England is not known for its cooking, but sometimes that reputation is uncalled for. Sure, jellied eels, deep-fried pizzas and french fry sandwiches (aka chip butties) are not to everyone’s taste, but in a cold, wintery climate a warming dish cannot be beaten. There is one thing I miss in particular from my London days: a good savoury pie.
Every country seems to have its own variation on a baked crust with a savoury filling, but it is hard to beat a good English pie… ask my children, I think they would agree.
This is my version of a pie, but any suggestions or spins on the subject are more than welcome.
Chicken Pie:
- Left over chicken from a roast chicken
- mushroom or leeks (depending on preference)
- an onion
- a can of sweetcorn (I personnally am not a huge fan, but some people do get very exicted about sweetcorn)
- chicken stock
- about 150 ml of créme fraiche
- 1-2 tablesppons of flour
- a roll of puff pastry
Pre-heat the oven to about 180 degrees. Now fry the onion gently in some olive oil. When it is nice and soft, add in the vegetables and cook them them all together for about 2 minutes. Top the mixture up with some chicken stock so that the mixture is just covered and let it all bubble away gently until the vegetables are tender. By this time the stock should have reduced quite a lot.
Add in the left over chicken. Also add in 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour to thicken up the mixture and and the créme fraiche. Taste and flavour with salt and pepper until it tastes good to you.
Put the mixture in a pie dish and cut out a lid out of the puff pastry to cover it. Stick it into the over until it is golden brown on top.
Enjoy! I normally serve the pie with a salad. Traditionally, in England, it would be served with mashed potatoes, known as Pie n’ Mash for short!
I was sitting beside a Lebanese guy at a wedding this weekend and he could not help raving about the wonderful food from his country and the Mediterranean area in general. Since then I have not stopped thinking about great Mediterranean dishes. Don’t forget: eating a Meditarrenean diet apparently makes you live longer…
So this afternoon my daughter and I got busy and made up a dinner’s worth of felafel, which we had not eaten for the longest time.
Felafel are perfect for kids, easy to eat and perfect to accompany lots of different salads. They are very simple and a huge amount of fun to make. (I told my daughter that we were going to be making little round balls out of a sticky play dough-type substance and she was completely enthused by this.)
Above all, felafel tastes absolutely delicious and gets devoured at high speed here at our place…
Here’s the recipe:
Felafel
400 g can of chickpeas (you can also soak chickpeas overnight and then cook them; I can never be bothered)
-2 tablespoons of gram flour (chickpea flour), alternatively normal flour will do
-1 good handful of parsley
-1 teaspoon of dried cumin powder
-1 teaspoon of dried coriander powder
Drain the chickpeas well; you want them to be as dry as possible. Add all the ingredients together and mash. I usually do it in our food processor. The mixture should be quite sticky but firm enough that you can form little balls out of it. If you have a feeling it is too wet, simply add a bit of flour to it.
Form balls out of the mixture and fry them in about ½ cm of oil until they are golden brown.
I usually serve Felafel with hummus to dip them in, a tomato/cucumber salad and wedges of pitta bread.
For a printable version of this recipe, click here.
Seriously — so so so quick. Done in 15 minutes before dashing out of the house to kindergarten. The classic chocolate-crispy-cake but Valentined-up with mini marshmallows and the most adorable heart sprinkles from Etsy-shop Hey Yo-Yo (which I love for all things cake & kitsch). We dolloped our mixture into pretty pink paisley cases for our playdate in the afternoon, and then into mini-cases to fit inside this very pink heart tin from Paperchase (pictured) as a Valentine’s present for my son’s beau. Yes, my son is in love! His name is Elias and he has aptly fallen in in love with a girl called Grace — anyone who knows the store in Primrose Hill will appreciate his brand loyalty.
