Food From Your Garden.

I aspire to be a proper gardener.  That means having a beautiful garden but it also obviously means growing an abundance of beautiful things to eat.  My Granda and Grandma's garden when I was growing up was overflowing with amazing flowers and all sorts of goodies to eat.  The peas were always my favourite but I loved everything I ate from that garden.

Several years ago (and I think somewhere around 10-15 years ago), I found a copy of a Reader's Digest book, Food From Your Garden, in a second hand bookshop near Forres and bought it for myself while dreaming of one day having a thriving garden.  I love the book and look at it often.  

My attempts at producing anything edible are pretty modest.  I do grow a few herbs and tend to be self sufficient in salad leaves for a few months of the Summer.  I also have a good supply of rhubarb after getting plants last year from Little Macaroon and I grow the odd other thing from time to time. I tried my beloved peas last year but failed by not putting netting over them from the beginning and finding the seedling got demolished by the birds (I managed about 4 pods in the end - last year's post).  This year I have the netting all ready to go on from the start but none of my fresh seeds have germinated.  Not one. I guess that's what I get for buying cheap seeds from B&Q. Lesson learned.

We have acquired two tomato plants and three courgette plants (thanks Little Macaroon) so far this year and I will be doing my salad leaves again (so good to have a constant supply for the sandwiches).  Seems a bit pathetic but I had intended to concentrate on the peas.

However, this post is about a recipe for cream of spinach soup and I have to admit to having bought the spinach in the sad supermarket plastic bags. Sorry.

Dom from Belleau Kitchen asked us to do a healthy dish for this month's Random Recipes (check out his gorgeous-looking prune and almond brownies). I got together the books I felt I would be guaranteed to pick something healthy from and they amounted to this little selection - 

Food From Your Garden, Reader's Digest

Veg Patch by Mark Diacono

Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook

Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite

I used random.org which chose Food From Your Garden and I used it again to get a page number which led me to the spinach section. Excellent - I think I could do with topping up my iron levels.  

The recipe is very straightforward, quick and easy (yes, I did choose the easiest recipe on the page and I make no apologies for that).

Basically, saute some diced onion and carrot in some butter, add plenty of spinach.  Add some stock and parsley (aha - this DID come from my garden), a bouquet garni, some nutmeg and seasoning and simmer for half an hour then blitz.  Add the cream and heat through.

It recommended serving with croutons which are sprinkled with nutmeg - genius.  

What a wonderful soup.  I think the simplest and least fussy recipes are the best and I love how this is so healthy but tastes indulgent.  Maybe not quite as indulgent as Dom's brownies but I will be trying those very soon.  In fact, I reckon they would go with this recipe for a soup-and-pudding day.

I'm wondering about growing spinach next year.  It would do as one of my salad leaves for sandwiches and any leaves that I didn't get round to eating while young and tender would go to make this excellent soup.  In fact, I may decide to grow some this year instead of my peas.

I Love A One-Dish Recipe.

This is Mango chicken, bean and rice bake and is a recipe I had cut out of a recent Good Food.

It is exactly the kind of recipe I am likely to pounce on from a magazine because it is all made in one dish, takes just a few minutes of preparation then bakes in the oven for a while giving me time to set the table, listen to Boy 1 do his reading, get them to wash their hands, etc..  

I randomly chose this recipe from my cuttings file for this month's Random Recipes.

I did change it a little bit but not a huge amount so I'll just give you a rough idea of the recipe - one of these ones that is easy to play around with and bung things in in quantities that suit.

I blitzed in the processor some onion, garlic, chilli, coriander stalks, lime zest, lime juice, allspice and oil.  I then poured the paste over about 8 chicken thighs, covered and popped in the fridge for the day.  I had intended to do it the night before, but forgot.  It did make me feel very virtuous doing it before taking the kids to school in the morning, though, as usually I do nothing but grunt and drink tea in the mornings.

After school, I put 500g wholegrain rice into the bottom of an oven dish with a can of kidney beans.  I took the chicken out of the marinade and set aside then mixed the remaining marinade with  900mls of chicken stock and poured over the rice and beans.  I then placed the chicken thighs and a packet of frozen mango chunks on top of the rice and beans, covered the dish with foil and bunged in a moderate oven for 30 minutes.  I removed the foil, spooned some mango chutney over each chicken thigh, turned the oven up to high and returned the dish uncovered for another 40 minutes. 

It was rather nice.  I will certainly use the basic idea behind the dish and make my own variations.  Especially good for using up whatever you have in the house.  

