Monday 22nd February 2010 Goat's cheese in filo parcels with cranberry sauce

By request fron Hubs.

Wow, they have fresh filo pastry in Tesco Clowne! As I want to encourage them to stock it, I changed from the puff pastry case I was going to make.

This is a really easy meal, and as I was home later than usual it is ideal. It is basically mashed goat's cheese in a filo "money bag" parcel, on a sauce of port, cranberry jelly, butter and lemon. I roasted some asparagus with it, and had curly fries (a wicked treat!). This is a recipe adapted from a little Sainsbury's cookbook I have. When I first made it when I lived at the Croft in Morley I thought it was so sophisticated!! Now it's a staple.

Cooking was interupted by a family phone call (no 2 niece), but was aided by one of Hub's wicked Martini Cocktails. (Chilled glass, Bombay sapphire, Noilly Prat, black olive)

Had a couple of bottles of Cote de Ventoux between us. BAD! Watched series 3 "Gavin and Stacey" GOOD!

Thursday 18th February 2010 Celeriac and Macaroni Souffle with Emmentaler fondue

I have been struggling to blog over the last two weeks as my mother fell down the stairs and is in hospital. We've been over twice and every night has been taken up with conversations with siblings or my Dad. These things are more important.

Still I did cook last night. A Paul Gayler recipe but I didn't do it justice. I love both souffle and fondue and this recipe also includes old favourite Celeriac as well as Roquefort cheese and macaroni.

Thankfully Hubs did the shopping for me. Just as I was about to leave work, the boss decided he wanted to have a meeting. This put me half an hour back, and straight in to the rush hour. I couldn't get on to the motorway because of a problem on the northbound M1, and then it started snowing. I don't like driving in snow. I then remembered that I had broken my big souffle dish, and also that I had failed to buy some medium sized souffle dishes before Xmas. I rusherd to the local kitchen shop, but it was shut.

Back at home there was some paperwork to clear and recycle and then I had to return a couple of phone calls. One involved feuding neighbours - my favourite (not) and another a home adaptation issue. Dad seemed brighter when I spoke to him, but it is hard for him.

On to the souffle. Hubs prepped the celeriac whilst I was on the phone. I notice that I was having an allergic reaction to something, as I was itching and was coming up in blotches on my arms chest and tummy. Took anti-histamines washed down with a raspberyy Martini. Never a good idea!

Decided to make souffle in a cake tin. It is quite simple to make, though the egg white seems to fly everywhere when I whisk it with the turbo blender. I had to guess how long to cook it as the recipe was for individual souffles. Decided not to twice bake it.

It was a shame. The souffle rose fine, but it would just collapse on the plate. I must try this agaion with the proper kit. Couldn't really taste the celeriac either. Nice bottle of Crozes-Hermitage though,

Tonight was a lot chaotic. I had other things on my mind, the kitchen was a mess and the dishwasher was already full when I started to cook. Having the right souffle dishes would have helped too!

Saturday 30th January 2010 Curried Parsnip Pie

Saturday is traditionally a lie-in day in our household. But as there is a by-election in the neighbouring District, we went out leafleting with Comrade K.

On our return we decided to have a chip butty and a drink down the Oss. We used to go down the Oss a lot - perhaps too much. It was always a busy, friendly village pub.

But over the last few months it has declined. K is a big fan of real ale, but increasingly the real ale is not on. Traditional beer has been replaced by super-chilled pump. I drink red wine, but prefer a decent glass. Sometimes there's none on at all - and recently there has been a French Merlot that I'm not keen on. We have mentioned this a few times... Inevitably, our visits to the pub have declined.

However yesterday we were dismayed to see that they had now put a pool table in the centre of the main room of the pub, where most people like to sit. It dominates the room, and seemingly on Friday night some regulars were unable to take their favourite spots.

Usually if we go for a chip butty we might stay for two, three drinks, but yesterday I think we were so depressed about the way the pub was going that we had our chips (reduced portions)and went home after one. It's a shame. It could be a brilliant pub with a bit of enthusiasm.