To make you need: 100g milk chocolate and 60g golden syrup (or 3 Mars bars work nicely), 75g unsalted butter, between 75 to 100g rice-crispies cereal, a handful or so of mini-marshmallows and some heart decorations. If you can’t get sprinkles then any heart sweets could work, or even love-hearts (I love their messages).
Melt the chocolate, syrup and butter over boiling water. When melted stir until smooth and remove from the heat. Add rice-crispies and stir, then add the marshmallows and stir again. Spoon into cases and decorate with hearts. Leave for a couple of hours to cool and set or put into the fridge to speed up the setting process. Yum!
Cooking nutritious meals in a campervan in no easy feat. First, the kitchen is tiny, the utensils are very basic, and there is no oven. Secondly, it’s already hot and sticky in the van, so you don’t feel like cooking anything. So, for the sake of our sanity we’ve learned to keep it simple. We’ve made this pasta twice in the past two weeks, and it is so easy to make and yet really good. The only sign of it being a camp meal is the plastic dishware we’re eating it on! It is delicious, and the kids love it.
Another bonus of this pasta is that you can pretty much rely on your pantry cupboards (canned tomatoes, canned tuna, pasta, olive oil, etc.) You’ll only need a handful of fresh basil and parsley.
Here is the recipe:
Tuna and tomato pasta:
-4 cloves of garlic, diced
-olive oil
-2 cans of chopped tomatoes
-handful of fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley
-1 can tuna (in oil)
-handful of fresh basil (chopped)
-salt & pepper
-pasta (penne or farfalle, etc.)
Sauté the garlic in the olive oil. Add the canned tomatoes and the chopped parsley, then simmer on the stove for 15-20 minutes. Season to taste. (While the tomatoes are simmering, boil the water for the pasta and cook the pasta for specified time.)
At the very last minute, after the pasta is cooked and drained, add the tuna and chopped basil to the simmering tomatoes. Toss everything into a large bowl and serve.
Enjoy!
For a printable version of this recipe, click here.
I can’t believe my daughter has just turned one — time has flown. Now I know a one-year-old might not appreciate a proper birthday party, but I can’t resist one. And in the spirit of being ‘girly’ there was nothing for it but a fairy tea-party, to be more specific The Toadstool Tea (for those of you unfamiliar with fairy-lore, The Toadstool Tea is a secret party for all the fairies, elves and imps to celebrate the Fairy Queen’s birthday. It takes place under the thicket deep in the middle of the forest (according to Mo)).
Toadstools, it turns out, are not only a really great theme for a party but also rather fashionable. In my month or so of preparation I saw them everywhere (I couldn’t resist adding a cute Toadstool money box from Cath Kidston (stores only) and this adorable Shinzi Katoh print to her presents). Toadstools also make for a fun theme because they are easy to draw and craft. Here are some other toadstool ideas…
I made felt toadstools for the invitations (super easy) and Fimo toadstools for decoration (super, super easy and fun — haven’t Fimo’d for years!)
The fairies ate Toadstool Cupcakes (vanilla cupcakes with bright red vanilla icing from the very brilliant Primrose Bakery Cupcake Cookbook decorated with white chocolate drops) and each got a Toadstool cookie in their goody-bag, made using this recipe and this Toadstool cutter. I did also make Toadstools using quail’s eggs and half a tomato perched on top, dotted with mayo but Mums and Dads seemed to go for these rather than kids.
We had a lovely day and who wouldn’t with their house all a flutter with 1 – 3 year-old girls and boys all dressed up as fairies and elves?
In our recent bread-baking adventures, my husband and I have stumbled across a recipe for the most yummy, scone-like raisin bread, and it is now a weekend morning favourite! Plus, it is dead easy to make, only needs a minute or two of kneading, and it bakes in 30 minutes (seriously easy in the world of bread making)!
The trick for creating moist and flavourful raisins is to soak them in whiskey beforehand. I’m sure the alcohol burns off while baking, but if you’re against the idea you can soak the raisins in hot water instead.
