm spending all day kicking myself because i forgot to write about it AGAIN?! Or is it simply because we all get so excited when summer arrives? Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall could waffle for days about his allotment, so could Jamie Oliver. Then of course you have the Coren's and Gill's of this world who dine out, literally (sorry, my simpleton's humour rearing it's ugly head) on good SEASONAL food.

I just get so so excited about seasonal food. I jump up and down when the Asparagus season starts, not just because my Mum spoils me more than usual by ensuring that every visit she makes to London, she is laden with Wykham Park Farm Asparagus. The main reason for my excitement at the asparagus season is that it marks the start of everything else.

Things just get better; strawberries, raspberries, Jersey Royals, (or even better in my opinion) Anya potatoes, beans, courgettes. It's just mind boggling what we can grow in the UK. OK, in London it is difficult and I'm often green with envy watching Jamie at Home or The River Cottage, because I, again, forgot to plant my potatoes and have spent my salary this month so can't afford to buy seeds and by payday it'll be too late - huge sigh of sympathy please!!!!

I've got a little overexcited by this seasonal stuff - I'll be worse when i get a chance to take some pictures of Jill's divine veggie patch in a month or so. Then the whole world will see how rewarding it is for people who don't have a TV crew following them to reap the rewards of The Good Life!

Oooh ho I'd love to be Barbara for a month - but with a bit of Margo's decadence thrown in for good measure!

Tea! Tea! I was supposed to be talking about Afternoon tea! Goodness me I'd make a terrible Restaurant Critic! Please don't anyone agree with that!!!

I can't claim to have made 90% of what's in the pictures below, with the exception of about a dozen of the larger amateurly (is that a word?) piped pink cupcakes.

So, as this is already too long, I'll let the pictures speak for me apart from a few well-chosen-not-the-first-that-came-into-my-head-at-all-words...

Scrumptious - Delightful - British - downright gorgeous!

Not my highest quality photos I'm afraid - i think my camera is dying - Good news for Giles Coren; bad news for me...

ONE more thing - a person called Luigi has made my week! he is my first Follower and the first person to comment on my Blog! I am so utterly thrilled!

Thanks Luigi!!

x

Junk

A wall has been hit.

I'm currently a bit too skint and a little too social to cook anything this week.
So, what do i write about. Shall i do what every other blogger out there is doing and blog about Sir Terry Leahy? How great he was for Tescos and how terrible he was for the general populations' expanding waistlines... it's all a little dull. What's more, I can't put any pictures in without offending fat people.

Wouldn't it be great if i could create a topic that bloggers would latch on to, but sadly my readership of around 5 people (though they are 5 very important people!!!!!) doesn't really count for a huge voice in blog land!

I think I'm going to have to write about the burnt jam and the floppy profiteroles.... I've been putting it off for too long!

Watch this space!

x

Scotch Egg Pasties

Another summer weekend, passed by in a haze of cookery, faffing and generally quite a bit of jolly good old-fashioned fun!

My fun, of course, involved the cooking side of things. I have been wanting to know how to make Scotch Eggs for a while and actually only discovered quite recently (to my horror) that they are deep fried!! So, when i saw the 'Scotch Egg Pasties' on the Good Food website - i obviously had to try them out.

OK, so a Scotch Egg is never going to be healthy, but these are a helluva lot healthier and actually they look a lot more appetising than the bright orange balls you get when you've deep fried (or bought) normal Scotch Eggs...

So, technically i can't take the credit for this recipe, but i did add some extra bits and bobs that weren't on the recipe, mainly due to the fact that i was only vaguely following it in the first place.

