Senses in the kitchen

Tomato soup with gremolata (for anniversary)

2012-02-14T07:30:00.000Z

It has been two years since I started blogging. Today I would say exactly the same as last year. Although I slowed down little bit, still enjoy blogging. I hope you enjoy my posts, like the recipes and photographs and all I hope for that there will be more to come in years and you will still be here. Just want to say thank you and send you my best smile!

Today again I havefor you an anniversary recipe for tomato soup. In the middle of winter you needand kick of vitamin C so why do not sprinkle warm soup with some gremolata?Enjoy!

Serves 4-6

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and diced

tsp brown sugar

2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

3 x 400g tinned, chopped tomatoes

about 1.2l vegetable stock

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Gremolata

handful of fresh parsley, finelychopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

zest of whole large lemon

To prepare gremolata mix all the aboveingredients just before serving.

In large pan fry the onion on the olive oil andafter few minutes add the sugar. Fry until the onion is softened and add thegarlic. Fry for about 2 minutes, then add the vinegar, stir and leave it tobubble away. Then add tomatoes, hot stock, stir, bring to the boil. Cover andsimmer for about 20 minutes.

Using hand blender whiz the soup until smooth,season with salt and pepper and serve with some gremolata on the top. If it seems too thick you can add some morestock.

Pork ribs braised in mead & sauerkraut

2012-02-10T07:00:00.000Z

I am one leg in our old house and one legin the new one. We still have plenty of things to pack and move, some cleaningto do in both places before we definitely change the address. Not much time tocook anything decent, but we cannot survive all week on the bowl of pasta withpesto (well, I can… My well built man seems to struggle on this kind of diet),so I try to cook one pot dishes that are suitable for reheating and keep usgoing in this busy time.

This is one of the Polish dishes that jointwo very popular in Polandingredients: cabbage (in this case sauerkraut) and pork. I am sure there isquite a lot of different ways to make this dish, but this is my own andfavourite way to cook ribs in sauerkraut – with a hit of sweetness from mead(honey wine) and prunes. Also the fennel loves pork as much as the cabbage. This time I did not use the caraway seeds, typical for Polish cuisine. Hope you will enjoy it.

I hope to be back on the track soon, wheneverything gets sorted with the new home (end of February hopefully!).

Serves 4-6

1.5kg pork ribs

4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

3 tbsp dark soy sauce

2 tsp smoked paprika

freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp goose or duck fat

1 large onion, peeled and diced

1 tsp fennel seeds, slightly crushed

¾ cup of mead (honey wine - I used Polish dwójniak variety)

6 prunes, sliced into thin strips

2 bay leaves

2 all spice

few whole black peppercorns

1.2kg sauerkraut, drained, about cup offluid reserved

salt

First marinate the ribs, preferablyovernight, or at least for 2 hours. Mix the soy sauce with chopped garlic,smoked paprika and pepper and rub into the ribs, cover and leave in a fridge.

When ribs are marinated, season them with little salt, heat the duck orgoose fat in large heave bottom pan and fry the ribs on both sides untilbrowned. Do it in batches, do not overcrowd the pan, so they actually fry notcook. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the onions to the pan and fry forfew minutes until slightly softened, then add fennel seeds and fry for about aminute, stirring all the time. Next add the mead and leave it to reduceslightly, using a spatula or wooden spoon scrap all the bits from the bottom ofthe pan – they have lots of flavour.

Next add the drained sauerkraut to the pan,as well as the marinate used for rinbs (if any left) prunes, bay leaves, peppercorns, some salt and all spice. Mix well; add theribs and any juices they released during the resting, cover and simmer for about30 minutes, stirring occasionally. If it seems a bit dry and starts to catch atthe bottom of the pan during the cooking, add some fluid reserved from thesauerkraut.

Serve with some mash potatoes or a generousslice of good bread. It definitely tastes better when reheated and cooled down severaltimes.

Chickpea, spinach & sundried tomato curry

2012-01-31T07:00:00.000Z

Istumble over the cardboard boxes. Marlon constantly jumps in them letting meknow that perhaps I should start packing. Or perhaps something completelyopposite: “please, please, do not take these away, these are my favourite toys”.

Sixyears since I moved out from my family home: almost two thousand kilometresaway, few hundred hours on Skype, few things that my Mum gave me before I leftand many others that I collected over the years. Those things simply bought inthe supermarkets, a present from former employer, who got rid of some odds andends in the pub or B&B, treasures found on car boot sales or charity shops.Nearly for free, or literally for nothing – one man garbage is another’s mantreasure. An odd glass that can handle almost half large bottle of mineralwater - ugly but practical. Clay bowl that presents hummus in a beautiful way.A cup that was left behind by beloved Sister, when she moved out of the housewe shared few years ago. New house is agood opportunity to sort things out – things and thoughts. I always try to goto the new home with a fresh mind, without bad memories, but I simply can’t getrid of many things collected over the years.

Forexample I have this really old tea towel with some printed hens. It has fewholes in it, but I can’t just bin it – my Mum gave me this one and I love itmore than any other posh tea towels. I also have some cards, letters, or just notescollected over some period of time – I love them because not many peoplenowadays send a traditional post. I cannot just burn them in the fireplace. Arebooks my fetish? Yes. Is this weird? Perhaps. I love the smell of paper and thepaint and will not replace it with new high technology reader. The most recent onethat my partner bough me for last Christmas and secretly sat and look ate the photographsreminding him the best meal we had in our life. So I get rid of the dust like theydo it on films and place all of them in the boxes. I wrap the plates using huge“Sunday Times”. For the next few weeks we will only use: two plates, two cups,two pans. We need to pack and be ready to move.

Ialso gradually use up some ingredients that perhaps we little forgotten andspent too much time in the kitchen cupboards. I am getting used to the idea of cookingdinner of whatever is left in the freezer, cupboards and fridge. From the nextmonth going to the shop to get some extra shopping will be even more timeconsuming, so I need to be more disciplined. There is half pack of the driedchickpea, great to make vegetable curry. Too few vegetables? Lacking a bit ofcolour? Do not worry; there are some sundried tomatoes in the fridge. At firstI wasn’t too sure if it will go well together, but is tasted incredibly. Surprising,new flavour combination.

Serves 4

2tbsp sunflower oil or clarified butter (ghee)

1medium onion, peeled and diced

4garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1red chilli, peeled and finely chopped

about2.5 cm piece of fresh ginger

¼tsp turmeric

about3 cups of chickpea, boiled and drained

400mlcoconut milk

300gfresh baby spinach

about8 sun dried tomatoes from the jar, drained and sliced into strips

salt

Heatthe oil in a large pan and add the onion. Fry for few minutes until slightlysoftened and add the garlic, chilli and ginger. Fry for about one minute andadd turmeric. Stir so the spice covers the onions and next add the chickpea andcoconut milk. Stir, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes. Next add the freshspinach, do it in few batches, always wait until the previous batch is wilted.It looks like a huge amount of spinach at first but when added to the pan itgoes down a lot. Seson with some salt. When the last batch of spinach is added place the sun driedtomatoes in the pan and stir again. Bringto the boil and remove from a heat.

Iserve it with Peshawarnaan bread. This dish is suitable for reheating however the spinach is not verygood looking when re-heated. Still tasty though!

Spicy carrot & red lentil soup

2012-01-23T07:30:00.000Z

Hearty soups are fantastic for wintertimes. One pot, healthy, satisfying bowlof soup is the best meal when you come back from a cold weather. Especiallythis one is good for you – warming due to the spices and really thick and fillingthanks to the lentils. It is little bit similar to a world known classic carrotand coriander soup, yet different. Hates gonna hate, as they say. And to allhaters – I fart in your general direction.* And this soup helps me to fart. Goodhealth!

Serves 2-4

about 500g carrots, peeled and coarsely gated

about 150g red lentils

about 1.2l vegetable stock (preferably hot)

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1-2 tbsp tomato pure

¼ tsp of chilli powder

pinch of cinnamon

1 tsp of ground cumin

2 tsp of cumin seeds

salt

handful of fresh coriander, roughly choppedwith the stalks, few leaves to decorate the soup

2-4 tbsp of plain natural yoghurt (I usedGreek Total)

Heat the oil in the large pan, add theonion and fry for few minutes until softened. Add the garlic and fry for aboutone minute. Then add the spices: ground cumin, cinnamon and chilli, mix well andadd the carrots and lentils. Stir, add the stock, some salt, tomato pure, stiragain, cover, bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile fry the cumin seeds in a panwithout oil (dry – roast), until fragrant. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Next add chopped coriander and boil foranother 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and at this stage you can leave it chunky,or smooth it with blender. I prefer it 50/50, so I whiz the soup for fewseconds.

Finish with some plain yoghurt, sprinkledwith some roasted cumin seeds and garnished with fresh coriander leaves. Itgoes well with some naan bread.

* "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"

Where to eat? Tan Hill Inn, Reeth, Swaledale

2012-01-15T09:47:00.001Z

Nowadays whenaround 25 pubs is being closed down daily, or traditional pubs are replacedwith those commercial ones with cheap beer, plasma TV and Sky Sport onall day, a traditional pub with real fireplace and where you can smell properEnglish homemade pies not microwave pizza seems to be something rare. This issuch traditional pub and in addition the highest pub in Britain (1732 ft.) so you have togo there one day.

Tan Hill Inn issituated on the popular Pennine Way Long Distance Footpath, at the meetingpoint of Swaledale, Arkengarthdale and Bowes Moor in the North Yorkshire Dales.To get there you have to drive narrow road and on a nice sunny day withtemperature above 0 C in Wensleydale, near Tan Hill you can get a proper snowywinter. It looked nearly as a scene from “Fargo”film and even there was a police car passing by and I found it amusing.

You can cuddlesome pet sheep outside the pub; they behave like dogs and are a part of thefamily pets including many more, such as dog sleeping soundly opposite thefireplace or cat stretching its back on the bar. It makes this place even morefantastic.

Pub itself has alot of character, landlords are very friendly. We suddenly felt really hungryafter we had a pint of local beer and obviously the aroma of the homemade foodcoming from the kitchen was very seductive. Landlady recommended an orgasm – soup,as she stated, made with carrots and orange, but we really fancied some meat.Particularly we loved the sound of a giant Yorkshire pudding with beef and ale stew,creamy mash and peas. It is traditional, typical pub food and this one wascooked very well. Very well indeed, so well that I am ready to go back and havesome more. And more.

I will have to go back one day to try someother dishes, but I would recommend it to you not only due to its menu. This istraditional British pub and those I am afraid are declining in this country. Itis a superb place to start a walk on the hills, or just have a little break,cup of tea and breathe of fresh air. In case you drunk too much, or bad weathercaught you there you can always stay in one of their rooms and in the morningenjoy their breakfast. What more you would wish for?

Tan Hill Inn, Tan Hill

Reeth

Richmond

Swaledale

North Yorkshire Dales

DL11 6ED Tel. (01833) 628 246

E-mail: tracy@tanhillinn.com, info@tanhillinn.com

http://www.tanhillinn.com/

Opening and food serving times vary duringthe year. Prices from £5.95 to £10.50 for a main course, £3.50 for a dessert,children’s menu also available.

Chicken baked with fennel, tomatoes and olives

2012-01-09T09:00:00.000Z

Christmas is gone and I did not have a chance tomake my Christmas card for my readers. New Year's Eve is gone and I did noteven mention one or two recipes that would perhaps inspire you to make somelovely snacks for this special night. I even thought about my own calendar butit is only an idea in my head, I only managed to select photographs and did nothave a slight chance to make it alive. I worried about his for a while but thenI thought that there are more important things and I shouldn't really worryabout this. Yes, blog is very important part of my life, but time spent with mysister is even more important, especially I gave my blog on everyday basis, butto see my sister is very rare. I did not feel like taking photographs, cookingsomething new, for few weeks I only cooked things that I already know and like.I fed those who I love and this was most important to me. Now when I am back toblogging I hope you, my dear readers, will excuse me if suddenly I feel likenot posting anything for a while and do something else. This year I simply feellike I do not have to do anything. I don't have to force myself. However I wantto do so many things.

I hope 2012 will be happy for you and those whoyou love and care about. I wish you lots of love, joy and happiness.

Please enjoy my first post in this year - simple,tasty and satisfying dinner.

Serves 2

2 chicken breasts, fillets with skin on

1 fennel bulb, cut into 8 wedges

some cherry tomatoes

some whole black olives

some olive oil (I used fennel infused)

2-3 fresh thyme springs

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Place the fennel in an ovenproof dish,drizzle with little olibve oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover withsome kitchen foil and place in the preheated to 200 C (fan) oven.

Meanwhile season the chicken breasts, heatthe frying pan then add little olive oil and fry the breast skin side downuntil golden. Turn on the other side and fry for about 2-3 minutes. Remove fromthe pan and place in the oven together with the fennel. Add the thyme springsand bake uncovered for about 8 minutes. Next add the tomatoes and olives andbake for further 5 minutes. Serve immediately on its own or with some potatoesroast in olive oil.

York, one week before Christmas

2011-12-21T07:30:00.000Z

One of my favourite places in England. Lovely city packed with history, fantastic architectire and great spirit. Enjoy this walk along the old town narrow streets, rivrside and amazing railway museum one week before Christmas. I hope it will give you a little break and a chance to catch your breath in this crazy, busy time before Christmas.

Sweet and spicy nuts & almonds - Christmas gifts vol. 7

2011-12-14T07:30:00.000Z

Just a quick list to remind you what we already have in Christmas presentssection:

Spiced orange liqueur (arancello)
Rosemary & mint salt

Szechuan pepper, lemon, chilli & fennel salt

Lemon & thyme salt

Cranberry & apple chutney

Cranberry & orange jam with vanilla and cardamom

This is one of my favouritesnacks. There are many spices combinations when it comes to nuts and almonds,however after several times I found my own and I also use it to flavour thepopcorn. The secret I suppose is the salted butter. I thought this year I willplace this in nice jar and give it to someone as a Christmas gift, but you canmade it for yourself as a really tasty snack.

Makes 2 jars

200g your favourite nutsor/and almonds (I used 100g of walnut halves and 100g whole almonds)
about 30g salted butter,melted
1 tbsp sunflower oil
¼ tsp cayenne
¼ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 level tsp mixed spice
2 tbsp runny honey
2 tsp sesame seeds

Heat the oven to 150C andline a large baking tray with some baking paper.

In a bowl mix the butter,oil, 1 tbsp of honey and all spices and then add the nuts and almonds. Mix wellso they all covered nicely with the spiced butter. Next place them on the baking tray, evenly,making sure there are in one layer and possibly do not touch each other.

Place into the oven androast for about 10 minutes. Next drizzle with the remaining honey and roast forabout 5 minutes, sprinkle with sesame seeds and roast for further 5 minutes.Make sure you check the nuts and almonds because the honey is likely to burnand get bitter. Therefore you have to amend the time of roasting accordingly.

Remove from the oven andleave it to cool down completely.

Place in the clean jars andseal tightly. These should keep up to one month.

Spiced orange liqueur (arancello) - Christmas gifts vol.6

2011-12-10T11:30:00.000Z

I am bad, bad blogger. This time last year I had five posts about culinary gifts and his year I am not very well organised. Let me just remind you, or introduce to those who are perhaps new followers, my last years culinary Christmas gifts:

Rosemary & mint salt

Szechuan pepper, lemon, chilli & fennel salt

Lemon & thyme salt

Cranberry & apple chutney

Cranberry & orange jam with vanilla and cardamom

Also please, please fell free to see all my posts from my culinary gifts section, as there are some more chutneys (unfortunately seasonal) and different types of shortbread that I made last year for my hampers. Also this time of the year you can make this caramelised onion, that can cost quite a lot in some delis. In my opinion handmade edible presents are great fun for foodies - either when it comes to making them or be given one.