Here is the recipe:
Raisin Scone Bread:
-1 cup raisins (130 grams)
-½ cup whiskey or hot water (85 grams)
-4 Tablespoons unsalted butter (55 grams)
-1 cup all-purpose flour (150 grams)
-1 cup whole wheat flour (150 grams)
-3 large tablespoons sugar (40 grams)
-1 teaspoon baking soda (5 grams)
-¾ teaspoon salt (5 grams)
-1 cup buttermilk (200 grams)
In a small, shallow bowl, pour the whiskey (or water) over the raisins. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit for at least 30 minutes before draining.
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Cut the butter into the flour mixture and mix together using your fingers, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the raisins. With a wooden spoon, stir in the buttermilk just until the dry ingredients are moistened and the dough comes together. Empty the dough onto the counter and knead it lightly about 8 times, until smooth but still a little sticky. If it sticks to the counter, use a scraper to gather it together — try to avoid adding extra flour, but you can flour your hands if absolutely necessary.
Roll the dough into a 6-inch round (it will be roughly 2 inches high). If it sticks, flour it lightly. Place it on a greased baking sheet and, with a razor blade or sharp knife, make a ½ inch-deep slash across the dough in both directions (to make an X).
Bake the bread for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
Enjoy when it’s warm with a cup of tea! Yumm….
-Courtney
For a printable version of this recipe, click here.
You may have noticed… we have started tweeting. Wow! In the upper right corner of our website, you’ll discover the Twitter logo, just click it to find our tweets…
I must say, I have to get used to tweeting, it’s not something I automatically do just yet! But I can see the fun of it – there are so many interesting things to be found on Twitter, I had no idea!
I just discovered twecipes. Twecipes are recipes posted in tweets, and of course the challenge is to fit all the ingredients and instructions into the maximum of 140 characters. Like these recipes by Maureen Evans:
Lemon Curd: zest,juice lb meyer or reg lem. Simmr in bainmarie+2c sug/c buttr; whisk+5btn egg. Stir 20m@low to set. Fill 5x c jars; boil10m.
Banana Fritters: slice,mix4banana/2T lem. Mix c flr/⅔c h2o/2T oil. Sit30m; fold+2whipd eggwt. Dip,deepfry bananas brwn@325℉. Srv w icecream.
Humus: Mid East. Soak c chickpea 8h. Replace h2o; simmer3h. Drain. Puree/season to taste+⅓c tahini&lem&olvoil/½t garlic&salt/cayenne. Chill.
Seriously….throw out that one that your grandmother gave you that’s forty generations old. On second thought, just burn all of your cookbooks because you will probably not want to eat anything but this particular banana bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of your life.
I found this recipe in a lovely little book called A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg. I really do love books about food as I always find the recipes to be much more exciting than the ones I find in standard cookbooks.
I made this bread without the ginger (because I spaced on getting it at the store) but the end result was shockingly delicious. The warm oozing chocolate chips coupled with the spongey banana-ness of it all was a perfect combo. I pretty much ate the whole thing over the course of a day. It is also a fun thing to bake with the kids — we do it often. Time for Physique 57.
Here’s the recipe:
Banana Bread with Chocolate and Crystallized Ginger: Makes 1 loaf
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
2 large eggs
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup well-stirred whole-milk plain yogurt (not low or nonfat)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Set a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 350F. Grease a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray or butter.
2. Melt the butter on the stove or in a microwave and set aside to cool slightly.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add the chocolate chips and crystallized ginger and whisk well to combine. Set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a fork. Add the mashed banana, yogurt, melted butter, and vanilla and stir to mix well. Pour the banana mixture into the dry ingredients, and stir gently with a rubber spatula, scraping down the sides as needed, until just combined. Do not overmix. The batter with be thick and somewhat lumpy. Scrape the batter into the loaf pan and smooth the top.
5. Bake into the loaf is a deep shade of golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 mins to an hour. If the loaf seems to be browning too quickly, tent with aluminum foil.