I must say I get a lot of great recipes from Good Food.  They do a lot of budget or quick and easy meals  and, as you get the magazine a month in advance, great for seasonal ideas too.

My Cookbooks and Where They Live.

On the last day of July, Dom is going to do a round up of this month's Random Recipes and it is going to be a nosey-parker's dream!

Randomly enough, he has asked us all to post photographs of our cookbook collections and already I have been able to snoop into lots of lovely houses in the posts already up.  I think there is really something wonderful about seeing how other people arrange their homes, isn't there?

So, here are my photos.

The top photo is in my kitchen.  Those are the books that are out in the kitchen because I have been using them ar plan to in the next week.  My Kenwood Chef used to fill that space under the cupboards but, as you can see, it has now been crowded into a tiny area.

Now actually when I went to take photos of my cookbooks, I found that those from the top photo were actually being used to help with robot manufacture.  Here is the photo with Snappy the robot.

The majority of my cookbooks live in the book shelf in the garage.  Not the most idyllic of places but it is handy for the kitchen.

It is a hugely reduced collection as it was pared down before we moved house just over a year ago. Previously the whole bookshelf would have been filled. I do have loads of food magazines and Guardian Weekend cuttings all over the house and I often get cookbooks from our local library.  I LOVE my library service.  I reserve a book online (and have yet to find a book they don't have), it gets delivered to my local library, they text me when it is ready to collect (usually 2-3 days later) and there is no charge at all for this amazing service.  I am just away to order HFW's Everyday Veg book so I expect I'll get it very soon.  

Thanks Dom for an easy and fun challenge this month. 

RR 17 - The Middle One.

So after the last Random Recipes challenge where we made the first or last recipe from a randomly selected book, of course we had to have a challenge from Dom to made the middle recipe from a randomly selected book.  Only I didn't see it coming - I really am quite dense sometimes. 

My randomly chosen book this month was Meat by Hugh Fearlessly-Eats-It-All which has 523 pages up to the directory so the middle page is 261.  This is a page of text about slow-cooking. I chose to move forwards to the first recipe in the slow cooking chapter and it was Aromatic Pork Belly Hot Pot.  Mmmm, perfect, I am a huge pork belly fan.

And, luckily, the recipe is here at the BBC.

Lovely recipe - worked perfectly.  Ideal comfort food.  My only gripe with it is that it doesn't have enough vegetables for me to be using this as a regular family meal so next time I'll simply add some bean sprouts or Pak choi or oyster mushrooms to veg it up a bit.  Lovely cheap meal too with the belly pork.

Along similar lines but with pork fillet instead (although you could do a mix of the two recipes if you wanted to use pork belly) is Nigella's Vietnamese Pork Noodle Soup from Kitchen.  It uses a lot more vegetables and is particularly tasty which is probably why Little Macaroon recommended it to me. If you don't have Kitchen, you can find the recipe by googling.

Away to try and figure out what next month's random recipe challenge is going to be.  I haven't a hope!

Bruschetta - The First Recipe In Real Fast Food.

Plenty of time to join in May's Random Recipe Challenge which can be found at Belleau Kitchen.

This month we have to randomly choose a book and then make either the first or last recipe in that book.

I used random.org to choose my book and landed on one of my favourites.  It is Real Fast Food by Nigel Slater.  One of his early books and chock full of quick, simple recipes.  This book is especially brilliant if I happen to be cooking something quick and easy just for myself.  Some of the recipes are really little more than one or two line ideas but that is what it is so great about the book - it is heaving with inspiration for a quick meal or snack.

One of the first things I ever made from the book was the Hot Chicken with Cream and Garlic Sandwich and it is now something I do fairly regularly.  I will just suddenly have a craving for this recipe and nothing else will do.  It takes less than 10 minutes to make.

Anyway the first recipe in the book is bruschetta and the last recipe is Hot Red Fruits - a syrup of tart fruits and an abundance of ideas for using this for desserts or breakfast. Mmmmm.

I went with the bruschetta, though, and even though Mr Slater gives 5 variations, I chose the simple and basic one as it is the first in the book.

And who doesn't love a simple bruschetta?  I used wholemeal bread as I prefer it and scattered on a few basil leaves to gild the lily.  I'd say this recipe neatly sums up the book - really quick and simple food but it really hits the spot. 

You can't really improve on this recipe, can you?