This is a recipe from some ancient "Good Food" but I have changed it slightly. It's similar to limoncello but it is made with orange and spices. Very nice thing for cold, winter days. Bottled will make lovely Christmas gift.

Makes about 0.75l

peel of 5 small oranges (really thin, witout this bitter white pith)
small piece of cinnamon stick
vanilla pod (optionally)
3 cardamom pods (I used green)

5 cloves

500ml good quality pure vodka (I recommend Polish rye vodkas)

250g caster sugar

250ml water

Place orange peel, cinnamon, vanila pod , cardamom and cloves together with the vodka, seal and leave for about 7 days, shaking each day.

Next add the sugar dissolved in the water, mix, seal the jar again and leave for about 5 days, again shake everyday.

After 5 days strain the liquer into a bottle and you can save cinnamon stick or other items for decoration.

Chicken liver parfaits & best brioche ever

2011-12-06T08:30:00.000Z

This is one of my favourite things - creamy, almost velvety chicken liver parfait made with a cheap ingredient but almost luxurious. This makes quite elegant (tasty for sure) starter or light lunch, and I definitely recommend a slice or two of brioche to go with this. It has ridiculous amount of butter, almost enough to make you teeth slide on this, but without any doubt this is the best brioche I have made. This recipe by Michel Roux was recommended to my by a friend of mine and after making this brioche I will never look back. I have added some semolina, that did not appear in the original recipe, just to line my tin with something - it is not the best quality equipment so I was little bit concerned that the brioche will not come out easily. The parfaits go well with some cocktail gherkins too.

Chicken liver parfaits

Serves 6-10

450g chicken livers, trimmed
150g butter, plus 50g for the top of the parfaits
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 shallot, peeled and chopped
leaves picked from 2-3 springs of fresh thyme
splash of brandy
2 tbsp double cream ( I used extra thick, 50.5% of fat)
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
salt
freshly grated black pepper

Heat about 30g of the butter in a large frying pan and gently fry the shallots until soft. Add garlic, thyme leaves (save about tsp for topping the parfait) fry for about one minute or so and turn the heat up.

Add the trimmed livers to the pan with the garlic, shallot and thyme and fry on both sides for about 5 minutes. There should not be any blood coming out. Add the nutmeg, cloves and a splash of brandy. Keep on the heat until the brandy evaporates little bit. Remove from the heat and set aside. Let them cool down little bit.

Next tip the livers into a food processor and whizz to a paste, then whizz in the remaining butter and cream. Push the mixture through a sieve - this is boring, but takes about 2 minutes and it is certainly worth for a really velvety texture. Season well with salt and pepper. Divide the mixture between 6 small ramekins and smooth the surface.

Melt the final 50g butter in a pan and let the milk solids settle to the bottom. Place the remaining thyme leaves in the pan and let it infuse for few minutes. Next making sure you skip the milk solids pour a little butter over each ramekin. Chill to set.

To serve, bring the parfaits up to room temperature and you have to serve it with toasted slice of best brioche ever.

Best Brioche EVER

makes small bread tin

35 ml lukewarm milk
7.5 g fresh yeast (or 3.5g dry active or 4g instant)
250g all purpose flour
half tsp salt
3 eggs
175g soft butter
1 tbsp caster sugar

some more butter, for a tin
some semolina
beaten egg, optionally

Place the yeast and the milk in a mixing bowl and leave them for few minutes. Next mix them with the flour , salt and eggs until you have quite firm, elastic dough.

Meanwhile using a hand mixer beat the sugar with the butter and next add spoon by spoon of this buttery cream to the dough and mix all the time on a low speed. When last spoon of butter dis incorporated mix for a little while on the higher speed, then cover the dough with a clean cloth and leave it to prove. It will take about 2-4 hours in a room temperature however I left it in the cold kitchen overnight. After first proving remove some air bubbles but do not be tempted to do this with a punch like with most breads - this dough is too sticky. Use spatula to remove some air. At this stage the dough can be moulded to the shape you like (individual brioches or one brioche in a tin).

Prepare the tin - butter is and sprinkle with little semolina, then shake the excess of semolina. Place the dough in the tin and cover with a cling film. Leave it to prove again - I left mine in a fridge for whole day and removed from a fridge for about one hour before baking. It can be kept in a fridge up to 24 hours.

Heat the oven to 180C (fan). Brush with some beaten egg for a shiny finish. At this stage you can make a cut in the brioche to prevent the cracking, I was afraid that it will collapse when I do so, so I skipped cutting and my brioche did not crack too much. Bake until golden and the wooden toothpick comes out of it clean.

Remove from the oven, leave in the tin for few minutes and then remove it from a tin to a wire rack and leave it to cool down completely before slicing. Toast before serving but be careful - due to a high content of butter it burns easily, so watch the toaster.

Where to eat? The Kitchin, Edinburgh

2011-12-02T08:00:00.000Z

Firstof all I would like to thank you everyone who voted for my recipe ina competition in March. On the Saturday, 26^th November we had our mealin the restaurant of our choice - The Kitchin on Edinburgh’s stylishwaterfront. Without shadow of a doubt this experience was worth every pennyspent and every minute waiting. Thank you very much! I think I better warn you- this is not a quick review. I just couldn’t stop writing once I started; I hadso many things to tell you. I truly regret that my photos are not good quality– I was unable to take my proper camera as I only had a clutch with me so Itook an old compact camera and obviously the light wasn’t good enough to takephotographs of food. I did not want to use flash too. I hope my enthusiasticwords will tell the story anyway.

We were given printed menu and wine list after the dinner

Letme start from admitting that as much as we both are food lovers we never wentto any Michelin starred restaurant as we thought it might be little overpricedand money not worth the whole experience, alcohol served and the ingredients used.Too stiff and too snobby. “Lunch perhaps”, we though. “One day”. Today we knowhow wrong we were even if you read about the dishes we were served and stillthink this is far too expensive for the cuts we ate (pig’s head, fish cheeks) Iwill tell you now: this is not about the food only. Thankfully the food is themost important, but the whole experience is about the service, the atmosphere,the chat with the chef – annoyingly talented, probably one of the best chefs inEurope if not in the world. We are certainlyready to do it again. And again. We are actually planning next trip, aroundspring time.

Courtesy of Stripecom http://stripecom.co.uk/

Weboth knew from a very beginning that we will go for a tasting surprise menu. Itwould be extremely difficult to decide and have only three courses from aregular menu, but the tasting menu consists as much as seven courses and it wasperfect for us, who did not have a chance to eat at The Kitchin before. Whatwas even better – the menu was based on sea and land products.

Courtesy of Stripecom http://stripecom.co.uk/

Wehad a very warm welcome and receptionist looked after us very well before wewere taken to our table. The interior is stylish, quite plain, and veryelegant, of dark woods and shades of grey with very subtle light. The bar and lounge also area seems veryrelaxing. We were welcomed by a glass of champagne, as we decided to go for awine package matching our surprise menu.

Awindow opens from the dining room onto the kitchen area itself so the dinersare able to see the theatre of cooking and preparation. Men are in charge, TomKitchin and about 10 others, also one young female chef. There are also someglass cabinets with gifts that you can purchase from the reception (signedbooks, vouchers etc). According to me the dinning area can handle between 40-50diners at once.

Theservice was excellent. Very polite, helpful, entire team shinesthrough in what they deliver - quality and consistency. Sommelier perfectlysynchronized with the waiters bringing the dishes to our table. To make youeven happier he explains where the wine comes from and why they serve it withthis particular dish. I think you had enough of this talking and I am sure youwould like to know what we had on our menu. TheChef’s land and sea surprise menu is based on the imaginative creations of ChefTom Kitchin. The menu is, as the name suggests, a food lovers’ surprise,compiled from the very freshest produce. We also decided to go for a Matched Wine Package - a welcome drink glass of champagne followed by a different glass of wine witheach course.

Firstwe had a beautiful blue cheese dip with some nibbles, mainly fresh vegetablesand a kind of dough sticks and crispy kind of pancake to dig in this mouthwatering, creamy dip. A man with a bread trolley appeared and introduced thewhole range of bread to choose from for our starter. We both went for sourdoughbread and I have to say it was the best bread (excluding my own, homemadesourdough) I had since I moved to UK over five years ago.

Appetiser

Celeriac velouté served with chestnuts andapple

(Philipponnat Royal Reserve Champagne, France)

Itwas a time for a first course: amuse bouche, little soup to cheer our mouths up, as the French name says. It wascreamy, velvety, velouté – classic French recipe using a roux anda good quality stock or just simly - velvety thick sopu. Sounds bit heavy? It was not at all. Creamy, sweet soup was complimented beautifully by the crispy tiny croutons and diced and little bit sour apple.

Shellfish Rockpool

A rockpool of West Coast shellfish servedwith sea vegetables in a shellfish consommé

(Three Choirs, Coleridge Hill, Gloucestershire, England, 2010)

Beforethe proper starter we had another dish surprisingly served by Tom Kitchinhimself. It was a pleasure to meet the chef in person, and it was very kind ofhim to come out of his kitchen and welcome us. The dish was a composition of few different types of shellfish and sea veg that Scottishcoast is proud of: seaweed, prawns, caviar, crayfish tail etc. Chef explainedthat this is his idea of shore and the tide is coming – the tide was theshellfish consommé poured bythe chef over the dish from a little jug. Do you think this is littlebit of showing off? Perhaps little bit, but extremely tasty. Shellfish was sofresh that it was almost sweet and the consommé brought is all together so itwas all very harmonious.

Razor Clams (Spoots)

Razor clams from Arisaig, cooked to orderand served with diced vegetables,

chorizo and lemon confit

(Semillon “Margaret”, Peter Lehman, Barossa, Australia,2005)

Itwas a time for a starter – again something very tasty from a Scottish coast.Razor clams described in Scottish manner (that I absolutely love and I have acrush on a Scottish names and accent!) as spootswere served with a diced vegetables, chorizo and slightly lemony sauce that Ijust could not leave in the shell – I wiped it with a piece of bread. Verysunny and refreshing dish served with a lemon (lime?) confit.

Pig’s Head & Scallop

Boned and rolled pig’s head, served withseared hand-dived Orkney scallop and crispy ear salad

(Gewurztraminer Hugel, Alsace, France, 2009

Nowit was a time for a middle course. A chef’s signature dish we were told. Bonedand rolled head of pig does not sound particularly appetizing, doesn’t it? Itastes so opposite. It was a kind of small cake in crispy crust and the tasteof it and the texture was simply divine: sticky, very meaty – the flavours ofpork is in this cheap cut not in a pork fillet – I thought to myself. Served with lovely Orkney hand dived scallop,cumin sauce, crispy pig’s ear and salad that give it a bit of the sharpness –it had a gherkin in it and was similar to a good quality tartar sauce. Iabsolutely love the idea of using the animal from head to tail and my regularreaders know it. I was thrilled to have such a wonderful composition of three flavours,three different textures. Triple pleasure, I would say.

Monkfish

Seared monkfish cheeks from Scrabster andlocal red mullet served with risotto

and a lemon buerre blanc

(Etna Rosso, Tenuta Delle, Terre Nerre, Sicily, 2010)

Themiddle course was followed by a fish course. I have to say it felt like chefKitchin knew my favourite food – risotto. It was creamy, served with lemonybutter sauce (beurre blanc) Topped with a piece of monkfish cheek –meaty, yet tender and a piece of red mullet – certainly the best fish dish Ihad in my life. Perfectly balanced, fish cooked to perfection.

Woodcock

First of the season Perthshire woodcockserved with pumpkin, salsify and a sauce ‘salmis’

(Carmenere ‘Orzada’ Odfjell, Maule Valley, Chile, 2008)

Lastdish before we had our dessert was a meat dish. I was expecting game dish butwhat I was presented with did not match my expectations at all. I did not expectto have a woodcock dish made with its breast, leg and… half of the head with abrain still in. I was in a bit of a shock when I saw it first, but when I wasgiven a finger bowl and extra napkin to clean my fingers I grabbed the head andenjoyed it. It was unusual, but nice, not putting me off in any way (yes, youcan tell it was a head with the eye holes and the nib). However it was verygamey and I am not a big fan of game – I liked it, but probably this was theonly one I probably wouldn’t order from a regular menu again. But who knows?

Beforethe dessert was served we were offered a selection of cheese, but we were sofull we sadly had to say no. Perhaps next time we will go for it. The cheesetrolley was very impressive.

Pumpkin

Spiced pumpkin custard served with mapleand pecan ice cream and candied pumpkin

(Kanu Kia-Ora late harvest, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 2008)

Oh,the dessert. My lovely, beautiful, mouth watering dessert made of… vegetable.Pumpkin goes very well with the spices so I was not surprised at all by thewhole idea. Again it had different textures from velvety ice cream to crunchypumpkin seeds. For me it was the perfect dessert.

Encouragedby the look of fresh mint tea we skipped the coffee and enjoyed very refreshingherbal drink together with selection of petits fours – dark chocolate truffle, pistachionougat, pink macaroon and mini frangipan tart. 100% satisfaction - if I had tochoose selection by myself I would definitely go for those four, as these aremy favourite things. I enjoyed everysingle bite.

How about the wines? In myopinion the wine selection was very good and matched the meals nicely. But pleaseremember – I am not a wine expert. In the brackets I gave you the names of thewines served with the particular courses. The only one I found little bit not upto my taste was the white wine served with pig’s head dish. I quite understandthe idea of serving quite strong flavoured wine with the intensive flavours ofthe meat however it had something in it that annoyed me little bit. On theother hand I was very pleasantly surprised with a dessert wine; especially thatin general I am not w big fan of this kind of wines. It was little bit floral,but not overwhelming the dish. Very good choice indeed! My favourite wines were:the second one served with a pre starter – quite citrussy and refreshing and thered served with a woodcock – deep, intensive, very well complimented the gamey dish.

Justto finish this long (too long) review let me mention the main idea that seemsto be a mantra of The Kitchin - "From nature to plate"presented by an appreciation of the best quality ingredients available fromScotland's fantastic natural larder. It guarantees the best quality and freshness of the foodserved. It a place where modern British cuisine influenced by French cookingtechniques shows everyone who says that British food is boring that it iscertainly a time to re-educate about the British cuisine.

With all my heart (and tastebuds!) I recommend this place to a food lovers.

Prices: Surprise Tasting Menu £70.00per person, cheese supplement £10.00. Matched Wine Package includes awelcome drink; Philipponnat Royale Reserve Champagne followed by a differentglass of wine with each course £50.00 per person. Mineral water filled up everytime you glass if less than half full £4.00. Service charge is not included;however a 10% Service charge will beadded to the final bill of tables of 8 guests or more.

Chef Tom Kitchin and I :)

The Kitchin
78 Commercial Quay
Leith, EdinburghEH6 6LX
Telephone 0131 555 1755
Fax 0131 553 0608
Email info@thekitchin.com

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Thursday 12.15pm -2.00pm
6.30pm to 10.00pm
Friday and Saturday 12.15pm - 2.00pm
6.30pm to 10.30pm

Apple & cranberry pancakes with spiced butter

2011-11-26T09:00:00.000Z

I was really keen to cook those pancakessince I first saw them in December’s “Good Food” issue. I love the aroma andthe taste of spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, pepper. In many Polishhomes a gingerbread is served during the Christmas and the idea of havingsomething for a breakfast with this hint of Christmassy was very tempting.Originally this was served with a cinnamon butter but I decided to go for thewhole range of spices and use mixed spice. Also they recommend peeling the apple; Ipersonally think that this would be such a shame to get rid of the apple skin.I also did not weight the cranberries, just added a good handful. Don’t be surprised with the idea of saltedbutter being used along the sugar and spices – it goes amazingly good with thesour cranberries and the sweet syrup.