6. Cool the loaf in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Then tip out and enjoy. I ate it while still hot but it is easier to slice when fully cooled.
Enjoy!
For a printable version of this recipe, click here.
Cookie baking is big in our house, especially when the weather is grim like today, and as you can see from the picture we’ve started to collect quite a variety of cutters. My son loves picking out which ones to use (currently the bear and the lion are particular favourites). I pick cutters up from all sorts of places but I do find Cakes Cookies and Crafts Shop a corker — especially as they usually offer 4 for the price of 3. Cox & Cox also do some good ones (but more on them later as they definitely deserve their own post).
Today however we used our new kid-friendly cutters by Swiss cooking brand Kuhn Rikon. They are brilliant because they have handles for easy pressing, and the shapes are less fiddly for transferring from work-top to baking sheet. In fact the whole Kinderkitchen range is fantastic for young cooks and is a big feature in our letters to Father Christmas (I’m personally yearning after the Mouse Measuring Cups).
I’ve tried various cookie recipes that are suitable for using cutters on and I find most to be a bit bland and dry, so I usually stick to using Jane Grigson’s recipe for shortbread (see below), which is delicious, easy to ‘cut’ and particularly good splattered with melted chocolate. If you have a fab cookie recipe that works with cutters then please let me know!
Jane Grigson’s Recipe for Shortbread (taken from her book English Food):
Sift the flours together into a large bowl, add the butter (at room temp) and sugar mix to combine into a dough (a good 4 or 5 mins). Roll out, cut into shapes and then bake in the oven at 180 degrees for about 12 mins (or until very slightly browning at edges).
How easy is that!
For a printable version of this recipe, click here.
(NB1: if you do decide to take a look at English Food check out the Parsnip Cake on page 318 (of Hardback version) – it has become a firm family favourite in our house).
(NB2: Again if you do have a look at the book I must warn you it is not very glossy as there are no pictures but it is a fascinating history of English recipes and every recipe I’ve tried from the book turns out great!)
While I have loads of cookbooks stacked on my shelves, they have all started to collect dust. I have started using the internet more and more to discover new recipes — I get really inspired when I am looking for a recipe, discover a new site and then stumble over great new ideas! There are some fab sites out there which are regularly updated with new recipes.
I wanted to list some of my favourites, and would love to hear which ones you guys read and salivate over! (By the way, writing this post has taken hours because as soon as I checked one of the sites I liked, I linked to one they liked and so on and so on…. So I have been sitting in front of my computer screen looking at food, which is not the most constructive thing. It is better to make it and eat it!) Here’s a list of some of my favourite cooking sites…
Chocolate and Zuccini almost needs no introduction — it must be one of the first food blogs that became famous. The recipes are fab, some are complicated and some are not, and Clothilde, the writer, has a beautiful way of describing the recipes.
I love making food but I am not the best cook and sometimes (in fact always) need simple, basic instructions to make something new. My fall back site has always been Delia Online by Delia Smith, England’s version of Martha Stewart. It isn’t fancy, but you know that when you are looking for a recipe for something wholesome like Sheperd’s Pie, Delia is perfect.
The Food Section on the Guardian website is great. It features recipes by some of my favourite cooks: Nigel Slater, Dan Leppard, Yotam Ottolenghi and Allegra McEverly.
I do have a sweet tooth and the baking website, Cakes and the City, is just too lovely (check out the lemon and meringue cupcakes on the photo above). I know it is in French but the recipes are relatively simple so maybe you can use this as an exercise to refresh your school French??
I’m not sure where the name ’sand cookies’ comes from, but my mum used to bake these cookies when I was little; I remember sitting on the kitchen counter helping her decorate the cookies with almonds and raisins… and making sure the dough was tasty, of course!