1. Griddle some slices of a nice crusty loaf to toast them.

2. Arrange some sliced or chopped beautifully ripe and fragrant tomatoes on top.

3. Drizzle with good extra virgin olive oil.

4. Add some sea salt, black pepper and basil leaves if you wish.

5. Enjoy. 

And, yes, we had this for a family dinner.  No time cooking and a happy and well fed family. Perfect.

RR 14 - Oatmeal And Garlic Bread.

Dom's Random Recipe Challenge enters its second year and we were randomly asked to select our 17th cookbook on our shelves.

My 17th book is The Claire MacDonald Cookbook.  It is signed inside, "To Louise, With best wishes from Claire MacDonald of MacDonald March 2004".

Steve and I spent an amazing three days on Skye staying at Kinloch Lodge with the very charming MacDonalds and we spent one of our mornings watching her give a cookery demonstration.

I have wonderful memories of that trip.  The food in the hotel was wonderful and we spent the days walking on the beautiful and empty beaches of Skye with our dog at the time, Che, looking forward to our dinners.  

I see they have a Michelin star now.  I think that must be recent, don't think they had it when we stayed although I couldn't have faulted the food or service.

Have a look at the link above for Kinloch Lodge - the scenery is out of this world.  We really did have all the stunning, rugged beaches completely to ourselves.

Anyway, back to the bread.  I completely forgot to take any decent photos.  I served the first loaf with a bacon and avocado salad as recommended by Lady MacDonald and they went together beautifully.  The bread has the great rustic texture provided by the oatmeal and a lovely subtle taste of garlic.  I froze one of the loaves and I am convinced that when defrosted and used, the garlic taste was more pronounced.

My 5 year old bemoaned the fact I gave him non-home-made bread with his soup yesterday.  These kids must be spoiled!  I agree, though, the bought bread is nowhere near as interesting as home-made.  I love wholesome breads and I love quirky variations like this one.  Another successful random recipe. 

Roast Onion Soup with Thai Spices (RR 10).

A bit of cross-breeding in blog challenge world has resulted in Random Recipes Does No Croutons Required or No Croutons Required Does Random Recipes depending on which host you visit.  So this month we all have to make a soup randomly chosen from our recipes at home.  This challenge runs to the end of the month so plenty of time to join in for anyone who fancies a bowl of warming soup.  Just click on either of the links.  

I opted to use random.org to get a number then counted along my cookbooks and landed on Real Cooking by Nigel Slater.

  

Look how young Nigel looks there!

Anyway, I went to the index and found that there are 10 recipes listed under "soups" so I used the random number generator again and it chose Cream of Roast Onion Soup with Thai Spices.

Nigel calls it "Sweet, sour, hot and creamy.  A soup to invigorate".  I have to agree.  This was absolutely delicious.  Amazingly easy to put together and tasted like it took way more effort.  I love the Thai flavours here (I missed out the ginger) and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It's a funny soup - both comforting and warming, and also refreshing and zingy - really hots the spot.  Glad I made this recipe.

Recipe - adapted from Real Cooking by Nigel Slater.

Serves 4.

Ingredients - 

4 medium sized onions

4 plump cloves of garlic

1 L of vegetable stock

1 tbsp Thai fish sauce (Nam pla) - now this recipe is supposed to be vegetarian for the challenge so you can just miss out the Nam pla unless anyone has any great ideas for a vegetarian substitute for me?

2 small red chillies, seeded and chopped

400ml tin of coconut milk

Grated zest of 1 lime

Juice of 2 limes

Method - 

1. Cut the onions in half vertically, skin and all.  Place in a roasting tin and roast at 200C/GM6 for about 45 mins, turning once.

2. Add the whole garlic cloves after about 20 mins.

3. When the onions are golden and soft, peel off the skin and slice into big chunks - whatever you think you can eat without making too much mess!  Nigel doesn't slice his at all - just separates the layers but either my onions were too big for that or my mouth too small. 

4. Drop into a deep saucepan.  Add the roast garlic, squeezed from the skin, the stock, the fish sauce and chillies.

5. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.

6. Stir in the coconut milk, bring back to simmering point, then taste for seasoning. Add salt or soy sauce if needed.  I added some of my posh soy sauce for the depth of flavour and a little sea salt for an extra kick of saltiness.  

7. Add the lime zest and juice just before serving.

Mint Chutney - RR 9, Part 2

This is Steve's post for Random Recipes this month. Steve was randomly paired with the very lovely C from Cakes, Crumbs and Cooking (check out all her recent recipes for chocolate week!).  She chose number 44 out of our 53 cookbooks which was The New Penguin Cookery Book by Jill Norman.  She then chose page number 383 which gave a recipe for a mint chutney.  Am I allowed to say that C has 191 cookbooks?  Wow!

Okay, here's Steve's bit -
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Indian-Spiced Lamburgers with a Mint Chutney (Serves 4)

Recipe for the Lamburgers (from The River Cottage Meat Book)

500g of minced lamb

2 small dried red chillies (possibly too many for the kids…)

1 teaspoon of coriander seeds

½ teaspoon of fenugreek seeds

½ teaspoon of mustard seeds

½ teaspoon of black peppercorns

1 tablespoon of olive oil

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

salt

Split the chillies open and remove and discard the seeds. Place in a pestle and mortar with the other dry spices and pound to a coarse powder.

Put the lamb in a bowl and mix with the oil and garlic, massaging it well so that is covered with a light film of oil. Toss thoroughly with the pounded spices and then leave to marinate for at least 2 hours.

Form into patties 2cm thick and barbecue (or fry – I fried) for 4-5 minutes on either side, till nicely browned and cooked through.

Recipe for the Mint Chutney (from The New Penguin Cookery Book)

1 handful of mint leaves

1-2 green chillies, seeded and finely chopped

½ tsp of sugar

salt to taste

5tbs of plain yoghurt

Blend the mint, chillies, sugar and salt to a paste in a food processor or pound them in a mortar. Blend in the yoghurt.

I got a bit lucky with this challenge as the random recipe chosen for me was the mint chutney which was basically “bung everything in a food processor”. I thought the chutney on its own would have made a great lunch but Louise overruled me and I had to do an accompaniment for the chutney, hence the lamburgers.

I should perhaps have worked this out in advance but I overdid the chillies in both recipes, with the result that it was all a bit too hot for our two kids, no matter how much extra yoghurt I ploughed into the chutney. If I was to make it again, I would probably leave the chillies out of the chutney altogether and let it be a more cooling accompaniment to the lamburgers.

Blast From The Past - RR 9 , Part 1.

This month, for Random Recipes 9, Dom paired us all up and we had to choose a recipe for our "other half" to cook.  I was very lucky to get paired with the very lovely BrownievilleGirl.  I didn't need any introduction; I have been following her blog since I discovered the world of food blogs.  I had to tell her the number of cookbooks I own.  It was 53 at that point.  We had done a major cookbook cull before moving house so it's fairly manageable at the moment.  BVG randomly chose number 33 for me which happened to be Tempted; 150 Very Wicked Desserts.  This happens to be one of Steve's books.

I then told BVG how many pages there were and she chose page 357 for me and the recipe on that page is Creamy Coconut Ice.

Now, this is something I have made before and my Mum made it for me when I was a little girl so I am quite familiar with it.  Here is the recipe.

Makes 30 pieces.

Ingredients - 

250g icing sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

395g tin condensed milk

315g desiccated coconut

pink food colouring

Method - 

1. Grease a 20cm square cake tin and line the base and two opposite sides with baking paper, extending the paper over the sides for easy removal later.

2. Sift the icing sugar and cream of tartar into a bowl.  Make a well in the centre and add the condensed milk.  Using a wooden spoon, stir in half the coconut, then the remaining coconut.  Mix well, using your hands.  Divide the mixture in half and tint one half pink.  Using your hands, knead the colour through evenly.

3. Press the pink mixture evenly over the base of the tin, then cover with the white mixture and press down firmly. (The mixture is VERY thick and so actually spreading it out in the tin needs a lot of patience!) 

4. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours, or until firm.  Remove from the tin, remove the paper and cut into pieces.  Store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 3 weeks.

So, who can resist taking a spoonful of condensed milk from the tin before you do anything else with it?  And licking the spoon afterwards like a thing possessed?  Well, my 4 year old, it seems.  Whoever heard of a child who doesn't go crazy for condensed milk?

My 54th cookbook arrived the following day.  As a Guardian Weekend fan, I couldn't resist Dan Lepard's new book Short and Sweet.  Especially after seeing all of Vanessa's enthusiastic Tweets.  (I'm trying to master the art of Twitter.)

It looks amazing and I can't wait to get started baking from it.  While flicking through it I noticed a recipe for coconut ice, would you believe?  He uses mascarpone instead of condensed milk and he makes the pink layer by substituting half the mascarpone for fresh raspberries.  Now doesn't that just sound wonderful?  I will certainly be trying this method and doing a compare and contrast but it may be some time before I do this as I have half a ton of coconut ice waiting to be eaten up and I'm sure we'll all be sick of it by the end.