This was one of the best things I everhad for my breakfast. I would highly recommend this for a breakfast in coldwinter morning especially when you are planning a walk – it gives a real kick!We had it twice already and still can’t stop thinking about having some more.

Serves 2-3

For the pancakes:

150g self raising flour

half tsp bicarbonate soda

pinch of salt

1 egg, beaten

about 140ml buttermilk

2 tbsp milk

about 40g melted butter

1 eating apple, cored and coarsely grated

handful of dried cranberries

more butter for frying

maple syrup for serving

Spiced butter:

about 40g salted butter

1 tbsp mixed spice

1 tsp caster sugar

To make the spiced butter roughly cut thebutter with a knife sprinkle with mixed spice and sugar, chop little bitfurther so all the ingredients are mixed well. Form a sausage shape and wrap ina piece of paper, store in a fridge.

For the pancakes mix the flour with thesoda and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and graduallywhisk in the egg (I used fork), followed by milk, buttermilk and melted butter.Once the mixture is smooth and there are no signs of dry flour add the gratedapple and cranberries.

Melt some butter in a frying pan and whenhot ladle small amount of batter to form 3-4 pancakes, depending on the size ofyour pan. Cook for about 3 minutes untilgolden and turn over and fry for 2 more minutes, or until golden.

To serve stack pancakes on a warm plate, addgood knob of spiced butter on the top and drizzle with maple syrup. And I swear - now when I am writing about this my mouth waters.

Sweet & sour sprouts (with sultanas & shallots)

2011-11-21T19:27:00.001Z

Following my recent post about sprouts cooked in orange juice I now post another one, again with hint of sweetness for those who don't like the natural bitterness of this vegetable. I absolutely love it. I can have a bowl of those sprouts on its own for a dinner and do not ask for anything else.

I found this recipe in December issue of "Good Food'" magazine but I have changed it slightly.

Serves 4

750g brussels sprouts, trimmed and bottoms slightly cut into cross
3 tbsp clarified butter (ghee)
2 medium shallots, peeled and sliced thinly
pinch of demerara sugar
small handful of sultanas
2 tbsp of balsamic or red wine vinegar
few pinches of sweet paprika powder
4 tbsp of almond flakes
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Boil the salted water in a big pan and add the sprouts. In deep frying pan melt the butter and add the shallots then fry over a low heat for about 8 minutes, until soft. Next add the sugar and sultanas and fry for another 2 minutes. In a separate frying pan dry - roast (toast) the almond flakes. Add the vinegar to the shallots and let it bubble and reduce little bit before adding the boiled and drained sprouts. Mix well, season with some salt and little pepper, sprinkle with paprika and toasted almond flakes. Serve immediately. It is suitable for reheating however not as tasty as freshly prepared.

Italian style tripe

2011-11-16T08:00:00.000Z

Finally I got round to cooking a tripe. Notthat I have a childhood trauma or something, because in my closest family nobodyate tripe as far as I remember, however this is not very popular ingredientnowadays, especially in the United Kingdom. During the Industrial Revolution,especially in northern part of Englandtripe was a very popular snack. Poorest part of the society when coming backfrom shift in factories use to grab piece of tripe drizzled with some vinegar –it was cheap and fast food. There were special places where the whole processof cleaning and cooking quite smelly tripe took place. This is very interestingperiod in history of British food. On one hand there were poor working classpeople eating cheap cuts but on the other the Industrial Revolution changed theavailability, distribution and production of food like never before. Thisperiod also brought the first food adulteration due to a rapidly increasingpopulation. The food industry had a difficult time dealing with shortages ofmaterials and in an effort to keep costs down, bulked up food items with badquality fillers. One of the products that suffered the most was tea. On theother hand due to the expansion of railway system food was transported to themany places that could not get before. Faster transport meant better qualityfood available to more people... What I was writing about? Oh yes, the tripe.

Nowadays it is ingredient quite difficultto find and the whole process of bleaching and blanching the tripe is quitelong and it makes tripe nearly as expensive as stewing beef. This could be a reasonthat people don’t buy it anymore and even good butchers don’t have it in stockall the time. I have ordered some and after searching the internet I found fewItalian recipes. I didn’t want to cook tripe in traditional Polish way – spicy inbroth with lots of marjoram, because my partner can’t stand them this way – I thinkhe was forced to eat them when he was a child. So we both ate Italian styletripe and it was tasty, however it isn’t something that I would cook on aregular basis. I believe I haven’t found my perfect tripe recipe yet.

This recipe is a compilation of few that I cameacross and to be quite honest the photos revealed something more stew like –thick, with little sauce. Mine tripe was more like a soup, thick and fillingthough. Marjoram is my addition, because I think it goes very well with tripe.As far as I am concerned this recipe is quite close to the traditional Trippaalla Romana, because of the use of wine and pecorino cheese.

Serves 4-6

750g tripe, bleached, pre cooked and cut intostrips

4 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, peeled

2 carrots, peeled

2 celery sticks

3 garlic cloves, peeled

150ml dry white wine

200ml vegetable stock

2 x 400ml tins of chopped tomatoes

2 peperoncino peppers

2 bay leaves

few tsp dried marjoram

salt

freshly ground black pepper

handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped if largeleaves

handful of freshly grated pecorino cheese(parmesan will do if you don’t have pecorino)

Chop the celery, carrots and onions very finely. Iused food processor.

Heat a large pan and add olive oil. Next add thechopped vegetables and fry for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. Next add thewine and cook until nearly all of it evaporates. Add the tripe, whole garliccloves, bay leaves, whole peperoncino peppers, tomatoes with the whole juice,stock to the pan. Season with salt and pepper (lots of pepper!), add marjoram,stir, cover, turn the heat down and simmer for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Serve with some grated pecorino and fresh mint onthe top.

Autumn walk with new lenses (lots of photos)

2011-11-13T09:30:00.000Z

Recently I have found really good deal and bought myself new lenses: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II. I did not have a time to practice a lot with food photos, so I took my new "eye" with me for a walk. It is first time I have this kind of lenses (without zoom) and just started to learn how to use it, so please bear this in mind when looking at those photos. Any advice, especially relating to food photography, as to how make the most of this type of lens, will be very appreciated. Now please welcome to my village and have an autumn walk. Warm regards and enjoy rest of your weekend!

Brussels sprouts with orange

2011-11-07T14:00:00.000Z

I know quite a few people who don’t like Brusselssprouts and I wonder why? OK, I am not entirely impartial as since I was a kidI loved this veg. However trying to be totally objective I have to admit thatsprouts are little bit bitter and this could be a reason that some many peopledon’t like it. It is a shame because it is very healthy vegetable packed withfibre, antioxidants and vitamins. Perhaps today’s recipe will convince thosewho don’t like bitterness of the sprouts, as the orange makes this veg lessbitter. I found the idea f cooking Brussels sprouts in orange juice in some old“Olive” magazine but have changed it – I added some walnuts on the top.

Do you like this tiny-winy cabbage?

Serves 2-4

about 700g brussels sprouts

about 30g of butter

juice and zest of one orange (use a grater or a zester for a better vusial effect)

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Place the sprouts into a deep pan with a lid along with the butter and fry for about minute or so. Next add the orange zest and juice along with the salt and pepper. Bring to a bubble then put the lid on, turn the heat down and cook the sprouts for 15 minutes or until tender (you have to chec, sometimes they only takes 10 minutes to cook). Shake the pan ocassionally so they don't catch.

On the dry frying pan toast the walnuts until crispy. Remove from a pan and chop roughly. Sprinkle the cooked sprouts before serving.

Butternut squash, leek & walnut bake

2011-11-03T15:00:00.000Z

It is not the best looking dish. It is difficultto hold together when removed from a roasting dish, but even bit deconstructedit still tastes good. I did not want to use cream, eggs or more cheese, Iwanted something light and use all leftovers I had in the fridge. My partner wasaway for few days and I could not be bothered to do some shopping or cooksomething more adventurous. I do not fancy cooking three course dinner if Ihave to eat it on my own. It is no fun. Do you think so?

Serves 2-4

about 1.2kg butternut squash, peeled, deseededand sliced (I used a mandolin with a crinkle blade)

3 small leeks, sliced, white and light greenpart, together about 275g

1 large garlic clove, peeled and chopped

about 25g butter

large handful of walnuts, roughly chopped

about 300ml vegetable stock

freshly ground black pepper

freshly ground nutmeg

4 tbsp grated cheese (I used half pecorino andhalf cheddar – leftovers)

Place an ovenproof dish on the hob and melt thebutter. Next add the leeks and fry, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.Next add the garlic, fry for about minute and remove from the dish. Set aside.

Place half of the squash on the bottom of thedish (I do not add any slat, because stock and cheese are salty enough), addsome pepper, nutmeg and place the whole leeks on the top. Sprinkle with thehalf of the walnuts, cover with the remaining squash. Again sprinkle with somepepper and nutmeg, add half of the hot stock, and cover with some kitchen foil.Place in the preheated (180C fan) oven.

Bake for about 20 minutes, uncover, add theremaining stock, sprinkle with cheese and bake for further 15 minutes or so.

I had some immediately, and the leftovers weresuitable to reheat in the microwave.

Sticky Five Spice Beef with Fried Ginger

2011-10-30T08:00:00.000Z

I love the Five Spice mix. It's taste and the whole idea of five different flavours being five different energy fields: wood (sour), fire (bitter), earth (sweet), metal (spicy), and water (salty). Like the concept of yin and yang, the Five Elements Theory is at the cornerstone of Chinese culture. I am not an expert so please find some books or other materials related to this subject. I simply love the taste of this spice mix, even I not entirely sure what is included. Some of them have cumin, some not, others will contain cardamom, and use of pepper is not sure to me: Sichuan or black peppercorns? Nevermind. I get it ready from a shop and do not worry too much about making my own. Not yet, anyway.

I found this recipe in last "Good Food" magazine and I found it very interesting. Sticky, sweet and spicy, very tender meat is something that I fancy a lot, so I pressumed (and I was right) that this will be an ideal meal for me. I did not use exact quantities. I used brasing steak as they are quite cheap, there is no point of buying more expensive cuts as after two hours of brasing, the meat will be very tender anyway.

Serves 2

2 braising beef steaks, each about 200g, cut into four pieces
2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 onions, peeled and quartered
1 piece of fresh ginger, about 3cm, peeled
3 garlic cloves, peeled
small handful of fresh coriander (leaves + stalks)
2 tsp Five Spice
1 whole anise star
1 tsp black peppercorns, smashed in the mortar
2 tbsp of soft, brown sugar
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp tomato puree
about 250ml beef stock
salt

Heat the oven to 140 C (fan).

Place the onions, ginger, garlic, most of the coriander (save some leaves for garnishing) in the food processor and whizz until smooth paste.

Heat the oil in an ovenproof pan, season beef chunks with some salt and fry oon both side, over a high heat until browned. Then remove from the pan and set aside in a bowl.

Add the whole paste to the pan, and fry for about 2 minutes, rinse the food processor with some water and add the remaining pf the past with the water to the pan. Add star anise, Five Spice, pepper, both soy sauces, sugar, tomato puree and stir. boil for about one minute and next add the beef with it's juices and the stock. Turn the heat down, cover and bring it to boil, then place in the oven.

After 2 hours check if the sauce is not dangerously reduced and close to burn, if so add some more stock. I braised my beef for about 2.5 hrs in low temperature.

Serve it with some cooked basmati or jasmine rice, garnished with some coriander leaves and fried ginger. it is perfect to finish off some Asian dishes.

Fried Ginger

Serves 2-3

1 piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 tbsp sunflower oil

Heat the oil in a pan, over a high heat. Add ginger and stir fry until crispy and golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and rain the excess of fat by putting the ginger onto a paper kitchen towel for a while. Serve immediately.

Chicken livers with sherry & mustard mash

2011-10-25T10:00:00.000+01:00

Isat in Italian restaurant having a plate full of delicious coratella and Ithought to myself – offal, so tasty and so underrated. I decided that when Icome back from holiday I will start to cook more offal dishes, depends on whatI will be able to get at the local butchers. As I said several times before Ithing we should use as much as possible from the animal that was killed and notwaste any single bit that is edible. I love British black pudding, it's Polishversion – kaszanka or Spanish – morcilla. I make real beef stock using beef bonesthat I get from butchers for free, otherwise these would go to waste. In manytop class restaurants you will find some dishes made from cheap cuts of meatsuch as pig’s head.

WhenI came back from holiday I came across a offal cookbook "Offal: The Fifth Quarter" , but I still wait forthe price drop or at least for some more enthusiastic reviews. What made me todecide to cook some more offal dishes? First of all at the moment I am littlebit fed up with any meat I eat – I have tried so many recipes and yes, they aretasty, but not surprising and offal is like unexplored planet to me. Secondly itis my ambition to learn how to cook offal – I will not learn how to do it?! Andlastly I think it is not a big deal to buy beef fillet for around £20 perkilogram and cook tasty meal. It is a big deal when you buy the chicken liversfor £1.29 and cook such a tasty dinner that you will not even think about beeffillet at all.

Ifound new issue of “Good Food” magazine very helpful as it has lovely chickenlivers recipe using dry sherry – I never tried it before and have to say when Ifinished I was really pleased with the result – extremely tasty dinner foraround a pound a head.

Chickenlivers with sherry

Serves2

about50g butter

2medium onions, peeled and sliced

about400g chicken livers

50mldry sherry

100mlchicken stock

salt

freshlyground black pepper

Melthalf of the butter in a frying pan and add the onions. Fry over a low heatuntil soft, for about 15 minutes. Remove from a pan into a bowl and set aside.Add the remaining butter to the pan and turn the heat up.

Washthe chicken livers, dry with paper kitchen towel, season with salt and pepperand add to the pan. Fry on both sides for about 3 minutes. Next add sherry,bring to the boil and leave it to bubble for about 30 seconds. Add the friedonions, stock, mix and leave it to boil for about 2 minutes, let the sauce toreduce little bit.

Thisway the bigger livers will stay pink in the middle, the smaller ones will becooked but still soft. I served them with wholegrain mustard mash and after Itook picture I realised that I have some Polish sour gherkins in brine left –theywent perfectly with sweetish livers.

Wholegrainmustard mash

Serves2

5medium potatoes, peeled, boiled and drained

tbspof butter

2tbsp of wholegrain mustard

50mlmilk

Mashall the above until smooth and serve immediately.

Chicken, butternut squash & date tagine

2011-10-20T07:30:00.000+01:00

I have to admit I was inspired by several Moroccan recipes when making this dish, however I still do not have a traditional tagine dish and often wonder if it would work in ordinary European kitchen. Do you, dear readers, have this dish and use it in the oven or on the hob?

This dish is very easy to make and you can relax in total laziness while waiting for the dinner and smoke a pipe with bored facial expression, making those rings with a smoke. If long you use chicken on the bone the flavour will be more intense but you will wait longer for a dinner. I do not smoke a pipe and wanted this dinner quickly so I used boned chicken thighs.

