Friday 26 March 2010

Salad and Steak


Every other weekend we were child-free, so that Friday night became Steak Night. We would treat ourselves to a beautiful chunk of cow from our fantastic local butcher and eat it with all the culinary kitsch of a Berni - onion rings, oven chips, garlic mushrooms, peas and grilled tomatoes. These became affectionately known as Dirty Dinners

But those covert dinners were brought to an abrupt end when R gave up her weekend job, never to be mentioned again. But today I burnt my hand at work and to cheer myself up I decided we would have steak again! I just wanted my rare meat with a green salad and some tomatoes (I have a bit of a 'thing' about roasted tomatoes at the moment). A piece of topside, a big bowl of spinach, watercress, sugarsnaps and broad beans (from the bag I bought to keep my hand cold as I walked through the supermarket in agony), halved tomatoes, seasoned and dotted with garlic butter then slow roasted. All with my favourite salad dressing.


Dijon Dressing
Into a small jug put a generous teaspoon of Dijon mustard, add about a tablespoon of tarragon vinegar, whisk together. Gradually add Olive Oil in a thin stream as if making a mayonnaise. You should end up with lovely thick dressing, the consistency of which you in complete control of adjusting with the addition of more oil. Season and add lemon juice to taste.

Sunday 21 March 2010

Jelly and Ice Cream


I found this photo of my mother when she was a child in the 1950's. The subject itself is pretty self-explanatory, a children's tea party. The children are all wearing their party best; the girls in pretty dresses with bows in their hair and the boys in shirts and cowboy hats. You can almost hear their excitement, maybe it's the abundance of cake and squash or the appearance of a camera? I would imagine that most of these children had sleepless nights prior to the party, it's arrival as eagerly anticipated as Christmas. It's a happy afternoon, one of many in the fresh-air-filled, kite-flying, tree-climbing, rope-jumping, camp-building, model-painting, hop-scotching, book-reading and truly free-spirited afternoons in the lives of these children. Small gifts made huge smiles and simple toys were treasured.
But what if you drew together a similar group of children today, laid tables with white table cloths and fed them simple sandwiches, fairy cakes, jelly, ice cream and squash? Would their excitement and marvel be equal? Would their eyes light up for a photo to be taken? Sadly I don't think so. There would probably be widespread vocal disappointment at the lack of cold chicken nuggets, flaccid pizza, crisps, and teeth-achingly fizzy drinks. The children wouldn't be dressed in simple summer clothes, but in uber trendy designer clothes the cost of which would have paid for the 1950's party! They would get bored with Blind Man's Bluff or Pass-the-Parcel and the lack of a party bag stuffed with goodies causing raised eyebrows from competitive parents?
What a shame that the concept of childhood is now just a marketing tool for holiday brochures, Organic Cereals and Fabric Conditioners!

Thursday 18 March 2010

Cowboy Cookies


I have eaten all the Fig Rolls I made last week, I'm not ashamed as the figgy bit counted as one of my Five-a-Day. I can now compensate by making cookies with the chocolate chips my Gourmet Sister sent me. Flicking through the Field Guide to Cookies I decided to make 'Cowboy Cookies', maybe things would have been different on that Mountain if they had had a supply of these?!


COWBOY COOKIES
Makes 24

230g Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
225g Butter
110g Sugar
110g Light Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
175g Rolled Oats
200g Chocolate Chips
115g Walnuts

  • Preheat the oven 180/350/Gas 4. Line two oven sheets.
  • Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
  • In a stand mixer cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
  • Add the flour and mix on a low speed until just combined.
  • Stir in the oats, chocolate chips and walnuts.
  • Grab little balls of dough, about the size of a large walnut, place on the tray and flatten slightly.
  • Bake for about 15 minutes until golden and feel firm. Cool on a wire rack. Keep in an airtight container for 2 weeks, or freeze.

Wednesday 17 March 2010

Bread & Marmalade Pudding


Looking through this leaflet full of ideas to 'stretch the sugar ration' I've decided upon Bread and Marmalade Pudding for tonight. I'm wondering if this leaflet should be re-named 'How to stretch the ink ration' as most of the recipes only seem to have a couple of ingredients, one of the reasons I'm intrigued with this dish! I'm not sure how confident I feel about 'spreading the marmalade over the breadcrumbs' though...

BREAD & MARMALADE PUDDING
4 0z. breadcrumbs, 1 pint milk, fresh or household
3-4 tablespoons marmalade

Place half the breadcrumbs in a 1 1/2 pint pie dish. Spread over the marmalade and cover with the remaining crumbs, adding the milk last. Bake in a moderately hot oven for 1-1 1/2 hours, when the pudding should be set and golden brown.
P.S. This wasn't very nice, like eating wallpaper paste with a hint of bitter orange and dried Copydex.

Wednesday 10 March 2010

Fig Rolls


Yesterday I received a wonderful surprise parcel from my Gourmet Sister J, lots of delicious goodies and a fantastic little book 'The field Guide to Cookies' (Anita Chu/Quirk Books) with recipes for nearly every cookie imaginable including one of my favorite, Fig Rolls.



FIG ROLLS
makes about 16

150g Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
110g Butter
175g Soft Brown Sugar
1 Egg
3/4 Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Orange Zest
Filling
215g Dried Figs, chopped
1 tbls Sugar

  • Sift flour, salt and baking soda. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy, add the egg, orange zest and vanilla extract and mix. Add flour and mix on low speed to form a dough. Turn dough onto cling film and chill for an hour.
  • To make the filling put figs, sugar and 240 ml of water into a saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook until it reaches a jammy consistency. Set aside and cool.
  • Divide the dough into two and roll first piece out on a floured surface, roll into a rectangle about 18 x 30cm. Carefully transfer to a sheet of parchment paper.
  • Spread the filling down the centre half of the dough, fold one side over the middle and then the other side over the top - this will be obvious as you do it! Flip cookie over onto it's seam side. Repeat with other half of dough and then chill for 20 minutes. Meanwhile preheat oven 375/190/Gas 5.
  • Bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool and then cut into 4cm slices.

Thursday 4 March 2010

Flan aux Raisins


I bought some bad grapes yesterday. I should have tried one in the shop (is that shop-lifting? I never know. I suppose you wouldn't take a bite from an apple or banana before buying, so why does it seem okay to try a grape?). Anyway, I took a chance and it didn't pay off. So here am I with a pound of the sourest grapes that nobody in the house will touch, maybe if I hide them in a Grape Flan.....

Flan aux Raisins
serves six
For the pastry
200g Plain Flour
125g Butter
1 Egg
A Little Cold Water

For the filling
125g Green Grapes
125g Black Grapes
2 Medium Eggs
100g Caster Sugar
3 Tablespoons Ground Almonds
100ml Double Cream
25g Flaked Almonds (not in photo as I didn't have any!)
25cm Flan Tin with loose base, (buttered & floured)

  • Preheat oven to 230 C/450 F/Gas 8.
  • Put flour into food processor, cut butter into small pieces and pulse until it resembles breadcrumbs (or rub in by hand). Add the egg and a little cold water, process again until a ball forms. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes then roll out thinly and line the flan tin, chill again for another 30 minutes.
  • Wash, pick through and thoroughly dry the grapes, arrange over the pastry base.
  • Beat the eggs and caster sugar together until pale and thick, beat in the ground almonds and then the cream. Pour over grapes and sprinkle with the flaked almonds and bake for 20 minutes. reduce heat to 200 C/400 F/Gas 6 and bake for a further 20 minutes.
  • If the surface is browning too quickly place a sheet of foil over the top. Serve warm.