Back at home, it was a sorting out day. We're still not straight from the holiday. We put some of the photos on a USB stick to drive one of the two digital frames which people have bought us.

For dinner, it was Parsnip pie - mainly because I boughta bag of parsnips reduced from the Co-op on Thursday. There is a recipe for Curried Parsnip Pie in Roz Denny's Ultimate Vegetarian Cookbook which I've made before.

But is it a pie? Frankly the recipe is more like a stew with a crust on top, though in this recipe the filling is part cooked under the pie. I prefer my pies to be a bit more solid and have a bottom crust as well as a top. So the recipe was modified. I also left out the curry as hubs isn't good with trigeminal flavours. Instead I subbed coriander, cumin and paprika which are spicy without being hot.

I was quite pleased how it turned out. I'm getting more confident with pastry. My photos are all in the same style though. Hubs received a book about photography at Xmans. Perhaps I had better have a look!!!!

Friday 29th January 2010 Aubergine and ricotta cannelloni

Today started off early with a trip up to Middlesborough. I picked up DJP at Meadowhall Park and Ride and headed north. As it was dark, I had difficulty not falling asleep.

As we approached Teesport there was a flurry of snow in the air.

DJP's car was not working and he had been trying to call me the night before to get a lift from his house. Unfortunately we had left the phone off the hook and did not get the message. So he had had to get up early without breakfast to meet me at the other end of the city from where he lives. On arriving at destination, he therefore wanted breakfast. We bumped in to two Rotherham colleagues, also in search of sustenance and headed across the road to ASDA - which seemed to be the only option around.

There was no cafe in the ASDA but we were directed to a cafe in the complex next door. It was shut. My Rotherham comrade spotted someone inside who tried to ignore us but eventually came to the door. She told us the cafe wasn't open but she would make us a cup of tea.

The cafe was a bit basic and the floors and tables hadn't been cleaned from the previous day. We looked for the least messy table and sat down. Eventually she brought cups of lukewarm tea as "the boiler had not got going yet." It was all a bit grim, but funny in a perverse sort of way.

Anyway, enough said about that.

DJP and I made it back home earlier than expected. The A1 was clear and Sheffield wasn't too busy. So I bit the bullet and got out my pasta roller. I do this approximately every second year.

I'd chosen a Jamie Oliver recipe which required 16 sheets of fresh pasta, but decided it to make it myself. What made the difference from the times before is that I shaped the pasta into an oblong before I rolled it, and also lightly floured it before rolling. Three out of four sheets worked and I managed to get them quite thin.

Ja
Jamie recommends that you use the crumbly ricotta that you can buy in Italian delis. There aren't many Italian delis around here. The recipe wasn't that clear but I think we got there. (It seemed to miss out a crucial step.) Also I'm not keen on his habit of saying a handful of this, or a good glug of that. I like precision.

Still it tased good and encourages me to make pasta a bit more often.

Thursday 28th January 2010 Leek and stilton bread pudding

A fairly full on day at work. Though I was home by six, I could not face the pasta maker. Patience is not one of my virtues!

Kevin had stopped off at our allotment on the way home. Our leeks are looking thin, so he took a couple from his father's plot (with prior permission, of course.) The white bit wasn't very big, so I added some red onion to the dish.

I sed mini baguettes for the bread, smeared with grainy mustard. The rest was a custard with pepper and ntmeg. Perhaps next time I'll add Bayleaf or cloves. The cheese was Stilton, crumbled over the top. I did individual portions and probably (definitely) overcooked the dish. Still it tasted good.

The sprouts are ours as well. Also picked from the plot.

Wednesday 27th January 2010 Spinach pancakes and mushrooms

Spinach and nutmeg. What is it that they are made so much for one another.

I love nutmeg. I suppose when I was little the only time I had nutmeg was on egg custard or maybe rice pudding. Nowadays if its cheese sauce, aubergine or spinach, nutmeg has to be involved.

Up until about six years ago I would grate nutmeg with my finest grater. Then I visited Rheged!