Yesterday I tried making them with my kids and it was a hit. The recipe is quick and simple and the cookies just need 15 minutes in the oven, so you get fast results which is always a good thing when cooking with kids. They’re tasty too and don’t require a lot of sugar.
Here’s the recipe:
250 grams flour
1 bag of vanilla sugar (or a teaspoon of essence)
100 grams sugar
125 grams butter
1 egg
Mix all ingredients in a bowl (I used the hand mixer first and then kneaded the dough with my hands). Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface, about ¼ inch or ½ cm thick. Cut into shapes and decorate with walnuts, almonds and raisins. Brush with some beaten egg to give a nice shine to the cookies.
You can also use my mum’s technique: roll the dough into a thick sausage (about 5 cm / 2″ diameter), put it in the fridge for 5 to 10 minutes and slice cookies from the sausage, about ¼ inch or ½ cm thick. Decorate with almonds, walnuts and raisins and brush with egg.
The cookies need 15 minutes in a medium hot oven (200° C or 400° F).
Enjoy!
xxx Esther
PS For an easy-to-print PDF of this recipe, click here.
I adapted this recipe from Nigella Lawson and tweaked it a bit to my liking. It certainly is a bit of a caloric indulgence but I turn a blind eye noting that it represents all the major food groups….meat, dairy, grain and veggies! It’s even better the next day heated up for lunch and it’s something that the whole family can enjoy. I would recommend playing around with it a bit to suit your tastes. I tend to add a lot of cheese at the end.
Here’s the recipe:
Farfalle pasta with peas and ham:
•3/4 box of pasta (farfalle or any small flat pasta)
•1 cup frozen peas
•2/3 cup heavy cream
•1 ¼ cup good quality diced ham
•3/4 cup grated fresh parmesean
Step 1: Cook pasta according to package instructions in salted boiling water. Add frozen peas to pasta water 5 mintues before pasta is done. Drain and set aside.
Step 2: Put pasta pot back on heat and add the cream, ham and parmesean and warm through.
Step 3: Add pasta back to pan. Mix and serve.
Step 4: Tell everyone you hand rolled the pasta, cured the ham and spent the entire day preparing this meal.
For a printable version of this recipe, click here.
I was reading yesterday that even London fashion week has gone back to basics. As the Guardian reported, instead of last year’s sashimi, this year simple Croque Monsieurs — otherwise known as plain old grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, are all the rage. After all, there is no food more cheap, cheerful and comforting as melted cheese on a buttered grilled piece of bread.
And this is my favourite way of making a Croque Monsieur:
Croque Monsieur for 4 people:
-8 big slices of Poulaine Bread (I love Poulaine bread, but any type of sour dough bread works)
-4 slices of ham
-3 good healthy handfuls of gruyere cheese
-butter
-1 egg
Bechamel sauce:
-200 ml milk
-1 tablespoon of flour
-20 g butter
To make the bechamel sauce: Melt the butter in a pan and add in the flour. Gradually add the milk, mixing constantly to avoid lumps. When the sauce starts to thicken continue cooking it for 2 minutes and then let it cool down to make the Croque Monsieur. (If you want to be really decadent, add an extra handful of gruyere to the bechamel).
Beat the egg and mixed it together with the cheese. Generously butter the slices of bread. Place a slice of bread with the buttered side down on a grill pan. Add on a slice of ham and some of cheese on top of the slice of bread and close the sandwich with a second slice of bread this time with the butter side facing up. Spread some bechamel sauce on top of the sandwich and finish off with more cheese. Repeat with the rest of the sandwiches and then grill until all the cheese is melted.
Now this is the basic recipe. Here are some of the variations I have come up with:
I love adding some mustard onto my bread and some tomatoes, but my girls hate it!
Add a fried egg on top of the croque to turn the Croque Monsieur into a Croque Madame.
And finally the vegetarian option, leave out the ham and add in sundried tomato or olive tapanade.