Serves 3-4

4 tbsp of neutral olive oil
6 chicken thighs fillets (skinless)
2 onions, peeled and cut into wedges
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2.5cm piece root ginger, peeled
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp harissa paste
juice and zest of one lemon
large handful of fresh coriander - leaves and stalks
1 cinnamon stick
400g tin cherry tomatoes (or chopped tomatoes)
about 12 dates, stoned
about 350g butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed and chopped into large chunks
salt
freshly ground black pepper

First prepare the spicy paste. In a food processor place: one onion, garlic, ginger, most of the coriander leaves and all coriander stalks, lemon zest and juice, 2 tbsp olive oil, harissa, cumin and paprika. Mix until smooth.

Heat the oven to 180 C (fan).

In large ovenproof dish with a lid heat the remaining olive oil, season the chicken thighs with some salt and pepper and fry on both sides until slightly browned. Remove from the dish and set aside in a bowl.

Add the whole paste to the pan and fry for about minute or two, next add the onion, squash and tomatoes. Rinse the food processor with some water and add to the pan - you will get all that remains and flavour into the dish and make the sauce less thicker. Next add the chicken with all the juices from the bowl, put the dates on the top, add cinnamon stick and cover. Bring to the boil and place in the oven. Keep in the oven for about 40 minutes. Chicken on the bone, needs about 60 minutes.

For a change I served it with a quinoa, not a couscous, sprinkled with the remaining coriander leaves.

To be quite honest - it was very tasty, however in this kind of dishes I prefer the prunes or dried apricots. Even some raisins. However tried it yourself with different dried fruits to decide which is your favourite one.

World Bread Day - Onion, bacon & thyme fougasse

2011-10-16T06:30:00.000+01:00

This year, first time I decided to take part in "World Bread Day". For this special occasion I baked French bread that I have done some many times before however never tried the version with meat. I baked fougasse with different herbs and cheese but this time I decided to go for bacon version. I hope that the vegetarians will forgive me this time and bake it omitting the bacon - the onion version must be as delicious. This bacon, onion and thyme fougasse bread traditionally shaped as a leaf is a great treat during this Autumn weekend.

Makes 2 loaves

500g strong white flour
7g sachet fast-action yeast
300ml water
4 tbsp olive oil + 1 for frying + 2 for brushing
1 tsp salt
1 large onion , peeled and finely chopped
3 rashers back bacon, sliced into thin strips or cubed
1 tsp thyme leaves

Mix 250g of the flour with all the yeast and approx 150ml water in a bowl, and beat together into a thick batter for 3 minutes. Leave to rise for about 2 hours. It should fall slightly after this time. Then add the rest of the flour, salt, water and oil, and mix well. When using your hands turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead to a smooth dough. Otherwise use stand mixer. Dough should be quite sticky. Leave it in the bowl to rise for a further 2-3 hours, or like me - overnight in a cool place, covered with cloth.

Next day I fired the onion in the tablespoon of olive oil until soft and slightly browned adding thyme half way trough and placed in a bowl. On the same frying pan fry the bacon until browned, I did not use any extra fat. Set aside to cool down.

Line 2 baking trays with baking parchment. Knock back the dough, then knead to incorporate the onion and bacon - this can be quite tricky as the onions and bacon are covered in fat, however after minute or so they should incorporate into the dough. Divide the dough into 2 pieces, place each onto a baking tray and use a rolling pin to flatten out each piece to about 2cm high, then using your hands shape roughly into a leaf shape. Using a sharp knife cut three diagonal slashes right through the dough down each side and two down the middle to form the shape of a leaf. Brush with olive oil, cover with a piece of cling film, and leave for a further hour to prove.

Heat oven to 210C (fan) and bake the loaves for 15-17 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Best scones ever

2011-10-13T08:30:00.000+01:00

I have been baking the scones for few yearsnow, but only recently when visited "The Secret Teacup" I felt like Ihad a kind of scones revelation. They were lighter than any others I hadbefore, more fluffy and plain for a change. Thankfully the hostess shared her recipe with meand now I can enjoy best scones ever. I wonder if I will ever look back. Thesecret is buttermilk (soda and baking powder react well with sour liquid) and not kneading the dough, just putting it together. Pleasehave a look at this typical British delight.

Scones – best I ever had

Makes 10-12

375g self raising flour

1 tbsp caster sugar

30g butter (I used unsalted)

300ml buttermilk

Heat the oven to 200 C (fan) and line alarge baking tray with some baking paper.

Place flour sugar and cubed butter in afood processor and pulse until butter incorporates into the flour. You can alsouse your fingers and rub the butter in. Next add some buttermilk, little bylittle, with the lightest touch. Do not overdo the dough, stop when there is nosign of dry flour. The dough should be sticky!

Place the dough onto generously flouredsurface and press it slightly, until about 2.5cm high.

Now, I prefer to stick to James’ Martingranny’s tip and cut the scones out without putting any leftover dough togetherand cutting again – it changes the dough structure and they are not as fluffyanymore. So I try to cut as much scones as possible from one piece, using a roundcookie cutter and then when I have some bits left, I put them together to formone odd scone.

Bake then in the hot oven for about 12minutes, remove from the oven and let them cool down on a wire rack.

Serve with fresh cream and your favourite fruit preserve.

For shiny scones brush the tops with beatenegg before baking.

Roasted butternut squash with vegetables & goat's cheese

2011-10-10T07:00:00.000+01:00

This season I am little bit late with the pumpkin recipes, but this new dish made out for this. Funny thing - when I cook with the pumpkin or butternut squash especially roasted I always feel like new dish is absolutely the best and THIS is it. And then I come to another recipe and it is even better and again my new favourite. It was exactly the same with this "Olive" magazine recipe from March 2007 issue. I have changed it slighlty though. Another nice thing happened to me when I was preparing the squash - it revealed lovely hear shape when halved. I am in love with this veg.

Serves 2

1 butternut squash, about 1.2kg, halved and deseeded

1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

3 tbsp olive oil

a pinch or two dried chilli flakes

1 tsp thyme, leaves only (I used lemon thyme)

1 small courgette, halved lenghtwise and cut into slices

1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into bite size chunks

1 medium red onion, peeled and cut into thin wedges

10 cherry tomatoes
2 springs of fresh thyme
handful pine nuts
60g goat's cheese, crumbled
1 tsp freshly grated pecorino
salt
pepper

Heat the oven to 190C (fan).

Cut criss-cross patternsover the cut-side of each half of butternut squash, making sure you do not cut the skin. Mix together the garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil, chilli and thyme and brush this mixture over theflesh. Place onto a baking tray and in the oven.

To make the filling, put the courgette, pepper and onion ina roasting tin and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, add thyme springs andplace in the oven after about 20 minutes of roasting the squash. After about 15 minutes add the cherry tomatoes and pine nutsand cook for another 10 minutes.

Arrange theroasted vegetables and goat's cheese in the squash halves (if the holes are quite small arrange the vegetables on the flesh),sprinkle with some pecorino cheese and bake for furhter 10 minutes.

Swede & carrot mash

2011-10-07T06:00:00.000+01:00

Do you like this veg? I think it is little bit underrated. It is tasty, healthy and low in calories. It makes a lovely alternative to mash potatoes. You can also serve it as a side dish.

Serves 2-3

about 500g swede, peeled and diced

2-3 medium carrots, peeled and diced

tbsp of butter

salt

freshly ground black pepper

freshly ground nutmeg

Place the swede and carrotsin a pan of boiling salted water. Cover and simmer untiltender. Drain, add the butter, generous amount of pepper and some nutmeg and mash with a potatomasher. I like it bit chunky, you can make it smooth.

Where to eat? "The Secret Teacup", nr Clapham, North Yorks

2011-09-27T07:00:00.000+01:00

I absolutely love the idea of supper clubsand secret restaurants. Eating tasty food for a reasonable price and the socialside of it makes me really excited. Therefore I just could not wait to go toone of them and my first choice was actually a secret tearoom, mainly becauseit was in reasonable driving distance but also because I loved the pictures ofthis place when I first discovered it on-line.

Last Sunday we went to The Secret Teacupsituated in one of the farms nr Clapham in Yorkshire Dales National Park. It offerstraditional afternoon tea in beautiful surroundings. The hostess of this placeis also an author of the beautiful blog Tales of Ted and Agnes.

She makes sure everyone feels welcomed;selection of tea she offers is very interesting, the food she serves it mouthwatering. If you love real fire in the stove, good food, warm, homelyatmosphere and want to see incredible collection of mismatched china this isthe right address.

I love spending time with people who havesuch a passion for baking, dreaming up menus, and dressing up the tables so I definately went to the right place. Itwas very tasty afternoon indeed! Here is the menu and I will let the photosspeak for themselves.

~MENU~

...SANDWICHES...

Potted salmon with Rocket

Egg Mayonnaise & Red Cress

Cheese & Homemade Pickle

...SAVOURIES...

Goats Cheese & Onion tartlets

3 Cheese twists

...CAKES...

Lemon & Lime Drizzle Cake

Jammie Dodgers

Sticky Maple Buns

Hedgerow Tea Loaf

Scones with Cream & Jam

P.S. On the social side it was a little bit let down - 5 people calcelled their bookings just before the meeting, (naughty!) however I still managed to meet very nice bloger, an author of Kat got the cream blog.

Typical Yorkshire traffic on our way back!

Lemon spaghettini with courgettes & spinach

2011-09-23T07:00:00.000+01:00

Not every long pasta is spaghetti, and the one you can see on the photographs today is slighlty thinner version of this most pupular Italian pasta - spaghettini. Thinner it is, quicker it cooks, and therefore tasty and very satisfying dinner is on your table within few minutes. This is simply wonderful - you do not spend much time in the kitchen, the preparation is down to an absolute minimum and bowl of delicious pasta is very comforting. You can show off!

Have a lovely weekend my Dear Readers and cook more courgettes - season for this veg is slowly getting to an end.

serves 2

about 200g spaghettini

generous splash of olive oil

1 medium courgette, coarsly grated

large handful of fresh baby spinach

1 peperoncino pepper, smashed

juice of half lemon

few leaves of fresh mint, roughly torn

freshly ground black pepper

salt

some pecorino or parmesan (or vegetarian parmesan) shavings

Boil plenty of water for a pasta in a big pan and slowly reheat the frying pan. When pasta needs to be cooked for last 4 minutes, add olive oil to the hot pan, next add peperoncino and cougette and fry for about 2 minutes. Next add the spinach, fry for about one minute and add the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper, add the mint, mix well and remove from a heat.

Drain the pasta and add to the pan with vegetables. Mix well and if it seems bit dry add some extra olive oil. Divide between two serving bowls, sprinkle wirth some more pepper if you like to and finish off with cheese shavings. Serve immidiately.

Cinnamon & Sultana Swirl Bread

2011-09-20T07:30:00.000+01:00

To fight first signs of autumn depression itis good to have something tasty for breakfast on really wet and dull morning. Ihave made this bread for a first time and it turned out to be too much for two if us,therefore I decided to share this little ray of sunshine with David and hiswife who live nearby. They appreciate good food and I thought it would be niceto have a slice of this bread with hot tea when he gets back from a shooting day. I love to share these little nice things with other people.

I found this recipe on The Kitchn website and I havechanged it slightly. I used brown sugar instead of the white, sultanas instead ofraisins and soaked them in the dessert wine instead of water.

Makes 2 loaves

Dough:

1 cup sultanas
some dessert wine, enough to cover the sultanas
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 cup milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:

3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 egg beaten with 2 teaspoons warm water

Put the raisins in a small bowl and cover them with warm wine (or water if you follow the original recipe). Let the raisins plump for at least 10 minutes. Drain and set aside to dry.

Pour a cup of water into the bowl of a standing mixer or large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over top. Give it a few minutes, then stir to dissolve the yeast into the water. Stir the milk, melted butter, and salt into the water. Gradually add the flour, one tablspoon at time and mi to form a dough. Knead in your mixer on low speed with a dough hook or knead by hand for 8-10 minutes to form a smooth, slightly tacky dough. The dough is ready when it forms a ball without sagging and quickly springs back when poked.

Toss the raisins with a few tablespoons of flour to absorb any residual moisture from when they were plumped. With the mixer on gradually add them to the bowl and continue kneading until they are evenly distributed.

Next cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about an hour. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and beat together the egg and water in a second bowl.

Divide the dough into two pieces. Roll each part of the dough out on the working surface. It should be slightly less wide than your baking pan and as long as you can make it. The thinner the dough, the more layers of cinnamon swirl you'll end up with.

Brush the entire surface of the dough with egg wash, leaving about two inches clear at the top. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar and save little bit for later. Starting at the end closest to you, roll up the dough. When you get to the top, pinch the seam closed. Transfer the loaf to your loaf pan seam-side down.

Let the loaves rise 30-40 minutes, I left mine for 30 minutes and it was slighlty too short, the bread cracked on one side during the baking.

Brush the top with some of the remaining egg wash andsprinkle some of your remaining cinnamon sugar over the tops of the loaves as well. Bake in 180 C (fan) for 40 minutes until golden brown.

Remove the loaves from the pans and allow them to cool completely before slicing. I love to toast it and spred some butter over the bread. Baked loaves can also be frozen for up to three months.

Spicy aubergines

2011-09-15T09:00:00.000+01:00

Itried to avoid the thought that the autumn is coming. In my memories I still goback to sunny and warm Italy.For the last two days we had really strong wind in Dales, it was quite cold andwet and also the nights are coming in so therefore more than usually I drinkhot tea with lemon and Polish honey I brought back from home.

Evenwhen I got over the first signs of autumns depression it was not that easy towrite another post. It is not easy to type when you have cats walking acrossthe keyboard. No, it is not good (or shall I say bad) old Buka going mad andMimi doesn’t change her preferences too. It is our new kitten that we hope is aboy. For a time being we have two names under consideration: Marlon or Marla.

Wechose those names to pay the tribute to some film characters and they both weretruly distinctive, charismatic people, and looking at our new cat and his(her?) behavior we could not choose more appropriate names. Seven weeks old hyperactive kitten is verydemanding and looking after him is very time consuming, so I am little bittired recently. As much as I am bitten, scratched, sleepy and I makeuncontrolled cries when he decides to climb my leg. I am also very, very happy.Eating, cooking at the moment is little bit less important. I cook mostlydishes that I know well, preferably one-pot. This is one of those, my favouritefrom "The Food of India: a journey for food lovers". I did not stickto the exact quantities.

Serves 2-4

2medium aubergines, halved lengthways and then sliced into about 7mm slices

5tbsp of sunflower oil or ghee (clarified butter)

400mlskinned, chopped fresh tomatoes (or tinned)

5garlic cloves, peeled

about2,5cm fresh ginger root, peeled

1tsp black onion seeds (nigella seeds, kalonji)

1tsp fennel seeds

1tsp ground coriander

1/4tsp of turmeric

1/4tsp cayenne

salt

Blendhalf of the tomatoes with garlic and ginger until smooth.

Ina large pan heat one tbsp butter at time and fry the aubergines in one layer,on both sides until slightly browned. Place fried aubergines in a bowl and setaside. Heat the remaining butter in the same pan.

Addblack onion seeds, fennel seeds, cover and leave it to pop for about minute. Nextadd the turmeric, coriander, cayenne, mixed tomatoes and the remaining ones. Becareful as it will spit. Add the aubergines, some salt and cover. Simmer forabout 15-20 minutes.

Theyare great on their own, but will go nicely with naan bread, some mango chutneyon the side. I also serve them as one of many dishes along curries and others whenI host Indian dinner.

Andplease, let me introduce new remember of our crew:

Fresh tomato soup with bread, salami and pecorino

2011-09-12T11:30:00.000+01:00

Once I read about a tomato soup made with freshtomatoes on one of the Polish foodiesblog. One of the comments was quite rough stating that the soup looks disgusting.Well, thought to myself, it is time to teach young generation who probably seentomato soup out of a tin only that this is how real tomato soup looks like.

