• Blog

    Gingerbread Zombies

    6 November 2018 - By 

    So I missed Halloween by a little… When isn’t the right time for edible zombies, is my question? The recipe calls for an intricate, fussy pattern produced by a rolling pin then cut into squares. The whole book is a little fussy if you ask me. Gingerbread is acceptable in two forms: God’s own form is of course the simple, slightly chewy blocks of pleasure from Grasmere. That heavenly scent – spice and butter – wafting over the mountains and calling like a siren to any unwary rambler. But short of that it must be in the shape of a…

  • Blog

    Dosa-Spiced Potato Cakes Florentine

    2 November 2018 - By 

    Aka. God-Damn it Hollandaise, why can I never make you right? I am inept at this sauce. I made this twice tonight and the best I could do was "curdled but edible" it may be something do do with keeping a low heat under the eggs and having some patience. But this is so much more volatile than custard, where I can only guess the cream stabilises the egg yolk. Also in this meal was another tricky customer that I’ve historically found very difficult, the poached egg. However some time ago this silken delight whispered its secrets into my ear…

  • Blog

    Dosa-Spiced Potato Cakes and Cucumber Pickle

    31 October 2018 - By 

    The trick here is to keep the potato cakes to a typical burger size, no bigger. I found that making them bigger makes it tricky to cook and keep whole. Also, make sure the cakes are pretty cold before you fry them; use a modest amount of oil, don’t try to deep dry them. And keep the heat under control. You want a nice crisp, but it’s easy to burn. Done without the suggested mustard seeds, which I think would have helped. Very nice, lots of luxurious textures, especially if you get the crisp on the potato. The cucumber is…

  • Blog

    Jam Roly-Poly

    8 October 2018 - By 

    This is just delightful. I had no idea this was so simple, shortcrust pastry, not sweet pastry, rolled out to a square about half a centimeter thick. Spread with (in this case) some homemade jam, leaving couple of centimetres, tightly roll, seal the ends, tuck them under the roly-poly then egg wash. Bake at 170c for 35 minutes, until lightly golden on top. Serve with egg custard. Smile. This is squishy in the middle, you could take it further, another 5 to 10 minutes in the oven to firm up. But isn’t the stodge the point? Would love to try…

  • Blog

    Braised Pork Rigatoni as well as Chicken, Barley Broth

    8 October 2018 - By 

    No knife tough enough to cut the ribs down to size, but this looks very appealing. Shouldn’t have added the onion at this point, but never mind. The ribs look delicious in this mixture. Looks great! Tastes very nice to. I love the sherry in this, used instead of sherry vinegar. Unfortunately the liquid didn’t get a chance to reduce properly. The ribs were a total pain to eat as well… Although certainly will have added depth of flavour. This will be significantly better as leftovers, with the ribs pulled from the bones and the sauce thickened. The chaos cooking…

  • Blog

    Roast Whole Haddock

    7 October 2018 - By 

    This was an amalgam of recipes found online due to it being a little thrown together. Started by drying the fish thoroughly with paper towels, slashing the fish on both sides to the bone, and running the old chap all over with olive oil and seasoning. He was then popped in a 200c oven for 10 minutes. I have been feeling a little over garlic-ed, so though it would undoubtedly improve matters, I omitted the little allium on this occasion. I prepared the broccoli, and put a pan of salted water on the burner. Sliced the lemon, grabbed the capers…

  • Blog

    Roast Beetroot, Anchovies & Almond Skordalia

    5 October 2018 - By 

    The almonds were chopped as finely as I could with a knife, but in hindsight I would just use ground almond. The flavour was great, but the chunks in the potato added nothing. Best beetroot I’ve ever cooked! Plenty of seasoning, a drizzle of oil, depending on the wedge size an hour or more in the oven at 200. Careful not to burn, jostle halfway through, and push them all together so they don’t burn so much. Great with the white anchovies,their sharpness sitting so nicely with the sweet, oily root. I made the skordalia and kept it hot in…

  • Blog

    Eating out: baked sweet potato and tahini

    4 October 2018 - By 

    Simple, but very nice. Tahini yoghurt dressed baked sweet potato, seasoned, some sunflower seeds and not much else really. Properly baked, so that there’s color and texture rather than from the microwave. Could improve with a piquant hit, lemon probably, and chilli flakes perhaps. A bit more generous with the parsley.

  • Blog

    Lentils & Israeli Couscous

    3 October 2018 - By 

    Nigel Slater – Kitchen Diaries 3, pg. 383 So I have to say this was the first thing that hasn’t gone down too well with either of us.  To the extent that Lisa couldn’t even finish because she wasn’t so keen on the sultanas and apricots in the lentil couscous bubble mix.  So I packed away her bowl for my lunch tomorrow and she packed away an impressive mountain of cheese with lashings of the chilli jam I made earlier.  I didn’t have quite the same reaction, but it wasn’t the most exciting meal ever.  The kind of uninspiring misc…

  • Full Recipe

    Chilli jam

    3 October 2018 - By 

    As yet untried with anything like a nice goat’s cheese, or some such intended accompaniment. With the only tasting coming from the big stirring spoon, it seems real fiery, but with a nice, sweet pepperiness. Used pointy Romano peppers as well as the chillies from the garden. This was very approximately: 100g chillies100g Romano peppers250g jam sugar50g fresh ginger350ml white wine vinegarjuice of a lemon Chillies and peppers were laboriously deseeded and scraped, then chopped along with the ginger in the food processor until roughly small pieces. Brought to a simmer in the vinegar at which point the other ingredients…