Oh, and if you serve it with a green salad dressed with vinaigrette, I promise you will feel like you are sitting at a bistro in Paris! Enjoy!
Frittata is a delicious and extremely simple dish that you can find in any Italian region. Everybody has their own special recipe for it — which means that you just can’t go wrong. Whomever the cook, a frittata will always contains eggs (obviously), typically one or more vegetables, often some cheese and possibly some ham. It’s different from a French omelette because it is more set and it is delicious even hours after being cooked. And it’s different from a Spanish tortilla because the vegetables need not be fried and it is usually much thinner.
Frittata is a great way to use leftover vegetables; honestly it does not matter how little of them you have left, there will always be enough for a frittata (a bit like when you make a quiche). I find it’s also a good and sneaky way to make your children eat veggies; my son is really picky with green stuff but will eat a (partially green) frittata.
Frittata is also great for aperitivo and dinner parties — just cut it into squares and let your guests help themselves! It is best if a bit warm but it is delicious even at room temperature.
The most common frittata are with courgette, onions and spinach but you can make them with mushrooms, peas, tomatoes, broccoli and also can add parmesan, other cheese, ham or bacon to it. Let your imagination (and your fridge) inspire you!
The following recipe requires a 26/28 cm non-stick pan and will serve 3 or 4 people as a main course.
Frittata
6 eggs
salt
pepper (optional)
about 1 cup of cooked vegetables (courgette)
2 tbsp of parmesan
olive oil
Beat the eggs until smooth, add salt and pepper. If the vegetables are in big chunks you may want to cut them in smaller pieces or mash them with a fork. Then mix the vegetables with the eggs, they should not be too hot (otherwise the eggs will start cooking when in contact with the piping hot veggies) and add the parmesan if you like.
Heat 1 or 2 tbsp of olive oil in the non-stick pan (26 or 28 cm), then pour the egg mixtures, lower heat and cover with a lid. The thicker the frittata the lower the heat, this will ensure it will cook thoroughly without burning on the outside.
While it cooks you should check with a spatula that the frittata is not sticking to the pan. Once the bottom is cooked and the upper part looks less runny but still soft, you have to turn the frittata. Experts do flip it in the air with a clever wrist move, but I don’t. Just use the lid and slide the frittata on it then rapidly turn the lid over to the pan and let the frittata complete the cooking.
Now cut it in squares or wedges — it depends on the size of the party!
For a printable version of this recipe, click here.
This photo of a chocolate fondant was taped to Emilie’s fridge when I visited her in Paris last month, and when I walked into her kitchen the drool nearly spilled from my mouth. Doesn’t this look like the yummiest thing ever? Don’t you just want to take a spoon and dip it into that melted chocolate center?
I asked her to translate the recipe for me into English so I could try to make it at home. And indeed this is one tasty dessert. Not to mention, it’s ridiculously easy to make. A great treat to make if you find yourself needing a dessert with short notice. All you need is some good dark chocolate lying around (which, if you know me, I always have in my kitchen)!
Here’s the recipe:
Moelleux au Chocolat:
-150 g black chocolate + 12 squares
-80 g of butter + a little nugget
-80 g of icing sugar
-2 tablespoons of flour
-4 eggs
Heat oven to 220°C. Butter 6 ramekins. Break up the chocolate and melt with the butter over a bain marie or in the microwave. Mix well with a whisk. Beat together the sugar and the eggs, add the flour and add the chocolate mixture. Pour the mixture into the ramekins until they are half full, then put 2 squares of chocolate in the mixture and then fill the ramekin up to the top. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes depending on your oven. Timing is everything! If you don’t leave the moelleux in long enough the chocolate in the middle will not have melted, if you leave them too long they will have become solid. It is an exciting 8-10 minutes! Some people put white chocolate squares in the middle of the moelleux instead of black chocolate to have a bit of a colour contrast…
Eat while hot, and enjoy!
For a printable version of this recipe, click here.