Accordingto my taste there is no better tomato soup than the one made with fresh, ripe, sweettomatoes, therefore I had to make one when I was in Ginestra. Especially I gaveAnna Maria a piece of the Wensleydale Cheddar in colourful wax and to say thankyou she brought me full bag of her home grown tomatoes. Besides we had some oldbread and some sausages to utilise, so I decide to experiment little bit.

This soup was beautiful cold or hot. I am reallysorry for not giving the exact quantities, but the general idea only. You haveto work it out accordingly to your taste.

Makes big pan

few small sausages, salami like, sliced

generous splash of olive oil from Gina

4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

2 peperoncino peppers, crushed

one big colander filled with ripe, sweettomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

about 1.2l vegetable stock (I cooked mine withcarrots, celeriac, onion, garlic, whole peppercorns, little olive oil salt andpepper)

stale bread, diced

salt

freshly ground black pepper

freshly grated pecorino cheese

In a big pan fry the bread in the olive oil untilcrispy, then remove from the pan and set aside. Add the sausages to the pan andfry until the fat is released. Add garlic, peperoncino, fry for a minute or soand add the tomatoes. After few minutes add the vegetable stock, season withsalt and pepper, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Serve with bread croutons, drizzled with someolive oil and sprinkled with pecorino cheese.

Where to eat? "Lolli", Piglio

2011-09-07T08:00:00.000+01:00

There are some places that you will not find inthe holiday guides, luckily somebody you know have been there already andrecommended it to you. There is one very good and unbeatable reason to go toPiglio (except from a fact that this is very nice town, with streets 1.5m widein the old town overlooking the valley) – it is great place for wine shopping.You have to go to one of cantina sociale and get some Cesanese del Piglio that perhapsis not as famous as Tuscan Chianti but definitely worth trying. It is tasty andif you think about price- taste relation, I would say it is very tasty. None ofthose we bought for 3.5 – 8.5 euros would put me in a shame when served to myguests with some good food. Even I am not a big fan of white wines I found Passerinadel Frusinate very tasty.

If you like simple, homemade dishes served in notparticularly smart or posh surroundings you have another reason to go toPiglio. There is one place just off the road, that looks like it was built justtemporarily, it is called “Lolli” and it should be your destination if you likegood quality food with no fuss. If you do not mind sitting at the table withplastic, colorful covering, drink wine from a decanter under a watchful eyes ofthe Holy Family from a picture this is right place for you. All you need istime, plenty of time – at least 2 hours.

This is how much time out feast took. We had thefollowing:

- 1l white wine

- 1.5l water

- two plates full of antipasti – various hams, salami,something made from offal and pig’s head – very similar to brawn (we call itsalceson in Poland), cold roast pork, artichokes, olives, cheese and somesausage, also some pickles.

- two generous slices of bread, grilled over theopen fire, generously drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt

- a basket full of lovely bread

- two large portions of tagliatelle alla ragu – andsome cheese to finish off, of our choice: pecorino or parmesan

- one huge beef steak, grilled over the real fire, servedwith lemon

- cicoria fried in olive oil

- some biscuits

- two lemon sorbets

- two coffees

- three shots (each one of us) of different liqueurs (good for thedigestion)

Are you still surprised that you need at leas two hours? I have to admitthat my partner and I can eat a lot, and this time we were completely full. (Rememberrestaurant scene from “The Meaning of Life”? This is how we probably felt). Obviouslyeverything was extremely tasty. For thisfeast, service of very pleasant waiter and fire keeper and lovely view from awindow we paid 69 euros.

I recommend this place!

Trattoria Lolli

Piglio

via Prenestina km. 43,700.

Italia

Tel. 0775/501115, mobile 3395029036

Card does not mention what time this place isopen, however is says: closed on Thursdays.

* Frosinone, Lazio region

Plum & ginger swirl cheesecake

2011-09-03T04:50:00.000+01:00

Today I will take a break from my holiday Italian theme and show you something that I am extremely proud of. A cheesecake that I have made for Julie's birthday.

First of all I am proud of this cheesecake because I am not the best baker and not all of my desserts, especially cakes turn out as nice and tasty. Secondly I did not use any particular recipe and I based this cheesecake upon recipes that I already tried and this time added an extra twist - the plum sauce. I have seen many recipes for swirl cheesecakes using raspberry preserve, but this time of the year I was really keen to use plums instead. So I made my own plum sauce, spiced by adding little bit of ginger. So here it is - my late summer, delicious, creamy, little bit sharp yet sweet enough (drums!): plum & ginger swirl cheesecake!

Serves 8-10, makes round 25cm springform tin

For the base:

200g dark chocolate Digestive biscuits
80g unsalted butter

For the cheese filing:

600g cream cheese (800g if you prefer higher cake)
170g caster sugar
4 eggs
2 tbps custard powder
2 tbsp lemon juice
200ml creme fraiche

For the plum & ginger sauce*:

4 large plums
100ml of mead (honey wine)
2 tbsp of brown soft dark sugar
4 cubes of crystallised ginger

First prepare the sauce.Quarter and stone plums and place in a small pan with mead, sugar and ginger, then bring to the boil and simmer until the plums are very soft and juices reduced. Next blend with a hand blender until smooth and place on the small heat to reduce little bit more. Set aside.

Line a springform tin with some kitchen foil, making sure the bottom is protected from water. I bake this cheesecake in bain-marie, which is a type of preparation used for protecting dishes requiring gentle heat from the fierce heat of the oven.

Crush the biscuits in a food processor (or put in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin). Mix with the melted butter. Press into springform tin and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180C and put a kettle on.

Beat the cream cheese with the sugar until light and fluffy. Next add eggs – one egg at the time, mix and add next egg when previous is mixed well with the cheese mixture.

Next add lemon juice, custard powder and mix, but make sure you do not overwork it – stop when custard is mixed into the cheese. Add the creme fraiche, mix and pour the mixture into the tin.

Now using a teaspoon dot the top of the cake with the plum sauce and working with a toothpick make movements in eight shape to create swirls, like lady in this film, however I do not recommend using a knife, toothpick makes much nicer effect.

Place the tin into an ovenproof dish and fill with hot water (about half of the size of the tin), cover with kitchen foil and bake for about 1 hour 20 minutes. The middle will be a bit wobbly.

Take it out of the oven and let it to cool down in and then transfer to the fridge and leave it overnight.

To cut this cheesecake use knife previously kept in the hot water - it will make the whole process easier.

* it makes a whole about 250ml jar, and really you need few teaspoons only. This was an experimental recipe, and I did not expect that much of the sauce. However I placed the remaining hot sauce in the sterylised jar, sealed and kept it for winter - it will be lovely with the pancakes.

The perfect meal

2011-08-25T09:00:00.001+01:00

Before I go on holiday I always tell to myself, that I am going to take a break from cooking. It is a good thing to miss it and go back to cooking with even more passion. This time it took me four days to be back in the kitchen. What made me to do this? Local produce in place we have stayed, village called Ginestra.

I cooked really simple yet beautiful in its simplicity dinner. We sat around the table slightly worm-eaten, listen Vivaldi’s violin concert and its melody seemed to mix well with the sounds of everyday village life. I have achieved a culinary nirvana. It is funny how little human being needs to be happy.

To cook this perfect meal I went 2000km away from Yorkshire, to warm slopes of Central Apennines, I have become much calmer, and I completely forgot that I need two matching sets of cutlery or plates to be happy. I also reminded myself that food eaten from a chipped bowl can be tasty, even if I only have a cheap table wine handy.

On Tuesday or Friday around 9.30am I sat next to the open window carefully awaiting some dance music coming from the distance. I was awaiting Cessidio who comes in his van and stops next to the bar first, then he drives to the shop and his last stop in the village is near the post office. He does not have wide selection, but his vegetables are always fresh and good quality. I bought 2kg of tomatoes from him. These were nowhere near tomatoes I see in supermarkets. They reminded me of my Granny’s tomatoes that she used to grow on the allotment. Smell of the tomato vines exposed to the sun always reminds me my childhood.

Good tomatoes are also available from Neapolitan, who comes to the village on Fridays between 10 and 11am.

You also need some tasty olive oil to cook this perfect meal. The best I had so far is olive oil produced by Gina, one of the villagers. In Ginestra, specifically in village frantoio few producers make their own olive oil. They you a specific mixture of local olives and it gives the oil very distinctive colour and flavour – fruity yet peppery on the finish. Thankfully I have ordered some in April and tin filled with olive oil was waiting for me in Ginestra when I arrived.

Olive tree in Ginestra

It is not difficult to guess while shopping in Osteria Nuova, that fresh pasta (pasta fresca) made locally in Spinacetto – Greccio is very popular. I bought a packet of strozzapreti fresche (it means “priest choker” – I love it!) and few days later I went back to the shops to get some more, because it was delicious. You can also buy this pasta from Fratelli Liberati deli, where you can buy lovely pecorino cheese, which I love even more than parmesan.

I chopped roughly few washed tomatoes into bite size pieces, placed then in a bowl with finely chopped 2 cloves of garlic and one crumbled peperoncino. Added little bit salt and set aside for a while. Meanwhile I cooked pasta al dente. When tomatoes released their juices I added a generous splash of oil and some roughly crushed black peppercorns.

I mixed drained pasta with tomatoes in the bowl and shaved some pecorino on the top. We had it with some lovely chilled rose wine and when we finished pasta, we used some tasty local bread to clean the plates. Nothing went to waste. Not even a drop of this tasty juice and olive oil.

Why recently I obsessively think about my own house in Italian countryside?

Up date, 14th October

Well... I did not win on the lottery recently (nice roll over!), so I will not be buying an Italian house of my dreams, however I can still cheer myself up by going to the restaurant of my choice and spending some money that I can win entering another exciting competition. This recipe takes part in LoveTheGarden “A Taste for Tomatoes - a recipe blog competition”, so please keep your fingers crossed!

Where to eat? "Maria Fontana", Poggio Moiano*

2011-08-21T16:45:00.000+01:00

I am not trying to say that you cannot have a decent meal in Rome. We only spent two days there and we more focused on history rather than food. We both agreed that we will look for some nice food somewhere else. And to be quite honest - I was so happy eating in those tiny provincial restaurants that I would be quite happy to stick to them.

We were planning to visit Maria Fontana restaurant after my friend's recommendation, however we got there earlier than we originally planned because we had to visit the local carabinieri office. We went there on Sunday morning and we were well looked after, however the whole procedure took longer than we expected and we started to feel little bit hungry. And we definitely had to cheer ourselves up. We singed all the necessary paperwork and we took off to Maria Fontana restaurant for a lunch. I am really pleased that we got there earlier than we planned because we had a chance to go back there before we left Italy.

On Sunday afternoon this place was full. Busy, quite laud, most of the tables were already occupied by whole families enjoying their lunch. We got a table and were told there is no menu today also we had a chance to order the drinks and antipasto (starter). We ordered a decanter of water and local unfiltered beer produced in Rieti, called Principessa (Princess). It had very distinctive flavour, very tasty, sweet and made with kind of wheat popular in Roman times (It, farro, Lat. Triticum dicoccum, accoring to some it is spelt, but I think it is something else: emmer wheat).

That day os was only one starter available - selection of cold, cured meats and cheese, but I also asked if they serve coratella. Waiter just smiled and disappeared in the kitchen, after minute or so he brought 3 little bowls, one of them was filled with coratella. This dish is traditionally made with finely chopped young lamb's heart, lungs, and liver fried in olive oil and finished off with some white wine and lemon juice. This is not typicall dish for this region as some others have their own coratellas i.e. with artichokes. (Coratella d'agnello con carciofi). Our was very aromatic, I could taste peperoncino and bay leaf. Offal were very nicely chopped, juicy, tender, spicy. We had it with bread and I would be quite happy to have it as a main dish.

In other bowls there was a marinated cucumber (courgette? I am not sure) and something that I did not know so when we came back next week and restaurant was not so busy I managed to find out what it was. It is calles portulachia (or porcacchia). It looked like weed or seaweed, and it was left in the sun to dry out on the tables in the next room. It was very tasty - crunchy, little bit sour, very refreshing.

Bread that was served with antipasti was a proper, real bread, cold meats (hams, prosciutto crudo, salami etc) smelled gorgeous and so they tasted, coratella was disappearing quicker that I would expected. I was gutted when I finished because I realised that I am pretty full already. Thankfully we were given some time to order primi (first dish). Waiter suggested very finely handmade pasta called maccheroncini, that this restaurant is famous for or pappardelle. We both decided we want the thin one - I had tomato sauce with mine, my partner tomato sauce with some meat. That was beautiful! After, what we thought was a real tucking in, waiter asked what we would like for secondi (second, main dish), and usually it is fish or meat. Unfortunately we were full and we wanted to leave some space for a dessert. Luckily we had some time to order the dessert and get some rest before having even more food.

For dessert I had panna cotta with some little blackberries which grow locally, just off any road and some cherries soaked in wine. For me it was an ideal dessert: panna cotta was not too wobbly, not too stiff, sweet and sauce and fruits were quite sharp. My partner had chocolate pancake with some ice cream.

Obviously I would not be full Italian meal without strong, aromatic espresso. Also we were offered liqueur or grappa , but we did not want any.

For all of the above the bill came to 46 euros. We knew we were coming back to this place very soon. We had to try their secondi.

Second time we did not take any antipasti and for firsh dish we ordered ravioli with ricotta and herbs in tomato sauce and pappardelle with tomato and rabbit (if I understood correctly...). Those large and very broad pasta was a brownish in colour and tasted little bit nutty, it was certainly made with some farro wheat, that I mentioned above. Ravioli was very tender and the dough was thin and lovely, filling - very creamy. Do I have to say it was delicious? This restaurant run by one family since 1966 is very famous by their handmade pasta, an absolute must try when you there.

It was a time for second main dish and I ordered veal schnitzel and my partner decided to go for the pork escallops with mushroom sauce. We also ordered a plateful of coratella that we were (and we are!) dreaming about since our first visit. This time main dishes were listed on a piece of paper that we were given together with a pen and asked to my our choice. We also were given this tasty bread and offered contri (side dish) of salad, or tomatoes, or beans or cicoria - don't mistake this with a chicory - this is something else. We had it before elsewhere and enjoyed it's flavour so we both decided to go for it again. I was searching Google to find out how you call it in English but I could not figure this out. It is probably a part of curly endive, family but is it more similar to common dandelion. Anyway it was fried in olive oil with some peperoncino and served warm. We also had some white house wine (vino della casa) in a jug and water.

This time for a dessert we both had really nice fluffy and light chocolate cake, then two strong coffee shots and again would did not want any grappa to finish off, but the waiter (and the chef and owner I believe) brought some homemade liqueur called ratafia oi rose. It was very tasty and I believe it helps to digest the whole meal unfortunately my Italian is too poor to understand what it was made with (rose perhaps?). Traditionally it is made with cherries, walnuts or plums. We had over two hours feast and this time paid 50 euros.

Why to eat there? First of all because they serve very tasty food - fresh, homemade, no fuss, using local ingredients. Also because sometimes it is nice not to have a menu and eat what you are given, it is fun to trust the chef, when there is no written menu and two dishes are being served, so there is not much choice. And perhaps because this is such a nice place and even this is restaurant and you are given real napkins instead of disposable ones and white table cloths the atmosphere is very informal. And the prices are very reasonable.

I highly recommend this place!

Ristorante Maria Fontana

Viale Manzoni 13

02037 Poggio Moiano

Italia

+39 0765 876169

Closed on Mondays, open for a lunch rest of the week, please ring for opening time for the dinner as sometimes they are closed at night too.

