Herb and butter pasta sauce

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Louise

For the nights when you are hungry for more than toast, but beyond cooking, this is a perfect solution. All you need is some butter, some fresh herbs (I confess, I got mine from my window ledge, but every supermarket stocks them in those little plastic packets now) and some pasta or gnocchi and in less than ten minutes you have something that wouldn’t look out of place at the River Café but will cost you, ooh, about £13 less. A spring onion or two won’t hurt but don’t faff about trying to dress it up too much; the joy of this is the simplicity and the speed. I used sage which is very happy in a butter sauce, but any other floppy-leaved herb (like basil or flat-leaf parsley) would work just as well.

For two you will need:
Cupboard (or things you may already have)
sea salt and black pepper
salted butter (i.e. the normal stuff, not unsalted), 50g
pasta or gnocchi, 200g of pasta or 300g gnocchi

Shopping list
sage, basil or flat-leaf parsley, a good handful of the leaves (about 2 tablespoons or 25-30g)
spring onions, 2 (optional)

How to
1. Remove the herb leaves from the stalks if necessary and rinse them.
2. If using spring onions, top and tail them then chop them (white and green parts) into small pieces.
3. Boil a kettle for the gnocchi/pasta and, depending on which one you are using, cook for 2-10 minutes. The sauce will take about 5-7 minutes so, if your chosen starch is ready before that, drain it (reserving a spoonful of the cooking water) and rinse it in cold water to stop it sticking together.
4. Whilst the pasta is cooking, heat the butter in a frying pan and add the chopped spring onion and cook until slightly brown and crispy. Then add the herbs and cook for a minute or two (sage will crisp up, the others will wilt). Add a tad more butter if you like lots of sauce.
5. Finally, add the reserved cooking water, stir and season to taste.
6. Eiher tip the pasta/gnocchi into the frying pan and mix with the sauce before serving or divide the pasta/gnocchi between two bowls and tip the sauce over. Serve sprinkled with sea salt and black pepper.

Posted in Fast food fixes, Pasta and gnocchi recipes, Salsa and sauce recipes, Summer recipes, Vegetarian recipes | Tagged , | 1 Comment

A handful of Salade Niçoise

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Louise

There’s not much that makes me want to leave London but, right now, the weather is, well, challenging. It’s the weather for socks, central heating and raincoats when I should be moaning about wasps, barbecues and sweaty people on the tube. Okay, that last one, that’s still an issue. It’s the sort of weather that makes me want to get on the Eurostar and head south, to keep going until I hit somewhere like Nice and can be sure of a little bit of blue sky. Since that’s unlikely to happen on this wet Thursday, I thought I’d bring Nice to N7 and make one of its most famous exports.

Salade Niçoise is what the French would call a salade composée which just means mixed salad. But whereas the British idea of a mixed salad can still, scarily, be a few slices of undressed, dried-out cucumber and tomato, the only protein a dead insect or two, in France it’s often the main event, the mix and the dressing varying according to the location. Niçoise is full of the flavours of the sun and the sea – anchovies, olives and tuna – and it will brighten any day. Yes, even this one.

I confess I rarely use measurements for this. I think of it as a ‘handful’ recipe and, since your hand, and appetite, will be different to mine I suggest you trust your eyes and stomach to tell you if you have enough of each ingredient. A Niçoise can become labour- and washing-up intensive but if you steam the veg above the water used to boil the eggs you can make it a one-pot meal.

For two you will need:

Cupboard (or things you may already have)
olive oil
sea salt and black pepper
wine vinegar (red or white)

Shopping list
green (fine or French) beans, a couple of handfuls (about 75-100g)
Cos/Romaine lettuce leaves, a couple of handfuls
new potatoes, a couple of handfuls (about 100g)
a large tomato, or a couple of medium ones (about 100g)
eggs, 2
tinned tuna, 100g
pitted black olives, 50g
tinned anchovy fillets, 4-6