So, you will need (hang on - confession - I didn't make the pastry, the British Summer is too short to be making pastry)

1 pack short crust pastry

1 great big sausage of sausage meat

5 spring onions (finely chopped)

2 peppadew peppers finely chopped

Large slosh of Worcestershire Sauce

Lots of salt and pepper

About 4 sprigs of Thyme (finely chopped)

7 medium eggs (JUST hard boiled)

• Put the Eggs in a pan of water, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
• Drain, refill the pan with cold water and leave the eggs to cool in that while you get on with the sausage.
• Heat oven to 200 degrees (if you haven't got a fan then 220 degrees).
• Squeeze all the sausage meat out of the packet into a large bowl.
• Add the thyme, spring onions, peppadew pepper, Worcestershire Sauce and the seasoning.
• Squidge it all together, ideally with a hand, but i used a fork then a spatula to get it all off the sides of the bowl. Check it for seasoning - NOT by EATING it - but by smelling it, you'll just get this mouth-watering sausagey smell that will make you so impatient to hurry up and cook these flippin' things.
• Roll out the pastry and cut round disks, measuring about the diameter of a normal cereal bowl
• Carefully peel the eggs.
• Place the pastry disks on a floured surface
• Dollop and spread (almost to the edges) round a ball, ummm, bigger than a golf ball smaller than a tennis ball of the sausage mix. place an egg in the middle of each disk.
• 
• Wet the edges of each disk and gently pull the edges together and you will see a pasty shape being formed.
• 'Crimp' the edges. I'm not sure if that is a technical term but it involves putting the thumb and forefinger together on one hand and using the knuckle from the forefinger on the other hand.
• Place the thumb and forefinger together hand on one side of the stuck together edges and the knuckle on the other side and gently push together forming a relaxed v shape. continue this all the way round and it will look a bit like this.


• 
• Chill the pasties for 30 (ish) mins, brush over an egg wash and bake for 25 - 30 minutes

Now i really must say, that these smelt divine while cooking, were almost impossible to keep until the picnic (a mere 2 hours after cooking) and tasted utterly gorgeous hot and cold!!

And here they are:

Cecconi's Restaurant

Thankfully can say, hand on heart, that i did not take any photos of any of the food that was put in front of me. Following Giles Coren's musings in the Saturday Times today - it's not something i will try to do in the future either.

I have, only once mind you, taken photos of my food and that was at Bar Boulud about 3 weeks ago. I first scoped out the area surrounding my 'table' to check there were no staff in the immediate vicinity to look down on me and judge my food blogger status, i then got my friend to use his IPhone as there is no flash on that. I came out with two terrible photos; one of the Boulud Signature Burger, which looks dull and greasy even though it was nothing of the kind, and one of the halibut which looked even worse (not least due to the fact that I'd forgotten about my plan to take a photo and had ruined the arty-farty plate by taking a chunk out of the fish with a smear of the puree for my first mouthful!) As i have mentioned in a previous blog, the whole thing was fantastic, but if i was one of the MILLION people (hmmmmm, not quite there yet) reading this blog basing my opinion on photos subtly taken I would think twice about going to Bar Boulud and would consequently miss out of a splendid evening beautiful food, actually i think i need another word there, beautiful and hearty food!

I might mention that the likelihood of not being judged by any staff for my poor photo effort is minimal due to the fact that i was at the bar area eating my food, with no fewer than 8 chefs right in front of me.....

Back to Cecconi's....

It's been a while since i went to a restaurant that reminds me of my old days with D and D London, but Cecconi's is just that. A member of the Soho House Group, but with all the characteristics of a Conran Group (D and D London these days) restaurant.

Walking into the dimly lit restaurant i was hit by a wall of chatter indicating i was lucky my host was able to get a table as the place was absolutely full up.

Fantastic! a large glass of Pinot Grigio was placed in front of my seconds after i had ordered it - there is nothing worse than having to wait an age for your drink, particularly when it's Thursday evening, your dog tired and flustered because you were late arriving for dinner...

The menu is good simple Italian cuisine - need i say more.

After the initial lightening service we struggled to find a waiter to take our order, but hey, I had my glass of wine and we were having a very good catch up so it wasn't a problem.