This recipe is based on the famous Quiche Lorraine. I’m not sure how the real Quiche Lorraine is supposed to be made, but I’ve been making it this way for a very long time, and I always get great responses. This quiche is really easy to make, quick, and doesn’t require special ingredients. Fantastic for a light dinner or lunch, great for a picnic or as party food. They’re equally good warm or cold, so you can easily make it the night before. Serve it with a salad, and presto!
Here is the recipe:
Onion / leek quiche, for 4 persons:
(frozen) puff pastry, or pie-crust
1 large onion, diced
1 big or 2 thin leeks, in thin slices
a garlic clove, minced
100 g bacon, diced
3 medium eggs
125 ml or half a cup of cream (crème fraîche, or double cream)
fresh ground pepper
100 g grated cheese (can be a mix, f.e. cheddar and Gruyere)
Fry the bacon (I don’t use butter or oils as there’s enough fat in the bacon itself). When brown, turn down heat and add the onion and the garlic. Sauté until transparent. Add leek rings, sauté gently until soft.
In the meantime, butter a pie plate and press the puff pastry in the pan (I use 5 squares puff pastry per quiche, but this is different in each country). Prick bottom with fork at about 1 inch intervals.
Divide bacon/onion/leek mixture over pastry. Sprinkle cheese over the mixture. In a bowl, mix the eggs together with the cream and the pepper — divide over the leek mixture.
Place in the middle in a hot oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until nice and brown and pastry is cooked. I like to sprinkle spring onions over it if I have them around.
Bon appetite!
xxx Esther
For an easy-to-print version of this recipe, click here!
Courtney just asked me for my recipe of green tomato chutney, as the tomatoes in London apparently decided to stay green this summer!!
This recipe, that I’ve now used for years (apparently the green tomato problem is not unique to England) comes from Mrs. Beeton’s Everyday Cookery, which was published in the 1830s!!! Safe to say it withstood the test of time… We really love this chutney; it’s excellent on a thick slice of wholegrain bread with good cheddar!
Here’s the recipe:
-5 lb green tomatoes
-1 lb onions
-1/2 oz peppercorns
-1 oz salt
-1 lb sugar
-1 qt vinegar
-1/2 lb raisins
-1/2 lb sultanas
Slice the tomatoes and chop the onions and mix together in a basin with the peppercorns and salt. Allow this to stand overnight. Next day boil up the sugar in the vinegar, then add the raisins (which may be chopped) and the sultanas. Simmer for 5 min., then add the tomatoes and onions, and simmer till thick. This might well take a couple of hours!
Rinse sterile storage jars with hot water and fill jars with chutney. Screw lids on and put jars upside down until cooled down.
This chutney is best after a year’s storage, so some patience is required…
xxx Esther
For a printable version of this recipe click here.
My mum used to make this salad, and I was eating at my aunt’s last week and she had it on the menu. It must be a family recipe! My kids love it (the fact that it’s pink probably helps), and it’s super simple to make. And of course extremely healthy, as red beets are low in fat, high on carbohydrates and full of anti-oxidants and folic acid!
Pre-cooked red beets can be found in the supermarket’s grocery section, and they can usually be kept for quite some time. Good to have around!
Here’s the recipe:
3 medium sized red beets, cooked, peeled and diced
2 apples, peeled and diced
1 onion, chopped
2 to 3 full spoonfulls of thick yoghurt, or sour cream or something similar
2 to 3 full spoonfulls of mayonaise
a touch of curry powder (optional)
Mix mayonaise and yoghurt with curry powder. Taste and add more mayonaise or yoghurt if necessary. Stir through other ingredients. Serve.
xxx Esther
For a printable version of this recipe, click here!
I am currently enjoying a slower pace of life in the Italian mountains and we are 4 generations staying under one roof, ranging from the 93-year-old great grandmother to the 16- month-old baby girl. (The 16-month-old and 93-year-old get on like a house on fire, by the way!)