Rheged - just off the M1 on my way to Allerdale or Copeland.

I was planning a St george's Day dinner and needed some unusual English cheeses. I had raided the local farm shops for real sage Derby, tasty Lancashire, even a bit of Dorset Blue Vinney. However I was working in the West lakes and I had driven up with two of the lads from work. We'd finished our meeting and the buffet had failed to arrive. Wanting to be back home, we decided to stopp off at this Rheged place we had seen on the way up. Someone had said they did good food.

I can't recall precisely, but we might have paid £8 for a parsnip soup and a roll. But then came the food shop attached. There were more obscure English cheeses than you could shake the proverbial stick at. The best was a deliciously gooey specimen called Stinking Bishop. With a name like that how could one not buy it? Plus there were English wines a dozen and other delicacies. Maybe I'll write about the St George's dinner another time. What this is really about is my nutmeg grater.

Peugeot designed!! For a Formula One fan, this was a must. A perspex gobe with the grinding mechanism in the centre and designed so you could show off your whole nutmegs in the upper hemisphere. The price was ridiculous - on the potato masher scale - but it was duly purchased and has been a source of joy ever since. Even when it clogs up. You can see my pride and joy to the right of the mushroom and spinach pancakes I made tonight.

Friday 15th January 2010 Spinach and Gorgonzola pasta

Whilst we were in Argentina, we had a lot of "pasta casera" - that is, home made pasta. Whilst what we had might have not been as delicate as the stuff you get from the chiller cabinet in the UK, it was at least filled with flavours that had a bit of punch. Sometimes I reckon that if one did a blind tasting of shop bought pasta, you wouldn't be able to tell what they were.

Anyway inspired by this, I have decided to have another go at pasta. I have this anbition approximately every two years - make it once and then give up. I have a pasta rolling machine, an electric pasta mixing and extruding machine, and a ravioli tray. The first has been used four times in twelve years, the next has been used once and the tray with its dinky pasta roller has never been christened.

At work I looked up a recipe in one of the cookbooks that have pride of place behind my desk - to the chagrin of the boss who is positively dismissive of what he consideres to be my bourgeois foody-ism. I chose a recipe with home made tagliatelle and a spinach and Gorgonzola sauce. (Bolsover's new Co-op miraculously sells Gorgonzola and, to our joint delight, a Chilean Free Trade Carmenere.) Knowing I would be late home, I emailed hubs with a shopping list.

However when I arrived home, I discovered that I had no pasta flour in the cupboard. Obviously the last lot had been thrown out for being out of date. Tired, I decided not to use strong white flour, but to opt for some dried pasta shells in the cupboard. The sauce was made in a second, and was lovely and tasty - and yes, comforting! Served with a Co-op flatbread, what could be lovelier for a Friday night?

Wednesday 13th January 2010 Veggi Bourgignon

The melt has begun followed by a freeze. The hubs gave me a lift to the bus stop today as my "electric skateboard" (as the garage call it) turns into an ice skate when it freezes. (And I was never any good at iceskating) On the one passable way out of the village we came a cross a huge lorry who was trying to get up the lane to deliver some feed to a local farm. The lane is not fit for HGVs and has a restriction on it. At the best of times it is single lane with passing points. But a big lorry in icy conditions. We advised him to turn back as chaos would ensue.

Sometimes it's weird being with the hubs as we think the same thing, choose the same food in a restaurant. Today I had brought out with me a cookery magazine so I could look at recipes on the train. This was a 1994 edition of the BBC Vegetarian magazine that has One Pot Wonders on the cover. On the cover is a perennial favourite of ours - vegetarian bourgignon. It is easy to make - especially in a slow cooker - and rich and yummy too- especially on a cold day. We even had it at our wedding, as an option. On the way down the lane I asked hubs what he fancied for dinner and, yes, he asked for veggie bourgignon with dumplings!

I bought the veg from Barnsley market. There is something about asking for veg and receiving them in brown paper bags which feels more authentic somehow. Perhaps it's me being pretentious. The downside is that when you get home, you see the greengrocer has slipped in two huge woody parsnips that you wouldn't feed to a horse!

