I have become that new mother, the one that buys barrow loads of organic fruit veg and spends hours blitzing them into separate purees before carefully spooning them into individually portioned ice trays (ones specifically made for the purpose and purchased at an inflated price, of course).
Looks good huh? Not really!*
Turns out half a butternut squash makes a lot of mush. Luckily there are lots of good looking recipes for my leftovers in Plenty. Roasted butternut squash with sweet spices, lime and chilli and scrumptious looking sweet potato cakes are top of my list.
*After all that decided that baby led weening is a much more convivial introduction to food, now i’m over its yummy mummy-ish label. And, there are plenty of better things to do with veg (and the day) other than pureeing.
Man, this is hot! Good though. I’d seen it on Masterchef and was reminded that I wanted to make it when flicking through YO’s handsome looking vegetarian cookbook, Plenty. Recipe found on the Guardian website. Was missing some ingredients and was too impatient to cook the sauce properly but despite the shortcuts it still tasted tongue fizzingly good. Plain rice and steamed greens a perfect balance (oh and a v cold glass of prosecco). Actually after the first few mouthfuls you stop noticing the heat. I guess cos you cauterised your tongue! Want Plenty in my bookshelf now.
Wizzed up some crepe-style pancakes, then cracked an egg onto one half of each one while still in the frying pan. I let the egg cook through until nearly done, then topped with handfuls of grated emmental cheese and seasoned. Next I folded the empty half of the pancake over the cheese and egg and left for a minute until the cheese melted. A handful of spinach added with the cheese would have been nice too. Fab.
Spicy prawn stir fry
This is delish and ever so simple and quick to prepare.
450g raw prawns
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/4 seeds mustard seeds
1 clove garlic chopped
big squeeze of lemon
wash and dry prawns, coat with the ground spices and salt.
heat oil and add seeds to pan, when they pop add the garlic, stir once and add prawns. Turn down heat to medium – low and cook for about 3 mins, squeeze over lemon.
I served these with her suggestion of lemon grass/cardamon/clove infused rice and mushroom and pea curry. The mushroom curry i previously found a bit slimey, so this time I used flat field mushrooms which i first fried in the spice paste before adding tomato and water, I also followed ru’s lead and added bouillon, it was much better than my first attempt and far less slippery.
As requested Ru:
4 spring onions
1 carrot
1 stick o celery
1 or 2 chillis
I heaped tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp dried oregano
500g penne pasta
4 cloves garlic
4 tbsps balsamic vinegar
1 tin toms
sprig o basil
blitz veggies in food processor, add sausages (we use a small handheld blender and find the skins get caught on the blade so de-skin them) herbs and pulse until well mixed, fry this mixture with big glug of olive oil, breaking it up and stirring as you go, boil pasta, crush garlic into sauce mix, stir in vinegar and toms, add a little of pasta water if needed. drain pasta and add to sauce, add more cooking water if needed and tear over basil.
On our recent trip to Oxford, we had a pretty good meal at Brasserie Blanc. A starter of potted smoked mackerel with horseradish cream, followed by sea bream fillet, on a fricassee of squid, tomato and artichoke heart with a delicious bouillabaisse sauce. But the star of the meal was a pudding of rhubarb and custard; a little glass filled with stewed rhubarb, still pink and tart topped with a layer of creme anglaise. Think I’ll give this Nigel Slater interpretation of this classic pudding a go.
I’ve been on the look out for inspiring meat-free recipes for a while now. I often get bogged down with the limitations rather than focussing on the opportunities! Anyway, I watched Masterchef on the iplayer the other day and was inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookery challenge. Tonight I’ll be trying out his tomato and garlic barley risotto and I think I can feel a spring soup coming on. We’re even thinking of starting an Ottolenghi lunch club in work. I’ll let you know how it goes.
I finally got around to attempting to recreate the brunch I had a Black Cat Cafe a couple of weeks ago. The french toast was made from thick slices of white bread soaked in beaten egg flavoured with a pinch of cinnamon and icing sugar (one egg per slice of bread) and then fried in butter until golden. For the compote I stewed for half an hour 8 plums (a punnet) randomly chopped, (I wanted to create texture with chunky pieces rather have a baby food slop) along with about 100ml water, 60ish grams of caster sugar, a cinnamon stick, a clove and a star anise. A blob of greek yoghurt and a dusting of icing sugar and the tiniest bit more cinnamon completed the dish. Pretty good.
Raymond Blanc’s recipe for slow roasted shoulder of lamb produced a meltingly tender joint, as he says “you can cut eet wiz a spoon”. Very simple to do, just need 4 spare hours whilst it roasts. Served with his suggested potato and turnip dauphinoise and some kale fried with a bit of chilli and anchovy. Five stars.
Cake is now officially my staple food and with this fact firmly in mind I made myself a chocolate cake and make no mistake this is my cake. But as well as being greedy I am also lazy and said cake had to be made from whatever I had in the house. This what rachel ate recipe fitted the bill and moreover, I can report, is the best chocolate cake recipe ever. In the past I have had very little success with chocolate cakes, but this is as moist and fudgey as the good old Betty Crocker mix (yes I do make them on occasion but unlike my good friend don’t pass them off as homemade). And the best part it is made from cocoa powder and veg oil, admittedly the icing is cream and melted choc but you could obviously just use butter cream, I filled mine with fresh whipped cream. The recipe makes a whopping big cake, I actually put it in smaller tins than the recipe advises and each tin was big enough for a single cake when cut in half (one cake has gone in the freezer; frozen cake a tip I learn’t from Mrs Wood). So here it is: My chocolate cake a thing of beauty (but clearly not in the aesthetic sense!).