Anyway what I love about these holidays is the random stuff I learn, like how to darn, the history of the Italian socialist party, and how to make great deserts– all very useful things.
This year the Zia (Aunt) Emilia brought lots of very ripe peaches from her garden. They were starting to get soft so she came up with a fabulous way of using them. She made a kind of peach tiramisu, a great way of using the surplus of fruit. It has been quite a difficult recipe to write down as she has never measured any of the ingredients. (As is usual with these kind of cooks, when I asked her what the exact measures were, she threw up her arms in a typical Italian way.) I have guestimated the measures, but rest assured that this is one of those recipes where you don’t have to be very exact!
Here’s what you will need:
-enough sponge fingers (in Italian savoiardi) to cover the base of a shallow dish
-250 ml of Mascapone cream
-a few spoonfuls of icing sugar
-5 ripe peaches
-200 ml of peach juice (preferably fresh, but at a pinch a packet will do)
Cover the base of a shallow dish with the biscuits and pour the peach juice over them until they are saturated. Mix the sugar with the Mascarpone and lather on a layer on top of the biscuits. Cover the layer with chopped and peeled peaches and then lather on more Mascarpone. Finish off with a layer of peaches. Put the dish in the fridge. It is almost best to make the desert in the evening and let it sit overnight. The flavours mix , the biscuits become soft and soggy and it all becomes a great amalgam of textures and flavours. This desert can be made with any kind of juicy fruit. I reckon it would be great with berries, apricots or even oranges. It is also a great desert to make with kids as it requires no baking.
Panna Cotta is one of those easy, but elegant desserts I like to make when I have guests over. For some reason, I usually don’t think of it as a summer dessert, but my mother-in-law served it a few days ago and it was fresh, light, and super summery after all. I owe credit for my recipe to my sister, Katie, who got this version from her cooking professor one summer in Florence.
Panna Cotta: (8 servings)
-4 cups whipping cream, or half milk/half cream (950ml)
-½ cup sugar (60 grams)
-2 T vanilla (or insides of one vanilla bean)
-2 packages knox gelatin (or 4 sheets of sheet gelatin)
Soften gelatin as directed on package.
Heat the cream over low heat. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add vanilla. Stir in gelatin until melted. Pour into individual serving bowls, espresso cups, or goblets, or into a cake mold as shown. Chill in fridge.
Serve with fruit coulis (put berries, a touch of sugar, and a touch of lemon juice in blender), fresh berries, or chocolate sauce.
Enjoy!
xx Rebecca
For a printable version of this recipe, click here.
England is not known for its cooking, but sometimes that reputation is uncalled for. Sure, jellied eels, deep-fried pizzas and french fry sandwiches (aka chip butties) are not to everyone’s taste, but in a cold, wintery climate a warming dish cannot be beaten. There is one thing I miss in particular from my London days: a good savoury pie.
Emilie in Paris
February 23rd, 2010
3 comments
I was sitting beside a Lebanese guy at a wedding this weekend and he could not help raving about the wonderful food from his country and the Mediterranean area in general. Since then I have not stopped thinking about great Mediterranean dishes. Don’t forget: eating a Meditarrenean diet apparently makes you live longer…
Seriously….throw out that one that your grandmother gave you that’s forty generations old. On second thought, just burn all of your cookbooks because you will probably not want to eat anything but this particular banana bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of your life.
by Swiss cooking brand 
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I was reading yesterday that even London fashion week has gone back to basics. As the 
Frittata is a delicious and extremely simple dish that you can find in any Italian region. Everybody has their own special recipe for it — which means that you just can’t go wrong. Whomever the cook, a frittata will always contains eggs (obviously), typically one or more vegetables, often some cheese and possibly some ham. It’s different from a French omelette because it is more set and it is delicious even hours after being cooked. And it’s different from a Spanish tortilla because the vegetables need not be fried and it is usually much thinner.