Is it true that the rest of Europe think of parsnips as cattle fodder?

Back at home, the hub had made a second Pisco Sour - this time with less cane syrup. I prefered it.

Made the bourgignon to recipe, but had run out of garlic and I swapped in Sheffield's finest Henderson's Relish for veggie Worcestershire Sauce. It contains mushroom, carrots, shallots, celery, parsnips and herby dumplings in a red wine, bayleaf, tomato, Henderson's relish stock.

I went out into the garden where it was snowing quite heavily. It was hard locating the herbs under the drifts. The thyme still had snow on it, and the sage had collapsed under the weight.

Dinner went to plan and was served with fluffy mash.

Though I have a ricer, I prefer my sturdy Rosle masher. I use mashers a lot, for mashing pumpkin, celeriac, swede, carrots as well as potatoes. I never used to find mashers strong enough, and even the stainless steel ones that you buy in most stores distorted under pressure.

A few Christmas Eves ago, the hub and I were staying at his parent's holiday bungalow in Scarborough on Knipe's Point (another story.) As we do not like Christmas shopping, I persuaded him to come to York with me and we would get it done all in one day. We'd do a bit of shopping, stop for a drink, carry on a bit, etc. As alcohol was involved, we caught the train. In York, I came across this emporium of a kitchenware shop laden with things that I never knew I needed. I carefully examined all the potato mashers, for strength of handle, size of head, two connectors to the handle to avoid it dostorting. Eventually I decided the Rosle looked the toughest, and took it to the cash desk. It was rung in and it was £35! I couldn't really afford it at the time but was too embarrased to say so.

Today, I love using it. It is a wonderful piece of kit and hopefully will last me forever. How can one be so attached to a potato masher?

Tuesday 12 January 2010

Worked at home today and started work on clearing the 192 work emails and 200+ County Council emails. Quite a few complaints about gritting in there.

My friend, Margaret, and her family are coming to dinner in a couple of weeks. I think she is expecting us to do a veggie Burn's Night like we did a couple of years back. However instead we are doing a meal based on our recent holiday to Chile and Argentina.

Tonight was the first practice run and I tried to recreate a meal that we had last Thursday in a film themed restaurant on the Avenida de Mayo. Butternut squash a la Milanesa on a bed of creamed spinach.

As I have never made creamed spinach before, I looked on Google and decided to go for Hugh Fearnley-Whittenstall's recipe from River Cottage.
http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/chefs/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/ultimate-creamed-spinach-recipe_p_1.html


The hubs rang from Asda to say they were out of butternut squash so I swapped the squash for aubergine. I love aubergine and its black skin. I sometimes just buy aubergines because they look so good.

We bought a bottle of Pisco back with us and hubs - an ace cocktail waiter - was practising for the dinner party. I had my first Pisco Sour in Argentina - though it is the national drink of Chile and Peru (Pisco is in Peru). He did well but it was not as frothy as the one I had in Bariloche.

It involved two measures of Pisco, the juice of half a lime, one teaspoon of cane sugar syrup, half an egg white, a dash of Angosturas bitters, shaken with ice and strained into a glass with a rim coated in sugar.

More investigation required.

I made the creamed spinach. I had only asked hubs to buy spinach, not baby spinach, so I had to destalk each leaf. Yawn! HFW's recipe required the milk base for the sauce to be an infusion of bay leaf and onion. I love that smell. It reminds me of bread sauce at Christmas. Next time I might drop in a clove or three.

In all I found the HFW recipe a bit stodgy and will mostlikely make it again with a cream base rather than a white sauce.

The aubergine? It was 10 mm slices, egged and crumbed, deep fried for about three mins. Deep fried aubergine is evil. It soaks up all the fat and delivers a deliciously different, biteworthy delight! Not for weightwatchers.

All washed down with a bottle of Crozes Hermitage, followed by a plummy Carmenere.

Bliss!