* province of Rieti, region Lazio

The bag

2011-08-20T15:36:00.001+01:00

I am still little bit confused after comming back from holiday. I am in the middle of my next note and hoping to finish it off by the next week. Awaiting new post please let me introduce: our plastic bag, a journey companion.

Companion in our struggle, or on the road with plastic bag

Souvenirs from Rome made in China

2011-08-16T16:20:00.000+01:00

Ginestra

“My boyfriend comes from here and he is not happy with how Rome has changed in last few years” – said American girl who we randomly met in Ginestra. She was playing with her long curly hair, dark one with a hint of grey and she asked how long we have been here. She was rather surprised that we already spent two weeks on a village and asked what actually we were doing here. Well… You can do many things in Ginestra. For example you can sit, like Maya does.

I am not surprised at all because to sit in Ginestra is a fantastic thing to do. You can sit on the red plastic chair against the wall outside the village bar, having great cappuccino and pastries. You can sit on a bench opposite car park, where Padre Pio in a shelter made of bricks watches over the place. And from there you can see local gangs of cats, having a sun baths on the front of the cars. Even when you want to say good bye to locals they may ask you to sit down for a while with them.

Ginestra

Obviously you can leave Ginestra and take a trip to Rome. It is only 50km away north-east and it easy to reach by the train. To do it you have to travel to one of the local train stations, let say Fara in Sabina. The building looked abandoned, information and selling points were shut, ticket machine did not work. You could still hear the voices of people, probably Trenitalia employees, coming out of the windows. Knock it and do not be tempted to ask them in Italian if they speak English. “I am Italian, I live in Italy, why should I speak English?” Eventually you manage to find out that they do not sell the tickets. Right – we decided there must be the opportunity to buy tickets on a train to Rome. So we jumped into a train and awaited a ticket inspector. He came after few minutes, and we even managed to say in really poor Italian that we would like to buy tickets to Rome Tiburtina station. He looked at us like we were total idiots and said that he does not sell the tickets. He left us and when my partner came to him to insist on paying for the trip, he just said: “Si! Si! Roma Tiburtina!” and he left and we never saw him again. And that was it. So apparently you can go to Rome by train for nothing.


Roma

You can also stay in bed 5 minutes longer than usually on lovely sunny Saturday morning, perhaps have one more slice of tasty bread for you breakfast, say good morning and have a chat with the lady who does not seem to remember that she had met us before and we had a sort of interview on Tuesday, so she had to ask again who we are, and where we live. And then you can have a cappuccino in bar called “Sport” and finally go to the station only to find out that you have missed your train and the next one is n about two hours. So you can decide to go to Rome by car. Pay for you parking space on the parking in town centre (Roma Centro), have a romantic walk with somebody you love, buy a fridge magnet for somebody who collects them from all over the world, sit on the Spanish Steps and do things that you do in Rome. Then you can come back to you car and see that somebody broke into it and the window on the back seat is totally smashed. Ironically there was nothing left in the car, so the bloody robber did not make a great deal out of it, however it took him fifteen seconds to do it and it took us days to sort the problem out. We had the opportunity to meet carabinieri (type of police) in Rome and small village near Ginestra (Poggio Moiano) and find out that they are very reasonable and helpful. I can’t really say as many warm words about the garage in Rieti. OK, OK, there we quite busy before summer holidays, and the secretary seemed to be very excited about her upcoming wedding. It seemed like “Lost in Translation” scene, when I was trying to say that glass should have been fitted in one rather than three hours, as promised (eventually it took over five hours…) and she was showing a gesture of putting a ring on her finger and singing Mendelssohn's "Wedding March”. At the end of the day the glass fitted after four days is better than a piece of plastic bag that was kindly fitted by locals of Ginestra and my partner on Saturday night outside the local bar, on our way from Rome. Every time we reached 30mph it started to move, make noise and eventually tear off – what a struggle! I think it was a top story in Ginestra that week – our missing glass. If the locals are going to remember us it will be due to that window and probably our poor knowledge of Italian language.

Roma

How about Rome? Rome is Rome. Packed with historical monuments, that are definitely worth seeing and probably you will have to spend a month there and still not see everything. We only managed to spend two days and did not feel like coming back due to the incident with our car… Rome is also packed with people. However there is something about Rome that you only have to go two streets away from Colosseum or Fountain di Trevi to get a peace. And find old buildings of which the old paint is peeling away, shabby benches and silence disturbed just by some everyday sounds: commanding voice of some housewife probably preparing a meal, noise of cutlery jingling against the plates, oh-oo-oor-ing of the pigeons, joy of wedding guest awaiting a bride outside the church or a sound of high heels against the pavement made by a blond bunny girl carrying little dog and the shopping bags from a top designers.

Roma

Rome fascinates and tires. People tire. Huge amount of Americans making silly comments and being sure of their own supremacy, that obviously only they have a right for. Huge amount of Indian guys or Africans trying to sell you crap or convince you that their Polaroid photo will be much better than the one from you own camera. Massive amount of souvenirs made in China. Waiters outside the restaurants and trattorias trying to catch you on the street and make you eat at their place. Again many Americans and Brits who order chips (French fries for Americans) and coke for a dinner. How about food? Well. We did not have a fabulous meal in Rome. It was average and overpriced. Or not good and overpriced. You probably ask me: where to eat in Italy? And I will tell you: on the province. I will write about this in few days.


Ginestra

Celery, orange & mackerel salad

2011-07-29T07:00:00.003+01:00

Today another Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipe. I like to watch this Eton College graduate, who talks perfect English. I find his recipes easy to follow and I am always very pleased with the result. It was the same this time when I tried this unusual salad. He made it in "River Cottage" TV series for somebody who hates celery sticks, to convince fussy eater that celery can be quite pleasant. I do not have any problems with this veg, but I found this recipe quite unusual and intriguing. It is very easy and quick to make although very good looking and tasty.

I highly recommend it and say good bye for few weeks. We are off for holiday, this year my dream about seeing Rome and Lazio region will finally come true. Lot of history, ancient monuments, beautiful nature and without any doubt - marvellous food are waiting for my partner and I.

So enjoy the salad, take care and I talk to you in few weeks!

Serves 2

2 smoked mackerel fillets, skinned and boned, torn into chunks

2 oranges, peeled and segmented, juice saved for the dressing

4-6 celery sticks, chopped into bite size pieces

2 tbsp olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

celery salt

For the dressing mix the orange juice with pepper and salt, ser aside. Arrange celery, oranges and mackerel together in a serving dish and drizzle with the dressing. Serve immediately. You can also serve it warm with freshly fried mackerel fillets on the top instead of smoked one.

Spiced plum chutney

2011-07-25T08:30:00.002+01:00

I trusted Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his recipe published in The Guardian , but I forgot to buy the apples. I hope you can trust me and mine slightly changed recipe for spiced plum chutney. It tasted good when still hot, but I like quite sour, vinegar taste. It will fully develop it's flavour after 2-3 months maturing.

Due to the lack of apples that contain a lot of pectin, I used liquid pectin (Certo) and changed some quantities. I am not sure which variety of plums I used, as there was not information on the market and I forgot to ask. I am going to make some more of this chutney later on this summer, with August ad September varieties, such as damsons or similar.

Makes 6 jars, about 200ml each

1.1 kg plums, quartered and stoned
300g onions, peeled and diced
180g stoned prunes, roughly chopped
fresh root ginger thumb size, peeled and finely chopped
400g soft dark brown sugar
400ml vinegar (I used some malt and some red wine vinegar)
2 tsp dried chilli flakes
salt
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp black peppercorns, roughly crushed
about 70g of liquid pectin

Place all the above except the pectin in heave based pan. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, especially be careful with last 30 minutes, when chutney gets sticky and tends to burn. Then remove from the heat and stir in the pectin.

Place hot chutney in the sterilised jars, seal and turn up side down and leave them to cool down. You can pasteurise it of you wish to keep it for longer than 6-9 months. Our chutney will disappear before end of this year. Allow to mature for about 2-3 months.

Chorizo & peas tortilla

2011-07-19T08:30:00.005+01:00

Spain vs. Italy or tortilla vs. frittata. I used to wonder what the difference between those two is. I think I have figured that out – tortilla is always made with potatoes, and frittata can contain various ingredients and/or potatoes. Also tortilla seems to be thicker than frittata and made using olive oil, whether the frittata can be made with butter. I am pretty sure that some well skilled chefs would point out much more differences however there is one thing common for those two: that contain eggs and are kind of omelets. I love them both, because they are easy and quick to make, nice hot or cold, so are suitable for the picnics and you can use any leftovers to make them.

Serves 2-4

4 eggs, lightly beaten

6-8 new potatoes, cooked in skins, peeled and sliced, or any leftover potatoes, sliced or diced

red onion, peeled and sliced

few slices of chorizo sausage

about 200ml of fresh peas, or frozen one, slowly defrosted

3 tbsp olive oil

salt

freshly ground black pepper

some rocket to garnish (optionally)

Heat the oven to 200C (fan)

Use the frying pan that you can place in the hot oven (no plastic elements, I used 25cm) and heat on the hob. Add olive oil and onion and fry until onion is softened. Next add one layer of potatoes, place the chorizo onto the potatoes, then sprinkle with peas and cover with the remaining potatoes.

Season the eggs with salt and pepper and pour over the potatoes. Fry for about 3 minutes and place in the hot oven. Bake until the top is golden and firm. Remove from the oven, cover with chopping board and turn upside down. The tortilla should easily come out of the pan.

Divide into portions, serve hot or cold garnished with some fresh herbs or rocket. It goes well with some light salad on the side.

Raw courgette & olive salad

2011-07-11T08:45:00.000+01:00

As a bloger and person who was quite active on culinary forums I have made few new friendships and weather they stayed purely virtual or became friendships in real life, we tend to exchange some goods. Sometimes I send some British specialities abroad, and in exchange I get some nice things: handmade jewellery, real Italian olive oil, even some people that do not know me personally would (and in a fact they had!) have me for a dinner.

Today a recipe from a book that I was given by one of those lovely people who I mentioned above. The original one have fresh oregano, I swapped it for fresh mint.

Serves 2

2 small firm courgettes, sliced into thin strips

handful of black, pitted olives, sliced

4 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

salt

freshly ground black pepper

handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped

Mix the olive oil with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Marinate courgette strips in this dressing for about 10 minutes, the longer you marinate the courgettes the more tender they get. Mix with the olives and mint and serve garnished with some more fresh mint.

Sweet & sour bread salad

2011-07-05T09:00:00.001+01:00

Anchovies and bread. Not too much, huh? Yes it may seem a little, but it was enough to take an ordinary vegetable salad to new, exciting level. Perhaps I should start form the beginning…

When I first saw “Two Greedy Italians” series and then I read the book I paid a special attention to he dishes coming from la cucina povera, created by the poverty. They are simple, seasonal, using locally sourced ingredients, quite often using bread (stale, so it did not go to waste), as it was relatively cheap and widely available. It also feels up easily. One of the classic dishes of la cucina povera is panzanella - a salad made from stale bread, tomatoes, oil and vinegar. Sometimes people add some basil and onion, however less is more in this case.

In the book I have found a recipe for a salad inspired by classic panzanella. Contaldo used more vegetables and made this sweet and sour twist on this classic dish. I have fallen in love when I saw this on TV, but the outcome was even better that I would have ever expected. Lets be honest – with this number of ingredients it is not longer la cucina povera, but you have to admit the influence is quite strong.

The original recipe used double baked bread called frasella (or freselle, frisedde, fresedde, frise). If you do not have it you can use decent country style, sourdough bread, that you have to bake or toast.

Serves 2

1 small carrot, peeled, cut into matchsticks (julienne)

2 pieces of celery, as above

50ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

2 anchovy fillets

1 shallots, peeled and finely sliced

1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

½ red pepper, seeds removed, cut into matchsticks (julienne)

½ yellow pepper, as above

½ aubergine,as above

1 small courgette, as above

2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only ( I used lemon thyme)

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

salt

freshly ground black pepper

piece of country bread, toasted

handful basil leaves

Blanch the carrot and celery strips in a pan of boiling salted water for three minutes. Drain, place in cool water for few minutes, to prevent further cooking, drain again and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large lidded frying pan and stir in the anchovies. Cook until they have almost dissolved into the oil. Add the shallot and garlic and fry until softened.

Add the peppers, aubergine and courgette strips and continue to cook for a further 2-3 minutes, then stir in the thyme leaves, sugar and vinegar, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Carefully add the blanched carrot and celery to the pan and cook for five minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Break the country bread slices into bite-sized pieces and arrange half of the bread on a plate. Top with the vegetables, scatter over the basil leaves, the remaning bread and drizzle with a little oil. Serve warm or cold.

Gooseberry chutney

2011-07-02T09:00:00.002+01:00

I always show you recipes for dishes that I cooked myself and tasted so I can without shadow of a doubt recommend to you. Today it will be different, I am taking a bit of risk. I have made this chutney based on ingredients of Waitrose gooseberry chutney and various recipes I have found on-line, but I have improvised little bit.

I liked this chutney even when hot, even with this strong vinegar taste, which I am sure will disappear and develop into something else within a time. However I cannot be sure of the final outcome because it was the first time I have made gooseberry chutney. I did not want to wait until next year, so today here it is! Perhaps you will trust my senses and decide to make this or similar chutney this season. I hope it will be worth waiting, I cannot wait to have it with chunk o cheese.

Makes 2½ jars, 190ml each

400g gooseberry, topped and tailed

1 large onion, peeled and diced

handful of sultanas

150g soft brown sugar

180ml malt vinegar

tsp salt

½ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

tsp mustard seeds

Place all of the above in heavy based pan and bring to boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for about 1.5 hrs. Occasionally stir, gently so you do not break up gooseberries too much. Keep an eye on it on last 15 minutes, stirring more often, so it prevents the chutney to catch and burn.

Place hot chutney in sterilised jars, seal and turn up side down. Leave it to cool down and store in cool, dark place. Allow to mature for about 2 months.

Tasting about September time. Keep you fingers crossed!

Courgette, prosciutto & black olives pizza

2011-06-24T09:00:00.000+01:00

To be quite honest I am extremely happy when I have simple margherita pizza on lovely thin base and made with fresh ingredients. However I also like my seasonal pizzas made with fresh veg that I use in my kitchen at that time. This is ho I created my favourite October and May pizzas.

I know it June is getting to an end, however the season for courgettes only started and It will last the whole summer, so this also could be called: my favourite summer pizza (well, again as much loved as margherita made with fresh tomato sauce and good quality cheese).

I have made the base for this pizza with wholemeal flour; you can use white strong bread flour. I quite like the texture of wholemeal base and it seems to be healthier than 100% white flour base. The key is to leave the dough to rise in a low temperature and long time – If you haven’t tried it yet I strongly recommend this kind of dough resting in a fridge overnight.

Makes 2 medium pizzas

Base

450g strong whole wheat flour (you can use a white one)
level tsp dried yeast
level tsp salt
half tsp sugar
2-3 tbsp olive oil
250-300ml lukewarm water

You can use bread machine to make the dough, stand mixer or your hands. I placed all of the ingredients (dry first, then yeast, then wet ones) in the stand mixer and mixed for about 7 minutes, until the dough was quite flexible and firm. Next leave the dough in an oiled bowl, covered with piece of cling film and leave it in a fridge overnight.

Next day remove the dough from a fridge, at least an hour before baking and prepare the sauce.

Sauce

200ml tinned tomatoes, chopped
tbsp olive oil
clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
small onion, peeled and finely chopped
a splash of dry red wine

handful of fresh basil leaves, roughly torn
pinch of sugar
salt
freshly ground black pepper

In a pan fry the onions with some salt and sugar in the olive oil over a low heat until soft. Add garlic and fry for one minute, next add the wine and leave it to evaporate slightly. Add tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and reduce over a low heat until thick. Add some basil, cook for another 3 minutes and liquidise roughly with a hand blender. Set aside and prepare the oven and the dough.

Heat the oven to 250 C together with pizza stone (if you do not have one, use baking tray or pizza tray) and divide the dough into two. Shape each part with your hands, flatten it little bit and leave it to rest for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the remaining ingredients.

Topping

1 small courgette

8 slices of Italian prosciutto

Handful black pitted olives

2 x 125g mozzarella

Slice the courgette thinly, cut the olives in halves, and tear ham and mozzarella into smaller pieces.

Spread the tomato sauce over each pizza base, top with the remaining ingredients and place in the oven. Bake until base is crispy and the cheese on the top is melted and golden.

Remove from the oven and leave it to cool down slightly, then cut into portions and garnish with some fresh basil. It is lovely hot or cold, so any leftovers you can happily take with you for the lunch next day.

Strawberry & millet pudding (with coconut milk and cardamom)

2011-06-21T09:15:00.003+01:00

I have burnt the millet. No, it wasn’t a culinary disaster, it was my new pudding. Strawberries are in season, I have gone mad about the millet some time ago. So I thought I would like to try a new dessert. I use to place some yoghurt and strawberries on a top of cooked millet and eat it – tasty however not the best looking. I wanted something else.

I have made it upside down and burnt some sugar on the top. Millet brûlée? Why not! With a hint of oriental flavours – coconut milk and cardamom.

Makes 2

½ cup uncooked millet
about 1½ cup of coconut milk
2 tsp agave syrup (or sugar, whichever you prefer)
3 whole green cardamoms, skinned, black seeds grinded in a mortar
8-10 strawberries, hulled and sliced
2 tsp brown sugar

Rinse the millet under running water.

Sprinkle one tsp of sugar over the strawberries and leave to macerate.

In a pan boil the coconut milk with cardamom, add agave syrup and millet reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, uncovered. Then turn the heat off, cover and leave in a warm place until all the liquid is absorbed and millet is cooked. At this stage you can leave it to cool down or use warm.

Divide the strawberries between two ceramic ramekins. Cover with millet, sprinkle with the remaining sugar and caramelise with kitchen blow torch. Serve immediately.

Warm salad of broad beans, peas with chorizo & roast peppers

2011-06-17T09:00:00.000+01:00

Today I have another recently tasted salad, this time warm. I am sure it would be as tasty cold, however the aroma coming out of the pan was quite straight: eat it all when warm! So I did.

I saw similar recipe in “Good Food”, July issue, however it had courgettes and beans and I did not have them at the time. I think they should taste great with all of the salad ingredients, but I decided to stick to less ingredients and I was not disappointed.

Chorizo sausage with its distinctive smokiness and deep red colour from dried smoked red peppers is one of my favourite ingredients. I hope you enjoy it!

Serves 2-4

200g chorizo sausage, skinned if possible, halved and sliced

2 tbsp red vine vinegar

cup of boiled broad beans (skinned if you like)

2 cups of garden peas, boiled (I actually used petit poise)

2 bell peppers, roasted, skinned and sliced into strips

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Heat a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the chorizo and cook for few minutes, until it is cooked through, bit crunchy and has released its oil. Take chorizo out of the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Take the pan off the heat, whisk in vinegar, put back on the heat, wait until it bubbles and remove from a heat again. Next add broad beans, peas and peppers, season with little salt and some pepper, then add chorizo and mix gently. Keep on the heat for about one minute, until it is warm. Serve immediately.

It is very tasty and filling on its own, but if you need some more food on a plate you can always add some roast new potatoes on the side or crispy rustic bread or ciabatta.

Spinach & raw asparagus salad with strawberries & goat cheese

2011-06-14T07:30:00.003+01:00

The end of the asparagus season is coming. For the last week I was trying to cheer myself up by eating lots of fresh strawberries that happened to be slightly cheaper and affordable (for the quantities that I eat). This time I tried to marry my favourite baby spinach, goat cheese and strawberry salad with raw asparagus that I have never tried before. I have to admit that raw asparagus is extremely tasty – crunchy, refreshing; definitely will eat it raw again.

I know… it is a salad again. I cannot help myself; I simply fancy salads more than anything at the moment. Yesterday I had lovely salad from “Two Greedy Italians”, today I am going to make another one, so for the next few days there will be a lots of salads on my blog.

Serves 2

2 large handfuls of baby spinach washed and ready to eat

10 green asparagus, bottoms removed, spears sliced diagonally into quite thin strips

10 strawberries hulled and quartered

120g crumbly goat cheese

half lemon juice

few mint leaves (optionally)

For the dressing:

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar*

half tsp honey*

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Mix all of the dressing ingredients together and set aside.

Drizzle the asparagus with the lemon juice, add little salt and set aside for about 15 minutes, to marinate.

Next mix the asparagus with spinach, strawberries and dressing, arrange in the bowl or on a plate, crumble goat cheese on the top and finish with some freshly ground black pepper and mint leaves. Serve immediately. Walnuts or pecans go well with this salad, but unfortunately I did not have any at the time.

* If you are lucky to have the original balsamic vinegar, aged in barrels for years, and it tastes great and cost bloody fortune you do not have to add any honey. Otherwise you have to make the vinegar bit more sticky and sweeter.

Duel & two dinners - flashbacks from Poland

2011-06-11T00:00:00.000+01:00

I dedicate this post to my friends thanks to whom I am never bored in Poland. Thank you very much!

***

This was a dinner, in a fact, two dinners the same night cooked by my friends Guzik and Staszek (remember his name as he might be famous poet one day). They had an argument in a club one night, in the front of me, who can cook better. So they decided they are going to cook a dinner for me and I will decide which one of them is better cook. We agreed to meet on Friday night and my best friend Ela and I were judges in this culinary duel.

Ela (my friend for last 25 years) is brilliant judge as she works in food business and she tasted many, many things in her life, as she does it for living. She has excellent taste buds. She came especially to see me, as she lives far away from my Mum's place at the moment. Therefore I asked her to join my judging panel. We got some alcohol and went to Guzik’s flat.

He was already busy in his tiny kitchen, preparing chips. Handmade, homemade, oven baked – I love them. His girlfriend was taking care of music; his friend was wandering around the flat. I have to mention two cats: Cinnamon and Behemoth, they were quite interested of what was happening in the kitchen. We had lovely, relaxing time, waiting for Staszek, who soon joined us.

First dinner cooked by Guzik was: baked salmon (he has done something to it before pan frying and baking, he used some secret marinade), steamed broccoli, oven baked chunky chips and homemade pesto of rosemary, anchovies and some other tasty ingredients. It was light, tasty, well presented. I was impressed, however happy I am not full yet and I could enjoy second dinner, cooked by other lad.

When he starter with peeling the potatoes we thought the dinner will be served around 1 am, and we weren’t much wrong. Never mind, tasty food is worth waiting for. He was busy! Washing, chopping all the ingredients, typically Polish: potatoes, cabbage, bacon, sausages. Finally he layered them in a big pan lined with cabbage leaves, covered and braised for about 1 hour. He was carefully listening what noises it makes, the pan was alive! It remains me something very tasty and made over an open fire on picnics or camping in a cast iron pan – it is very popular in Poland along the BBQ.

Dinner was served! Very filling, tasty, very aromatic one pot dish. Perhaps not as good looking as the first one, but what the hell – it was so tasty! And then we had to choose a winner. You can imagine it was very difficult. They both done very well, and quite honestly they have cooked dishes that were completely different and we simply could not judge them in the same competition. Therefore we decided to go for a draw and have another round when I am next time in Poland. Second round will be different – they will have to cook dinners from a list of ingredients chosen by me. I cannot wait!

Thanks very much lads for this lovely nigh and great food. I genuinely enjoyed it. Also great thanks to Ela who came despite all the kilometres and rushing to the other part of Poland to see her parents.

Chicken, avocado & tomato salad

2011-06-08T09:15:00.002+01:00

This salad is perfect when the weather is good, it is quite warm outside and you don’t feel like cooking or eating. Perhaps when you go for a picnic or a bike ride and do not know what to prepare for your re-fuelling snack. It is great to take with you to work, and have on your lunch break. It tastes as good with cold or hot meat, therefore very practical, also for those watching their figure, but do not want to fade away from hunger. This salad has good carbohydrates, healthy fat and some protein. More importantly it tastes great.

Serves 2

For the salad:

2 avocados

juice of half lemon or lime

10-15 cherry tomatoes, halved

handful basil leaves, torn if big

2 spring onions, chopped

few green asparagus, wooden bottoms removed, rest halved

2 skinless boneless chicken breasts, slightly bashed on the thicker end

2 tbsp sweet paprika

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1/4 tsp chilli powder

salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

For the dressing:

4 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp cider or white wine vinegar

freshly ground black pepper

salt

Mix all the dressing ingredients together and set aside.

Boil the asparagus in salted water for about 3 minutes, drain and leave to cool down in cold water, then dry and set aside.

Cut avocado in half, remove the stone and take the flesh out of the skin. Drizzle with lemon juice so it doesn’t become dark and dice. Mix with tomatoes, spring onions, basil, asparagus and dressing.

On a plate mix sweet and smoked paprika, chilli, salt and pepper and toss chicken breast in the spices until covered all over. Heat a frying pan, add the olive and fry chicken on both sides. Timing depends on chicken breast size. Medium doesn’t need more than 4-5 minutes one side and then 3-4 minutes on other side, so it doesn’t become dry. Remove from the pan, set on a chopping board and leave it to rest for about 5 minutes.

Arrange the vegetables on a plate, top with sliced chicken breast, sprinkle with some more pepper and some basil leaves.

Warm salad of asparagus, bacon, duck egg & hazelnuts

2011-06-04T11:15:00.001+01:00

I know what risk and living on the edge is - I ate duck eggs (should I add juicy: bitch!). Obviously I am kidding, but I have to say after I read all those stories on the internet about poisoning with duck eggs, people dying etc I had a second thought on a recipe that I have found in "Good Food", May issue. I wondered if I should swap duck eggs for hens or quail eggs, I wasn't even sure if I will be able to buy duck eggs locally. I was very tempted because I did not have duck eggs before.

I saw fresh, local, free range duck eggs in local posh delicatessen and I decided to go for it. I have changed the original recipe slightly and I waited about three weeks to publish this post to make sure nothing happened to me. What I imagined after reading all those nasty information about duck eggs was at least diarrhea but I also had a picture of my family and friends mourning at my coffin. So lets be clear: I am alive, and I found duck eggs very, very tasty. As much as this combination of flavours.

Serves 2

2 duck eggs
12-16 green asparagus spears, wooden bottoms removed
4-6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
handful of hazelnuts
little olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper

For the dressing:

4 tbsp mild olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 180 C.

Cut the bacon into bite size pieces and place onto baking sheet.

On another sheet place asparagus, drizzle with little olive oil, season with salt and pepper and place in the oven, together with bacon. Roast until bacon is crispy and asparagus al - dente (about 15 minutes), preferably turning half way.

In the meantime dry roast hazelnuts in a frying pan, until crispy, place in the mortar and crush slightly.

Prepare dressing by mixing all of the ingredients until smooth.

Boil the duck eggs - hard boiled need some more time than hens eggs as they are slightly bigger, about 8-10 minutes. You can cook them little bit shorter for some soft centre. Remove from a pan, leave under cold running water, dry, peel and cut in half.

Arrange asparagus and eggs on the plate, add bacon crisps, hazelnuts and drizzle with dressing. Serve immediately.

My subjective guide to culinary books, part 2

2011-06-01T09:04:00.001+01:00

I have to admit for the last few weeks I have been obsessed with Italian food. Since we know where we are going to spend this years holiday, like a pure maniac I read and watch anything that has something common with Italy. I always loved Italian food, although it is quite difficult to describe Italian cuisine as a whole, it has some many different regional specialities. Finally as an adult with mature taste I can go to Italy and enjoy their food. I was dreaming about this for years.

I mentioned about my holidays because it happens to be connected to my new cookbook and TV series that was on BBC recently. I love BBC series because they are very interesting and well produced, but when I first heard about new series about Italian cuisine, I wasn't overexcited. Until I saw first episode.

Picture: BBC

Antonio Carluccio i Gennaro Contaldo, are well know in UK. Over 30 years ago separately left their native Italy for Britain where, in time, they met, worked together. Antonio was a teacher and mentor to younger Gennaro, he has written thirteen books and developed successful restaurants Carluccios. Gennaro is highly respected chef in London, one of the most likable people appearing on TV, and he is also know as the one who taught Jami eOliver all he know about Italian Food. Both Antonio and Gennaro established themselves as leading authorities on Italian cooking.

"Two Greedy Italians" really touched me so I simply had to buy book written to accompany this primetime BBC series. It is not the first time that I followed the TV series and bought a book that accompanied it, this is quite common in UK with cooking shows, as you can see it is quite easy to swallow the bait.

First of all few words about TV series. It clearly was not a show about cooking or beauty of Italian landscape only (the views are stunning! I love Campania cost) , but it was rather sentimental and amazing journey back to their homeland to reconnect with their culinary heritage, explore past and current traditions and reveal the very soul of Italian gastronomy based upon history of this country and social observation. Exploration sometimes sad and mournful as they discover that women nowadays do not want to cook, young generation don't know how to make homemade tortellini, and not every family gather together for a meal. This is a tale about what created Italian cooking - regional ingredients, local and fresh whatever sea of mountains offer or perhaps what at the time grew in orchards or olive groves.

Picture: Amazon

Both gentleman with this typical Italian passion talk not only about food but also about history, but first of all they share their autobiography, take a trip down memory lane, mention their mothers and grandmothers. This spark in their eyes when they see attractive woman in red dress, this sheer joy of meeting old places and people from the past, this warm welcoming anywhere they went that I almost envy. This is what made me watch the series and still coming back to it. This and also tasty and simple recipes convinced me and I bought a book.

And how about the book itself? First of all it is beautifully illustrated. It contains lots of pictures (my favourite ever genious Chris Terry!), however not every recipe is accompanied by a picture. Instead there are some lovely pictures of people and places that makes the reader feel like a journey to Italy. Also it has lots of notes on socio-cultural aspects of Italy and its food and dining culture.

There are over 100 recipes, clear and short, arranged in four sections: starters, first courses, second/main courses, vegetables, fruits and desserts and snacks. I like the idea of original names of the dishes, that are translated into English underneath. Thanks to this I managed to learn some new Italian words that can be quite handy on holiday. Please note that not every recipe that was on the TV show is in the book, however there are many that did not appear on TV. Perhaps it would help to get the whole picture if they release the TV series that accompanies the book on DVD (if they are going to release one).

I am rather experienced cook so I do not have to cook anything from this book to recommend it. I cam see it is book about genuine Italian food that Italians cook. It is a good book for somebody trying to get into Italian cuisine, home made like Italian Mamma would serve, it is nice guide to real Italian cooking. It is also great book to read not only for using the recipes in the kitchen.

If you are, just like Antonio and Genarro greedy for food (and cookbooks!), greedy for life and passionate about not only Italian cooking I am sure you will like this book.

Antonio Carluccio, Gennaro Contaldo "Two Greedy Italians"

Quadrille Publishing Ltd, 2011
Hardcover, 208 pages

Courgette & feta bake

2011-05-28T07:30:00.001+01:00

I found this recipe one of Polish culinary forums and it was named as a Bulgarian recipe. It is extremely tasty and for lat years I have been baking this every courgette season. Easy to make, the only thing you have to remember about is using fresh herbs. The choice is yours, I made it with dill, mint, basil, parsley and chives, and combinations of any of the above.It suppose taste great when made from grated marrow too.

Tastes great cold or hot, suitable for microwave reheating. For lunch, for snack, even for picnic. Enjoy!

Serves 2-4

4-5 courgettes (zucchini), not too big, cucumber size, coarsely grated, skin on

200g feta cheese, crumbled

2-3 eggs

handful of chopped fresh herbs - this time I used mint and chives

garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

salt

freshly ground black pepper

about 5 tbsp of semolina

little olive oil

Add some salt to the grated courgettes and leave on a sieve for about 30 minutes, to remove the excess of water. Squeeze every 10 minutes to make sure the veg is quite dry.

Place in a big bowl, mix with all of the ingredients except the oil; use it to oil an ovenproof dish.

Place the courgettes in the oiled ovenproof dish, big enough to keep the bake 3cm height. Bake in the oven preheated to 180 C (fan) for about 40 minutes. Cool down before serving for 5-10 minutes, it will be much easier to slice.

I like it with Greek tzatziki, but this time I made dill yoghurt dip.

175g natural Greek yoghurt (I used Total)

handful of fresh chopped dill

1 large garlic clove, peeled and mashed with some salt

little olive oil (optionally)

freshly ground black pepper

Mix all of the above and chill in a fridge for about 30 minutes before serving.

Asparagus & pea shoots mousse

2011-05-24T17:00:00.001+01:00

I had this post ready when I have received an invitation to celebrate National Vegetarian Week , so I decided not to change my post, but write more about one of my favourite greens that seems to be not very popular – pea shoots.

They are British, seasonal (May-September) and extremely tasty. Leaves are very delicate, stems refreshing and crunchy, quite sweet. I use to go to my Granny’s allotment and eat peas straight from a pod. When I ate all peas I use to chew the pods – I love their taste. After years I found this distinctive pea flavour in pea shoots.

Also they are versatile: eat them hot or cold, in a salad or as a tasty ingredient in other dishes, add them to stir fry and soups, or just use as an alternative to more traditional salad leaves. They look quite fancy so are very good for garnishing the dishes.

And just to convience you even more - they are very good for you - packed with vitamins A, C and folic acid and low in calories.

If you have a chance to try – go ahead, they are very tasty!

I have found a recipe for asparagus mousse in “Goof Food”, May issue, however I thought is was lacking seasoning. So I added salt, pepper and lemon juice and instead of spinach I used pea shoots. Without seasoning it was very bland.

I served it in two versions: one vegetarian, other with dried ham. Both delicious.

Serves 4

Mousse

250g green asparagus, wooden bottoms removed, rest sliced finely

tbsp butter

tbsp lemon juice

280ml double cream

200ml milk

garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

handful of pea shoots

3 gelatine leaves(or agar-agar for vegetarian version)

salt

freshly ground black pepper

one egg white

To garnish

handful of pea shoots

3 tsp olive oil

2 tsp lemon juice

salt

freshly ground black pepper

slice or two of dried ham, such as Italian prosciutto, Parma Ham, shredded

Melt the butter in a pan and add the asparagus, then cook for 4-5 minutes until soft but not coloured. Remove from the pan and set aside in a bowl.

Pour the cream, milk and garlic into the pan. Bring to the boil, simmer until reduced to 350-400ml then add the asparagus and boil for a minute. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool down slightly.

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water, then drain and remove excess of water.

Add pea shoots to the cream and asparagus and using hand blender liquidise it to a smooth pure. Season with salt, pepper and some more lemon juice and add gelatine leaves. Stir well.

Beat the egg white to soft peaks, and then carefully fold into the asparagus mix. Adjust seasoning if needed. Divide the mousse between 4 glasses or ramekins and leave them to set in the fridge.

Remove from a fridge about 20 minutes before serving. Garnish with some pea shoots and drizzle with dressing made from olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. For other version garnish with ham together with pea shoots. It actually goes very well with this mousse.

And the winner is...

2011-05-22T21:33:00.001+01:00

... Choclette!

"I have different favourites depending on how I'm feeling at the time, but Cornish Blue has consistently been in my top 5 since I first had it about 10 years ago. Montgomery Cheddar is pretty fab too, but very expensive."

Please could you e-mail me your name and address to pani.serwusowa@gazeta.pl so I can post "Wallace & Gromit's Cheesy Cook Book" to you.

Congratulations!

Asparagus, potato & filo pastry tart

2011-05-20T07:00:00.001+01:00

It was Sunday and I was getting myself ready for a gym session. I had my TV on and there was an old series of Jamie Oliver (Jamie at home). He was wandering around his perfect garden (just reminding me that our garden would probably win the competition for the ugliest garden in the Dales), full of herbs and veg. Asparagus! So I sat in my chair and wondered what interesting Jamie will make.

He made such incredible and easy to make tart that before I got to the gym I had to go to the shop and buy missing ingredient - filo pastry (that was not my favourite since I tried it once and it did not turned out to be a fabulous meal). When I came back I made this tart immediately probably putting twice as much calories into my body that I managed to burnt, but never mind. Tomorrow is a new day and I can always go to the gym again.

This is recipe after a slight alteration.

Serves 2-4

I used rectangular loose bottom tart tin 35x13x2.5cm

5 sheets of filo pastry (bigger than your baking tin, so it overhangs the edges)

about 30g of butter, melted

about 15 green asparagus spears, wooden bottoms removed

4 medium potatoes

handful of mature cheddar, coarsely grated

about 180ml double cream

1 egg

freshly ground black pepper

freshly ground nutmeg

salt

Peel the potatoes and boil in the salted water until tender. Drain, add cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg and mash. Next add cheddar and egg and mix well. The filling is quite loose.

Meanwhile blanch your asparagus in a separate pan of salted boiling water for 3 minutes, then drain and place in a bowl of cold water. When they cooled down completely, drain again and pat dry.

Heat the oven to 190C (fan). Layer the sheets of filo pastry in the dish, brushing them with melted butter as you go and letting some pastry hang over the edge of the dish. You want to get the pastry five layers thick.

Spread the mashed potato over the filo pastry, level with a spatula, then bring up the sides of the filo and scrunch them together to form a rim for a rustic look. Take the asparagus and line it up across the filling. Brush all over with the remaining melted butter and pop into the oven for around 20 minutes. I use the grill for about 3 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Asparagus, peas & broad beans soup

2011-05-18T08:00:00.000+01:00

Last Friday I saw some fresh broad beans and peas on the market when I was buying few bundles of asparagus. Peas and broad beans in May? I do not trust them so early – I thought and I gave up the idea of buying them. Also because I realised that I have my all the times must – have in my freezer – frozen peas.

When I came back home I realised I also had some leftovers of frozen broad beans. So I made this lovely, light green soup joining spring with summer.

Serves 4-6

6-8 green asparagus spears, wooden bits removed, cut into 3 pieces

cup of frozen peas

1 shallot

tbsp olive oil

about 1.2l chicken stock (or vegetable stock, I had to cook chicken so I though at the same time I made light chicken stock using typical stock veg as well as wooden asparagus bottoms)

few small mint and basil leaves (optional)

few drops of lemon juice (optional)

salt

freshly ground black pepper

about 200g short pasta (I used mini farfalle), cooked al dente

Boil the broad beans al dente, drain and remove the skins. If you like the skins you can skip this part.

In a pan fry the shallot in the olive oil until softened, but not browned.

Add the stock to the pan, bring to boil and add the peas. Boil for about 3 minutes, next add asparagus and boil for further 3 minutes. Next add the broad beans and boil for minute or so.

Season with salt and pepper, add lemon juice and serve with pasta. Garnish with some fresh mint and basil leaves.

This soup looks and tastes better when served immediately. When reheated it is not so tasty and veg are overcooked and do not keep their colour.

Asparagus, olives & sundried tomatoes loaf

2011-05-16T07:00:00.005+01:00

To celebrate last year's asparagus season and our fist picnic after long winter I made these asparagus & cheddar muffins and later using the same basic recipe but swapping cheddar for feta and asparagus for sun dried tomatoes I made these muffins for our picnic. This year I finally decided to make asparagus loaf that I found in "Good Food" two years ago.

It is a shame that I waited so long! I am ready now to pack our picnic basket and go somewhere nice, even this was only rehearsal before our first picnic this year. Again, I am going to experiment with different seasonal ingredients, when asparagus is gone. It seems like an ideal snack if you are planning long journey - it is quite handy to eat it in a car instead of boring sandwiches.

I did not follow the recipe, so this is mine after some alterations.

Makes one small tin, 22x10x5cm

bunch of green asparagus, about 250g, cut into 3 pieces, wooden parts removed
250g self raising flour
few basil leaves, roughly torn
100ml milk
4 small eggs
100ml olive oil
tsp English mustard
handful of black olives, whole, pitted
8 halves of sun dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
salt
freshly ground black pepper
about 60g of mature cheddar, coarsely grated

Heat the oven to 170 C (fan) and line the tin with lightly greased baking paper.

Cook the asparagus in boiling, salted water for 3 minutes, drain, then cool quickly under cold running water to stop them from further cooking and to keep nice colour . Then pat dry.

Mix the eggs with milk, olive oil and mustard.

Mix the flour, basil with salt and pepper in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre, then add the eggs, milk and oil, mixing gently all the time. Beat to make a smooth batter without any dry flour remaining.

Next add most of the asparagus and olives (reserving some to finish off the top), sun dried tomatoes and half of the grated cheese. Mix gently.

Pour the mixture into the tin, then put the reserved asparagus and olives on top. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake for 40 minutes until it feels firm to the touch and is golden and crusty on top. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack.

This loaf is moist, delicious hot or cold. It is perfect snack to complement clear soups such as beetroot soup or nice broth. Next time I will try to use spelt flour instead, as it has nice nutty flavour.

Cheesy Cook Book giveaway!

2011-05-13T20:53:00.006+01:00

Do you remember my post about Wensleydale Cheese? It still seems to be one of my favourite British cheeses. The producers introduced some new types, in particular one that I have not tried yet although I am very interested in - Wensleydale with chocolate.

Today I have cute "Wallace & Gromit's Cheesy Cook Book" to give away. Wallace and Gromit have become celebrity chefs and launched this cook book featuring their favourite cheese dishes.

To win this book you have to leave a comment to this post stating which British cheese is your favourite one and why. Please note: mentioning the Wensleydale Cheese does not give you extra points, however if it really is your favourite one, please do not hesitate to write about it. I simply want to explore some more tasty British cheeses, so I am very excited to read about your favourite ones.

This give away will be closed on Friday, 20th May at midnight. Please note: UK readers only.

Good luck!

Pancakes with roasted rhubarb & vanilla crème fraîche

2011-05-12T08:00:00.004+01:00

I had the idea of serving roasted rhubarb with crème fraîche and pancakes from some ancient “Good Food” issue. The idea was brilliant however I found this particular recipe inconsistent. Also there was no recipe for pancakes – or shall I say – perhaps I did not cut it out of the magazine. I did not worry too much because I know exactly how to make different types of pancakes.

Yesterday I had this overwhelming feeling that I have to eat a pancake. Luckily for my figure my common sense said “no” to making pancakes at 10 pm, so I went to bed. Next day I prepared one of the best pancakes I have ever had.

I decided to make bit thicker and sort of spongier pancakes, because they are great to wipe off the cream and juices. If you are not sure about this combination of sweet & sour rhubarb with sour-ish cream, please do not hesitate to try. It is unbelievable. What a great trio! I will definitely make it every year when rhubarb is in season.

Serves 4-6

Pancakes

3 eggs (I used duck eggs)
3 level tsp caster sugar
about 250ml milk
about 100ml sparking water
about 300ml plain flour
little butter for frying (I used ghee)
some icing sugar to finish off

Separate egg whites from yolks. Add sugar to the yolks and mix using hand mixer until well mixed and little fluffy. Add water, milk and flour and mix well again until combined.

Using hand mixer beat the egg whites until stiff. Then add whites to the milk and egg mixture and fold it gently. You want to preserve as much air as possible.

Place bowl in a bigger bowl filled with cold water – this suppose prevent the batter from collapsing.

Fry thin pancakes on both sides in a frying pan using butter.

Roasted rhubarb

6 rhubarb stalks, cut diagonally into 5-6cm pieces
2-3 pieces of stem ginger, sliced
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp sugar
zest and juice of one lemon

Place all of the above in a pan and roast or boil over a low heat. I had oven preheated to roast something else, so I used oven ( 10-12 minutes, 180C).

Vanilla crème fraîche

200ml crème fraîche
seeds from one vanilla pod
2 tsp icing sugar

Mix well all the ingredients.

Serve warm pancakes drizzled with juices from roasted rhubarb, rhubarb on the side and a good dollop of crème fraîche. Optionally you can sprinkle them with some icing sugar.

I fight my demons, vol. 3

2011-05-10T11:09:00.005+01:00

Do you remember?
I fight my demons, vol. 1 - real beef stock
I fight my demons, vol.2 - homemade pasta

Now the time has come for the choux pastry. I have to admit that I was probably looking for an excuse and complaining that I do not have the piping bag and be unable to shape a proper eclair. I was dreaming about making my own chocolate eclairs with fresh cream and one day our postman came and had a parcel for me. My friend from Dublin, who happens to be a great pastry maker could not listen my excuses anymore so he had send me a piping bag with a nozzle. I did not have much choice - I had to make my own choux pastry, however last weekend I needed something savoury rather than sweet so I have made savoury, seasonal filling with asparagus.

I am not longer afraid of choux pastry! It will not be long until you will see me making the croquembouche!

Roasted asparagus cream cheese filled profiteroles

Makes about 30 small profiteroles

Filling:

20 decent green asparagus spears, tough ends removed
drizzle of olive oil
400g natural cream cheese such as Philadelphia
few basil leaves
whole lemon zest
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Place the asparagus on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast in 180 C for about 12 minutes. Remove from the oven, leave it to cool down and place in the food processor together with juices from roasting. Add lemon zest, cheese and whiz - I like when I still can taste pieces of asparagus, so I do not make it very smooth. Season with salt and pepper and leave it in a fridge to cool down and set little bit.

Choux pastry:

150g plain flour
100g unsalted butter
125ml milk
125ml water
half tsp salt
4 medium eggs

Combine the milk, sugar, salt and diced butter in a large heavy based saucepan. Heat gently and stir until the butter has melted and it starts to boil. Sprinkle the flour all over the milk and quickly using wooden spoon or rolling pin mix the flour into the liquid ingredients, still keeping the pan over the heat. When combined beat the ingredients together vigorously for few minutes. The paste is ready when it clumps together in a smooth ball and comes away cleanly from the sides of the pan. Then leave it to cool down.

Beat one by one egg into a dough, making sure the egg is beaten into a dough completely before you add the next one. Dough should be quite shiny.

Fit a piping bag with a nozzle and spoon the choux pastry mixture into the bag. Pipe small balls onto a baking tray lined with baking paper making sure you have plenty space between them - they will puff quite a lot.

Bake in batches, in 200 C for about 20 minutes, until golden brown and crisp. Remove from the oven and leave them to cool down on a wire rack.

Fit a piping bag with a nozzle and spoon the filling into the bag. Pipe filling into each profiterole. I did not have too much experience so did not know how much filling to pipe into the profiteroles, so some of the filling actually came out. I have arranged them on the plate and decorated with small mint leaves before serving. (basil leaves were too big).