I went for the Bresaola with Rocket and Parmesan, which arrived looking like the simple and delicious dish it turned out to be. I did have a small issue with the Rocket which knocked my little socks off - it was pungent stuff and a wee bit too much for me. My friend's starter of Prosciutto San Daniele with Gnocco Fritto was utterly divine. For the great unwashed like me a Gnocco Fritto is a fried dumpling looking rather like this:

Our main courses arrived pretty swiftly after the starters had been removed, I went for the Pan-fried Halibut with Asparagus and Salsa Verde. I don't really have a huge amount to say about it as it was so so good. The halibut gracefully fell apart at the lightest touch of my knife revealing the glistening flavourful slivers of flesh, just perfect. The asparagus was well cooked and the salsa verde was a n accompaniment that, until now i would have thought would over power the fish, but no; they are are perfect together.

I didn't try the Papardelle with Wild Boar Ragu but i was reliably informed that it was very very good, rich, but very good!

What a great place this was - the food was really good and not nearly as expensive as i had thought it was going to be, that said, I didn't pay so i needn't really worry about it!

Go to this restaurant - it's worth it.

Daddies - take your daughters after you've been for a fitting on Savill Row, they'll love it!

If you've got all the way to the bottom of this marathon entry - well done! I'm impressed, mainly by the fact that my excellent writing kept you reading to the end!

Lunch - Glorious lunch!

The burnt jam and the floppy profiteroles will have to wait!

I had such a good lunch yesterday, made by my own fair hand that i had to write about it.
The main reason for me wanting to write about it and do a recipe is due to the fact that i did it all while half awake - ie 7am, following a not particularly good night's sleep!

Here's what it looked like (and yes I did feel rather foolish taking pics of my packed lunch at my desk!)

Here's how to do it:

handful of Basmati rice (or use Brown Rice if you prefer - it just takes longer to cook)

1 chick stock cube

2 or 3 rashers of smoked bacon

1 bashed garlic clove

1 shallot

'Some'
Cucumber

tomato

Sun dried tomatoes (if you happen to have them)

lettuce

celery

Wake up grudgingly to the alarm. Snooze x 3

Flop into the kitchen, fill kettle and switch it on.

Shower

Put rice & crumbled stock cube into saucepan. Pour in boiling water plop in the bashed clove of garlic. I bashed mine by putting it under a fork and leaning on it, this ensured that A) it was still intact to pick out once the rice was done and B) my hands didn't smell of garlic for the next few hours.

Dice the shallot and add it to the boiling rice about halfway through the cooking. Chop up the bacon and add to the water as well.

It might seem odd to do this but the bacon doesn't loose its taste and you're not creating any extra washing up by frying it.

While the rice, shallot and bacon are finishing; chop up the cucumber, tomato, lettuce and celery.

Drain the rice and sloosh cold water quickly through the sieve to cool it down.

While it's draining, line the bottom of a Tupperware box with the lettuce. mix together the rice with the chopped tomato and the cucumber and tip it on to the lettuce. Sprinkle the celery on the top of the whole lot.

And there you have a fantastically yummy salad that is pretty healthy.

I was very surprised at how yummy it was actually...

Strawberry Blooming Jam!!

The phrase goes; 'Make hay while the sun shines' or something like that anyway! I can confirm it is definitely not; ' Make jam while the sun shines'. It is hot and sticky - literally, and when it goes wrong it's effing annoying!

I got home after a fab bank holiday weekend full of la joie de vivre ready and raring to get to work in the kitchen on strawberry jam!

You will need:

500g Caster Sugar with added pectin (setting agent)

1kg English Strawberries

Half a lemon

Hull and halve the Strawberries, then plonk them into a heavy bottomed saucepan (I used my Le Cruset coquette).

Add the sugar

Then with a potato masher squidge the strawberries until they are half and half mush to strawberry halves.

Put onto the hob on a medium heat and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 - 8 minutes. This really is all it needs and not the 25 minutes i boiled it for!

Skim off any white foam from the top and leave to cool for a little while.

Pour into jam jars, put a wax circle between the jam and the lid and label.

It's best to keep this in the fridge, there aren't too many jars that will take up too much space.

And there we have my jam!

There is a reason for the massively overexposed picture - it's so it doesn't show the black bits in the jar.

I burnt my jam!

I sterilised 5 jars and got 2, not even 2 but one and a half jars of slightly bitter Strawberry Jam!!!!

not happy!