How to
1. First prep the veg. Rinse the lettuce and leave to drain. Quarter the tomatoes. Top and tail the beans and rinse and, if necessary, wash the new potatoes.
2. Rinse the olives, break the tuna up into small pieces and, if you want, chop the anchovies into small pieces (or keep them whole, and fan them out on the top of the salad like the spokes of a wheel).
3. Boil the eggs for about 5 minutes (if you like the yolks to stay just soft) or longer for hard-boiled. As soon as they’re done, crack the shells (this stops the yolks going a weird colour as they cool) and rinse under cold water to cool properly. Leave unshelled on one side.
4. Steam the new potatoes until soft (about 10-15 minutes depending on the size) and, about five minutes before they are done add the beans to steam too.
5. Meanwhile, put the salad leaves in a large bowl with the tomatoes, dress very lightly with a splash of olive oil and vinegar and season.
6. When the veg are done add them to the salad with the tuna, chopped anchovies and olives.
7. Finally peel and quarter the eggs and arrange on the top of the salad, dress with a tad more oil and vinegar, season and serve.

Posted in One pot, Salad recipes, Summer recipes, Wheat-free | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Harissa lamb with couscous

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Louise

Yet again the weather has foiled my food plans. I had gazpacho in mind, but as I write this the forecast is ‘rain becoming heavy and persistent’ and cold soup is definitely not rain food. So I want something hot, but not starchy and wintry which means spice and heat without the weight. And on this cold island I start thinking about hot country food, particularly North African. Harissa, the hot chilli spice paste that is to couscous and tagines what fish sauce is to Thai curries, has become readily available in recent years so much so that a search for it on BBC Good Food brings up 61 recipes, including this one. Tesco’s might not stock it (at least online) but most other supermarkets do. However, it’s also really easy to make at home and, unlike the Sainsbury’s version, it won’t include things like lactic acid and beetroot. And a pot of homemade harissa can be used in all sorts of marinades and sauces, transforming prawns or lamb without requiring the contents of the spice rack. Only ten or eleven ingredients are required to make this dish, and half of those are for the harissa, yet it tastes complex and satisfying. Continue reading →

Posted in Cookery writers, Don't Sweat the Aubergine, Fast food fixes, Lamb recipes, Nicholas Clee, One pot, The Cook Shelf | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

BurgerMonday part 2

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Louise

It was July 4th yesterday and my second adventure with pop-ups took place at a suitable place for Independence Day: Joe Allen’s in Soho. I can safely say that the company was just as good, if not better, but the burger and the service, well I think Fred Smith’s at Andrew’s greasy spoon was the Djokovic to Joe Allen’s Nadal. They were both great but one has to be the winner. It was a good cheeseburger but not a brilliant one and after last week’s it paled in comparison. The cheese was Monterey Jack and Bermondsey Frier beats that any day, the meat was good but a tad too healthy and lean and the fries in Andrew’s were better, and hotter. Nothing can out-chip a greasy spoon chip. Also the cheesecake for dessert was good, but Bea’s brownies last week were exceptional.

This time we shared a table with six others, not just two: two women from CSC (bet you didn’t know that we only have, I think, 3 sq metre of retail space per capita compared to a whopping 16 sq metres in the States and that it takes 15 years, 15!, to get a centre from conception to consumer; no, me neither); someone from the Telegraph and from the Guardian and two housing officers from Camden, one of whom is also a DJ. Everyone was really friendly and up for trying and tasting everything; Daniel of young and foodish was charm itself but, well, the Joe Allen service started off brilliantly but ended a little sourly. There are two sittings and, as we ordered more fries to go with our burgers we were asked/told ‘are you having dessert? Well you only have ten minutes before you have to eat it all and leave the table’. Not quite so charming. And the barman looked as if he’d much rather be playing Titus Andronicus than serving some pop-up plebs.

Having said all that, most of the service was charming, the buffalo slider (a mini-burger for a starter) and buffalo wings were just perfect, best you’ll get this side of the Atlantic and yet again I was inspired by the idea of using a brioche bun for a savoury sandwich. It stays in one piece despite all the juice and is just the right combination of soft and crusty. I might try it with something else. So, though the burger was not as beautiful or as juicy as Fred’s from last week, it was up there in the top seeds; it just wouldn’t win the championship.

Back to recipes, and decent photos, again tomorrow!

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Cheese soufflé recipe for one, two, three…

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Louise

Cheese soufflé is one of my all-time favourite foods and although the word soufflé seems to provoke fear in many an amateur cook it’s not that difficult. You need to be able to do three things: make a cheese sauce; whisk egg whites and be patient. If you can manage all of those you can make one of these. Although I first ate it in France, and was convinced that the skills to make such a light and fluffy confection were embedded in French DNA, and therefore beyond me, I first made it in Wales, Cardiff to be precise, using a British cookbook from 1970 that used to belong to my (very English) mother.