Thanks BrownievilleGirl for being my better half this month.  I can't wait to see what she makes - she has given me a slight clue and I really can't wait.  Will be right up my street!

And thanks Dom for continuing to run this wonderful challenge and for keeping it fresh and exciting. 

Doesn't this just look like a plate of dainty ham sandwiches?

Random Recipe 8 - Part 1 - Saffron, Chickpea and Tomato Soup.

For this month's random recipe we had to randomly choose from our selection of loose recipes torn from newspapers, magazines, hastily written on scraps of paper.  As we moved house only a few months ago, I had vastly reduced my mountain of recipes so it wasn't so unmanageable.  This challenge will help get a couple of those that are left transferred on to the blog.  The best thing is that I am the only one who saves recipes in this house so whatever I chose and whatever Steve chose would be something I really want to eat.  Yay!  Steve chose a recipe that I will absolutely love.  It is quite girly and quite a show stopper so I'm delighted that he is going to go ahead and make it for me.  He'll be doing that this weekend so look out for it in part 2.

The recipe I chose was a scrap which looks like it has come from a magazine but it doesn't have the source written anywhere on the page.  I must have collected it before my blogging days.  It is Saffron, chickpea and tomato soup and it is really easy to make, healthy and full of flavour.  Perfect family food.  So, I feel awful that I can't credit it properly.  If anyone recognises it, let me know.  Of course, there are loads of similar recipes about.  I make versions of this all the time and yet I still seem drawn to any recipe like this and have to collect them all.  I don't think I would change this one much.  I might add some red pepper now and again just to beef it up a bit.

Both boys wolfed this down.  That's the best part!

Recipe - 

Serves 6. (I used very large onions and more chorizo and this soup has given us about 8-10 servings)

Ingredients - 

4 tbsp olive oil

2 onions, diced

1 clove garlic, finely diced (I used 5 or 6 - personal taste)

Large pinch of saffron strands

1/2 tsp caster sugar

small bunch of flat-leaf parsley

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp smoked Spanish paprika

2 X 400g cans chopped tomatoes

2 X 400g cans chickpeas, drained

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper

110g chorizo (I used the already cooked stuff and I used probably about 4 times this amount)

Method - 

1. Set a large saucepan over a medium heat.  Add 3 tbsp olive oil, followed by the diced onions and garlic.  Fry gently for 10 minutes or until soft and golden.

2. Place the saffron strands in a small bowl (or pestle and mortar) with the sugar, and using the back of a teaspoon, crush into a fine powder.  Stir in 200ml boiling water and set aside.

3. Strip the parsley leaves from their stems.  Save the stems and roughly chop the parsley leaves.

4. Mix the cumin seeds and paprika into the softened onion and continue to fry for 2 mins.

5. Next, add the canned tomatoes and the saffron water.  Rinse the saffron bowl with a further 400ml water, add tot he tomatoes and bring to the boil.

6. Meanwhile, rinse the drained chickpeas and stir into the soup with the bay leaf and parsley stalks (Tie them with string to make it easier to remove them later).  Adjust the seasoning to taste, turn down to simmer for 30 mins, then season again, to taste.

7. Shortly before serving, reheat the soup.  Cut the chorizo at an angle into thick slices.  Place a nonstick frying pan over a medium-high heat, and once it is hot, add the remaining 1tbsp oil and the chorizo.  Fry briskly for 1 min on each side until crisp, then remove and drain on kitchen paper.

8. Ladle the soup into individual bowls, garnish with the chorizo and sprinkle generously with the chopped parsley.  Serve immediately.

If you want to join in with this random recipes challenge, you have til the end of them month or check Dom's blog for the next one - he does them at the start of each month.

Random Recipe 7 - Part 2 - Lou's Seared Beef Tataki With Wasabi Mashed Potato.

This was the random recipe I got this month for Dom's challenge.  See here for Steve's challenge.

This was DELICIOUS!!!!  The recipe is from Yo Sushi: The Japanese Cookbook by Kimiko Barber.  We got the book from Steve's older sister and her husband at Christmas and this is only the second recipe I have made from it so far.  

And this recipe came at a fantastic time too as my good friend who is currently living in Singapore brought me home a couple of bottles of amazing soy sauce.  I will tell you more in my next post - who would have though soy sauce was so fascinating?

Recipe - 

Ingredients - 

450g (1lb) beef fillet - a long thin piece works better than a thick piece

salt and ground black pepper

100ml (3.5 fl oz) rice vinegar

2 punnets cress, to garnish

spring onion, to garnish (optional)

for the sauce

100ml (3.5 fl oz) soy sauce

20g (0.75 oz) fresh root ginger, peeled and grated (not in my version thank you very much)

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

2 spring onions, finely chopped

for the wasabi mashed potato

600g (1.25 lb) all-purpose potatoes, such as Desiree or King Edward, peeled

50g (2oz) butter

4 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp wasabi powder, mixed to a paste with water

4 spring onions, finely chopped

Method - 

1. For the wasabi mashed potato, chop the potatoes into small chunks and cook with just enough water to cover for 10 mins or until soft.  Drain and add the butter while the potatoes are still hot.  Mash them while pouring in the mirin and wasabi paste.  Continue to mash until smooth then stir int he spring onions, seasoning with salt, if needed.  Cover the pan to keep the potatoes warm while you cook the meat.

2. Heat a heavy, cast iron griddle pan over a high heat.  Sprinkle the beef all over with a generous amount of salt and pepper and rub it in.  Sear the beef on the griddle for i minute each side, until both sides are browned.  Transfer the beef to a chopping board, cut into thin slices, then place in a non-metalic dish and pour over the rice vinegar.  Put each slice on a chopping board and slap witht he palm of your hand - this tenderises the meat.

3. Make the sauce by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl.

4. Arrange the meat on 4 plates, drizzle over the sauce, garnish with cress and spring onion, then serve with wasabi mashed potatoes on the side.

  

Random Recipe 7 - Part 1 - Steve's Easy Cheesy Bread Rolls.

We went back to basics for this month's Random Recipe Challenge.  Dom asked us to randomly choose a cookbook from our whole collection and then randomly choose a recipe - no cheating!

Steve got Annabel Karmel's Mummy and Me Cookbook.  Steve actually uses this book quite a lot despite the obvious sexism in the title - harumpph!  His recipe was Easy Cheesy Bread Rolls.  Now, Steve is the breadmaker in this house so this wasn't exactly a huge challenge for him (I'm secretly hoping he'll get my cakepop book to make something out of sometime - now that WILL be funny!) but you can't go wrong with cheesy rolls in this house.

They made lovely rolls enjoyed by all in this animal enclosure.  They would go especially well with some broccoli soup, I think.  

Apart from the sexist title, we like this book.  It was a present for Rufus' first birthday from a couple of his friends.  A good balance of meals, snacks and sweet treats and each recipe gets a double page spread, beautifully laid out with step-by-step pictures and nice, clear instructions.  Of course, the photographs show impossibly perfect little cherubs amazingly clean while rolling out dough or whatever and smiling beautifully.  But then again, I don't show the worst of the photos on my blog - kids helping in the kitchen in their pants with all the dirty dishes piled high in the background.  Or, I try not to, anyway.  Have to say, though, that Annabel Karmel kind of makes me want to rebel against the whole perfect Mummy cooking with her children thing.  So, I guess what I am saying is that we really like the book even though we really want to hate it.

Anyway, on to the recipe - 

Easy Cheesy Bread Rolls from Mummy and Me Cookbook by Annabel Karmel.

(Makes 8 rolls or 16 mini rolls)

Ingredients - 

1 X 7g fast-action yeast sachet

1 tsp sugar

150ml hand-hot water

55g mature Cheddar cheese

30g Parmesan cheese

225g white bread flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 egg

sesame seeds, sunflower seed, pumpkin seeds and poppy seeds

Method - 

1. Put the yeast in a small bowl with the sugar.  Add 50ml of water and stir to dissolve the yeast.  Leave to stand for 5 mins.

2. Meanwhile grate the Cheddar cheese on the large holes of a box grater and grate the Parmesan using the fine holes.

3. Put the flour in a large bowl and stir in the salt.  Make a dip in the centre and add the oil and the yeast liquid.

4. Add the rest of the water and mix to a soft dough.  Add a tsp of extra water if the dough is dry.

5. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth - this will take about 10 mins.  Use the heel of your hand to work the dough.

6. Pat the dough out into a circle about 20cm across.  Spread the grated cheeses over it, then fold the dough in half.

7. Fold in half again, so that the cheese is enclosed.  Knead for 1-2 minutes more to work in the cheese.

8. Divide the dough into 8 pieces (or 16 for mini rolls) and form each one into a ball.  Put on a lightly oiled baking sheet, about 5cm apart and press down slightly.

9. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm, draught-free place for 40-45 mins. The rolls are ready to bake when they are roughly double their original size.  Preheat the oven after 35 mins to 200C/400F/GM 6.

10. Beat the egg with a pinch of salt.  Uncover the rolls and brush the tops with a little of the beaten egg.  Sprinkle them with seeds, then put them in the oven.

11.  Bake the rolls for 12-14 mins.   

Random Recipe 6 - Favourite Cookbooks.

Dom asked us to choose our favourite cookbook and randomly select a recipe from it for this month's Random Recipe Challenge.

Picking the books was easy.

My favourite cookbook is Appetite by Nigel Slater.  I spoke about my love for this book in this post.

Steve's favourite book is Moro by Sam and Sam Clark.

We got the kids to choose our random recipes for us.  My page was number 252 which was grilled vegetables.  One of Nigel Slater's ideas for using them was as part of antipasto.  Steve's page was 36 which was ideas for putting together mezze.  I sense a theme and I imagine Dom is going to accuse us of cheating.  Well I did cheat a little bit - the first page Adam selected for me in Appetite was a lovely looking recipe for lamb shanks but I didn't have time to order them from the butcher and the recipe also uses an entire bottle of rioja so I thought I would keep the recipe for a time when the kids are away and make a special meal for the two of us. Sorry.

We made our meals this weekend.  Steve made mezze for lunch and I made antipasto for tea.

Lunch was wonderful!  Steve chose to make flatbreads, baba ghanoush, falafel and carrot and cumin salad.

They went together really nicely to give quite a special lunch.  It did take him all morning to put together, though so full marks for effort.  

Recipe - Flatbread from Moro.

Makes 4 breads.

Steve makes this recipe a lot - nothing beats freshly made bread.

Ingredients - 

200g strong white bread flour

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1/3 level teaspoon dried yeast

170ml tepid water

1 tbsp olive oil

Method - 

1. Place the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Dissolve the yeast in the water and then pour the oil into the water.  Now pour the water into the flour a bit at a time while mixing.  We like to do this by hand, squelching out the lumps as they appear.  When all the water is added, transfer to a floured surface and knead well.  If the dough is sticky, add a little more flour; if it is still crumbly add a little more water. Continue kneading for about 5 mins until the dough is ever so slightly tacky but soft, elastic and smooth. Set aside to rest for 45 minutes on the floured surface covered by a cloth.

2. Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/GM 8.

3. Divide the dough into four, and roll into balls.  On a generously floured surface, with a rolling pin gently roll each ball to approximately 3-5mm thick, making sure the shape is a rough circle about 15-20cm in diameter or oval about 15cm in length.  Place on a flat, oiled baking tray and bake in the top of the oven for about 5-10 mins.  Each bread should partially bubble up and colour slightly yet not be totally crisp.

Recipe - Baba Ghanoush from Moro.
Serves 4-6.
I absolutely devoured this - perfect with the flatbread.

Ingredients - 
3 large aubergines, about 750g - 1kg in total
2 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste with 1 tsp salt
juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp tahini paste
4 tbsp olive oil
sea salt and black pepper

Method - 
1. Pierce the skins of the aubergines to prevent them from exploding and grill whole over a hot BBQ, directly on the naked flame of a gas hob, or under the grill until the skin is charred and crispy all over and the flesh is very soft.
2. When cool enough to handle, discard the tops and peel off the skin, scraping the flesh from the back of the skin if necessary.
3. Place the flesh and any juices in a large mixing bowl and either whisk or beat by hand until almost smooth.  Add the garlic, lemon juice, tahini and olive oil, stir in and taste for seasoning.


Recipe - Carrot and Cumin Salad with Coriander.
Serves 4.
Everyone knows how well carrot and cumin go together.  This one was a hit with the kids and was actually very refreshing.

Ingredients - 
450g carrots
2/3 tsp cumin seeds
1 garlic clove
juice of 3/4 lemon
1/3 tsp caster sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small bunch fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
sea salt

Method - 
1. Peel the carrots and boil whole in salted water until they are tender.  Drain the carrots, spreading them out to cool and dry before slicing quite thinly.
2. To roast the cumin seed, place in a small saucepan and stir over a medium heat until you notice the colour beginning to change (about 2 mins).  Pound the cumin in a mortar and pestle, then add the garlic and 1/2 tsp salt and pound some more.
3. Mix the lemon juice, sugar and olive oil into the garlic mixture.  Now toss the carrots in the cumin dressing with the coriander leaves.  Serve at room temperature.


Recipe - Falafel from Moro.
Serves 4.

Ingredients - 
250g dried fava beans, soaked overnight (Steve used dried chickpeas)
3 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste with salt
1 large bunch fresh coriander, roughly chopped
1 medium bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, roughly ground
1 tsp coriander seeds, roughly ground
1/2 onion, grated
50g chickpea flour or plain flour
1 egg
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
750ml sunflower oil for deep-frying
4 tbsp sesame seeds
sea salt and black pepper

Method - 
1. Drain the beans well and place half of them in a large saucepan.  Fill with fresh cold water and bring to the boil.  Reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for 5-10 mins or until tender, skimming off any scum as it builds up.
2. Meanwhile, place the raw beans in a food processor and pulse until more or less smooth.  Transfer to a mixing bowl and repeat the process for the cooked, drained beans.
3. Add the garlic, coriander, parsley, cumin and coriander seeds, onion, flour, egg and bicarbonate of soda.  Mix well and season with salt and black pepper to taste.
4. Shape into balls no larger than a walnut, the gently flatten each one into a disc about 2cm thick, 5cm in diameter, making sure the edges don't crack.  Place the sesame seeds on a plate and dip the falafel until coated all over.
5. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and when the oil is hot but not smoking, add the falafel in batches.  Fry until golden brown on both sides, remove and drain on kitchen paper.

So, then onto my antipasto.  I was to make roasted peppers and roasted aubergine and I decided to serve it with lots of bought things as recommended by Nigel himself - Parma ham, crostini with bought tapenade and some olives (and watermelon because we had some leftover).

I charred 4 red peppers but the yield from them was pathetic so I sent Steve out to get me a jar of roasted peppers to supplement mine.  So basically, this was a meal bought from the supermarket and the only thing I added was some roasted aubergine.  Well, the aubergine was lovely - but hardly a great effort from me.  Steve was most put out that I hadn't bothered to make my own tapenade and when I thought about it, I realised it really was a poor show!  Steve's comment was, "Are you joining a new group? The Daring Shoppers?"  Hmmm - I guess I deserved that.  

Here is Nigel Slater's very nice recipe for the grilled vegetables.

Recipe - Grilled Vegetables For A Salad, Light Lunch Or Antipasto by Nigel Slater from Appetite.

Ingredients - 

red peppers - 1 per person (I would say 3 or 4 - or, better still, buy a jar!)

olive oil

aubergines - a large one will be enough for 2 people

herbs - a few soft-leafed ones such as basil and oregano (I used basil, lemon thyme and parsley as that is what is good in my garden just now)

garlic - a clove per person

lemon - half a small one per person

Method - 

1. Set the oven to 200C/GM 6.  If the peppers are particularly plump, slice them in half; smaller ones you can cook whole.  Put them in a roasting tin or baking dish, drizzle with a little oil and bake until their skins are blackened and their flesh soft - about 30 to 50 minutes.  Leave then until they are cool enough to handle, then seed and skin.  Save any juices that come out.

2. While the peppers are cooking, put a ridged grill pan over a low to moderate heat and wipe and slice the aubergine.  Aim for slices no thicker than your little finger.  Brush the aubergine with a little oil, grind over a little salt and place them on the grill.  After 3 or 4 minutes they will be starting to brown.  Turn them over and let the other side cook till it is golden, with deep black lines on it from the grill bars.  These are what will give the aubergine a smoky flavour.  Each slice should be crisp on the outside and juicy in the middle - it is essential that they are cooked right through to the centre.  

3. Remove the aubergine from the grill and place them in a serving bowl.  Tear up a small handful of herbs.  Scatter them, along with the peeled and thinly sliced garlic, over the aubergine.  Generously crumble some sea salt and grind some black pepper over the vegetables, then drizzle with olive oil, any of the sweet, reddish-brown cooking juices from the peppers and some lemon juice, gently tossing them around with the herbs as you go.  Drizzle the peppers with the same dressing.  Set aside until the vegetables are at room temperature.

So, there you go - a most definite win for Steve.  I won the Nun's Farts, the Praised Chickens was a draw given that we collaborated and Steve magnificently won the battle of the small dishes.

So, 1-1 as we move into the next round.  I am looking forward to finding my fighting spirit again.