The most commonly cited rule about soufflé-making is that, if you don’t want it to sink, don’t peek. But without peeking, how can you tell if it’s done? I have two responses to this. Continue reading →

Posted in Cheese recipes, Egg recipes, Vegetarian recipes | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Self-sufficiency salad with caramelised onion, rocket and goat’s cheese

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Louise

WTF is two months old today and I have learnt an awful lot in that time, an awful lot about how easy it can be to eat well every day and how a little bit of planning can turn a chore into a pleasure. Last night, for example, I was very late home from work and the local supermarket was shut. I sat on the tube wondering if I had anything fresh in the fridge and then I remembered that I had an as yet untouched crop of rocket and Little Gem lettuce on my terrace. With some caramelised onion à la Delia, a bit of goat’s cheese and a pair of scissors, I turned the leaves into a really good salad without any shopping. Continue reading →

Posted in Cookery writers, Delia Smith, Delia Smith's Winter Collection, Fast food fixes, Salad recipes, Summer recipes, The Cook Shelf, Vegetarian recipes, Wheat-free | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

A summer supper: courgettes with feta, basil and lemon aïoli

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Louise

The weather forecast is promising a perfect English summer weekend: 21°C and blue skies. For some that might not be quite hot enough but it’s just right for me; it’s the sort of weather that allows you to sit outside, without getting sunburnt, and to travel about a city without collapsing. And I’m hoping that this is a sign that July, unlike June, won’t be a washout.

It’s borderline weather in food terms: not quite the weather for a salad, since there is always the risk of a cold breeze, but not ideal for anything long-winded either, since I want to be out enjoying the light, not in the kitchen. I have a pile of courgettes, tons of cheap feta from Lidl, a couple of lemons and plenty of basil (home-grown no less; okay, not from seed…) and a quick trawl of my cook books and magazines suggests the following options: a) fritters with lemon aïoli; b) grilled courgette bruschetta with basil and lemon; c) roasted courgettes with chilli. Continue reading →

Posted in Fast food fixes, One pot, Summer recipes, Vegetarian recipes | Tagged , | Leave a comment

BurgerTuesday at Andrew’s

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Louise

I have had a few problems remembering days and dates this week and so, now that it’s Thursday 30th, I’ve just noticed that Wednesday 29th’s blog was inadvertently scheduled for Thurs…I thought Weds was the 30th for some reason. Anyway, it’s here now and apologies for the delay…

Okay, I know, I’m breaking all my rules. This is the second blog post in a row that talks about food but doesn’t actually provide a recipe but I just had to tell you about my first ‘pop-up’ experience. I went to the BurgerMonday BurgerMat Tuesday edition last night and, oh my, if you’re a fan of good burgers (rather than the thin and overcooked offerings that abound in our fair city) then you will love BurgerMonday (even if it’s on a Tuesday…). Organised by young and foodish, BurgerMonday is the perfect way to experience fabulous food with fellow food obsessives whilst feeling incredibly excited that, for once, you have managed to wangle tickets to one of London’s most sought-after events.

We were attending the overspill (since, obviously, the original BurgerMonday took place the day before), which meant that we had a slimmed down and slightly cheaper version. But that still meant great beer (BrewDog), twice-fried chips, some excellent brownies and a blondie and, oh yes, a fab burger. All in the perfect surroundings of one of the best greasy spoons in London (which, of course, has no website so there’s no link). Continue reading →

Posted in Random bits that don't belong in a category... | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The Cook Shelf: why owning the book still matters

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Louise

I bought delicious magazine at the weekend; I always find interesting recipes in there and, as ever, it didn’t disappoint. It also had an offer, on one of those ‘what’s going on’ round-up type pages, for the ‘ultimate recipe search’. A new website, called Eat Your Books, it said, allows users, to ‘search their whole cookbook library in an instant, by ingredient, diet or occasion’ (I’m quoting the whole sentence for a reason). This text was next to a tempting photo of several cookery books and, all excited, I suddenly had a vision of a place that had bought, or was in the process of buying all the cookbooks in the world. They’d obviously got round that small niggle of copyright by agreeing a deal on subscription fees with publishers. I was impressed and thrilled at the prospect of getting my hands on lots of recipes that I am currently fantasising about for a very small fee or, by using the six-month delicious offer, for no fee at all. Peter Gordon’s Cook at Home, Culinaria Espana and Economy Gastronomy were all within reach.

Alas, however, I had misunderstood the meaning of ‘their’. When I feverishly subscribed to the website and ticked the books I wanted to put on ‘my’ bookshelf, I noticed that it seemed to suggest that I should only include books that I own. That seemed a bit pointless and, since it’s on the web, I asked myself ‘how will they know?’ and carried on.

Well, it doesn’t matter if they know or not because the site doesn’t contain any recipes; it simply works to help you find/index the recipes you already own (in cook books or magazines) and, if that book is on their database (neither Peter Gordon nor Culinaria is) then it gives you a shopping list for the recipe. So instead of just going to the book and finding out how to make it, this site adds another and, in my opinion, completely unnecessary step: go to the website, search the contents of the books you already own for a recipe that you want and then go back to the book in question to find out how to make it. The person who set it up points out that she owns 700 cook books and can never find anything; hence she decided to put everything into an easy online database. Not the recipes, of course, since copyright prevents her doing that, just their location and ingredients.

Now, if you have 700 cook books, I can see that this might be necessary but, even though I have 70 or so, the joy of owning them is that I can browse through them and stumble across something unexpected. If I know what I want I go to the specific page by using the book index, or search on the net for the information. To the publishing world that net of information is always seen, mostly correctly, as a threat to its existence. But this example has reminded me why books, for now, continue to offer something different. Yes, if I know what I want and if what I want is information, then the Internet is often the best place to find it. Yet if I want inspiration, the book still can’t be beaten. What’s weird about Eat Your Books is that, as it’s currently set up, it can provide neither. Defeated by a sense of pointlessness, having spent a good fifteen minutes thinking ‘that can’t be it…can it?’, I gave up and went back to my bookshelves…

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Making the most of the heatwave: tomato and bread salad

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Louise

It’s the hottest day of the year so far today which means it’s a day for salad or gazpacho as far as I’m concerned and, since I have the ingredients for a variation on panzanella I thought I’d try that. This is an Italian salad which I’ve often eaten but never made, mainly because although the name is lovely, I was certain there must be some alchemy to turning tomatoes and soaked stale bread into something juicy but not soggy. But, having reviewed a few recipes, I went for one from the Riverford Farm Cook Book which uses toasted not soaked bread and, personally, I think it’s much nicer. Okay, it involved turning the oven on which seems horrible on such a warm day but it’s only for five minutes and I’m sure you could do this with thick slices of toast too, if you couldn’t bear the heat. Or, if you have a barbecue, and you’re serving this with grilled lamb or something equally seasonal, then char some bread on that instead. Yum.

Tomato and bread salad (adapted from Riverford Farm Cook Book)

For two you will need:

Cupboard (or things you may already have)
olive oil, 60 ml (about 4 tablespoons)
sea salt and ground black pepper
garlic clove, 1
red wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon

Shopping list
good white bread (not sliced), about 150g
tomatoes, 3 large
capers, 1 teaspoon
tinned anchovy fillets, 2
basil, a handful of leaves

How to
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.
2. Cut the bread up into largish (ones you can put in your mouth) cubes and, when the oven is up to temperature, put them on a baking sheet in the oven and bake for 3-5 minutes until just golden and crispy.
3. Cut the tomatoes into quarters, then eighths then squeeze the juice from half of them into a blender jug or food processor. (This leaves you with some squashed bits of tomato flesh; the recipe doesn’t say whether to discard them or not but I kept them in.)
4. Drain and rinse the capers, chop the anchovies and peel and chop the garlic. Add these to the tomato juice. Pour in the olive oil and vinegar and blend until smooth. Season to taste.
5. Put both squeezed and unsqueezed tomatoes into a bowl with the bread cubes and basil leaves. Pour over the dressing, mix gently and serve.

Posted in Fast food fixes, One pot, Riverford Farm Cook Book, Salad recipes, Summer recipes, The Cook Shelf | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment