Hampshire Tapas at Caviste - food & wine heaven (a review)

As you know, I am a big fan of good food (aren’t we all). I am also, you may have noticed, a fan of ‘local’ food, be that veg from the back garden or the Farmers’ Market, locally reared pork or blackberries foraged from the hedgerows round and about the village. 

Where we live we have some great independent shops, one of which is a wine merchant, Caviste. I should say now that I don’t pretend to buy all my wine here, or, in fact, that I know much about wine at all. On the other hand, I do like a good glass or two, and Caviste is where I sourced the Prosecco for my 40^th birthday party earlier in the year. If we are having people for dinner, I will head there with my menu in hand and a budget in my head and come away with bottles of loveliness and delight . When I have done this in the past, the wine that I have been recommended has always complimented the meal beautifully.

If you’d asked me before we moved here whether I would have bought wine from an independent wine merchant, I would have probably explained that it would be far too expensive. However, the reality is that it isn’t. They can, or course, sell you a bottle of wine costing £30, £50 or even (I believe) £500, but they also sell a fantastic range of ‘everyday drinking wines’ starting at £5 a bottle. Again, I can’t pretend to have tried them all – partly because the stock changes, but I have always enjoyed what I have come away with.

Now. What does all this have to do with local food? Well, I’d been aware that the shop had been refurbished and that a couple of tables had appeared in the windows, and thought nothing of it. Imagine, then, my excitement, when I walked passed a few days ago on the way back from a particularly muddy dog walk and spied a big sign outside announcing: Hampshire Tapas. I had to find out more, and deciding that there was no time like the present, I told the dog in no uncertain terms to be on his best behaviour, and went in.

Well, she who dares, wins, and as a result of that, I was delighted to be invited back (without the dog) on Friday lunchtime to have chat with Graham Devereux, the General Manager, over a platter of said tapas and a glass of extremely delicious red wine, which I can tell you was a 2012 Meerlust red from the Stellenbosch region of South Africa.

Hampshire Tapas is, I think, a totally genius idea. The tapas concerned are locally sourced, from independent producers in the county. The idea is that the intentionally limited selection will change according to the seasons and as Caviste discover more producers. When I had originally seen ‘tapas’, I had imagined the Spanish version made from local ingredients, but how much better to serve up the best of Hampshire in this form:  a slice of pork pie, Scotch egg, mozzarella made from a buffalo herd grazing the fields around Overton itself, and Tunworth cheese, all served with slices of rosemary and sea salt loaf and a lovely chutney.  

The pork pie is hand raised by Peter Lane whose business name  ‘I Cook You Eat’ says it all. The pie was meaty and well seasoned, a gorgeous pink, the jelly and pastry just right. I also got a sneaky sample of his game pie filling – now the Husband makes a pretty good game pie, but this is in a different league altogether. The Scotch Egg is from Newlyns Farm, made with their own pork and eggs. The egg was perfectly cooked and the ‘scotch’ (the sausage meat casing) was meaty and not too peppery, firm and not at all greasy – if you thought you didn’t like Scotch egg, the time might have come to change your mind. 2 cheeses: The Tunworth cheese is just a mouthful of heaven – honestly, if you ever come across it you must try it – it’s a soft brie type cheese with a subtle, nutty flavour. Not surprising that it is considered one of the best British cheeses, but what is amazing is that Stacey Hedges and Charlotte Bruce have only been making it since 2005. Finally, ‘Hampshire Tapas’ in Overton wouldn’t have been complete without something from the brilliant Laverstoke Park. I often encounter the Laverstoke herd of buffalo while walking the dog, so very appropriate that the platter included 2 little balls of creamy, smooth mozzarella, produced just outside the village.

2 of Jody Scheckter's Laverstoke Park herd of Buffalo

 

You can imagine what heaven I was in – amazing food and delicious wine in great surroundings. I have always loved the feel of Caviste – very calm and measured (and quite unlike the frantic pace of my usual day to day) and that hasn’t changed with the refurbishment – only now, you can sit down and drink it all in. I also love the idea that the selection of tapas on offer will change so you never quite know what will be available, only that it will be of exceptional quality. And I should say that while the food isn’t yet available for online purchase, the wine most definitely is...

As you’ll probably have gathered, I was lucky enough to have been invited to try the tapas, but I can tell you that the platter I ate was their ‘Vineyard Platter’, for which I would have gladly paid £7. You can also choose to have the individual dishes. In addition, while I wasn’t required to provide a positive review, you will appreciate that it would be hard not to, given everything I have described. I can’t for an opportunity to get a babysitter sorted and head up there with the Husband for an early evening aperitif, as a great kick start to an evening.

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Cambodian Wedding Day Dip

On Thursday night, I went to a ‘bring and share’ supper with a group of friends. What to bring? What to share?

Well, ever since I got my hands on Veg Everyday, I have been dying to make the Cambodian wedding Day Dip, but either the occasion hasn’t presented itself, or, when it has, I’ve managed to forget about the recipe temporarily.

Anyway, I had my memory refreshed when I saw the last round up of the Bookmarked Recipes Challenge and the next thing I know, there’s an occasion to make it.

 

 

 

It’s  truly delicious – as good as I imagined it would be: spicy but not overpoweringly so (although I’ll admit to using a whole, milder chilli including seeds, as opposed to half a hot red chilli specified in the book version of the recipe) and although it doesn’t taste particularly mushroomy, the mushrooms are definitely there. The recipe appears on the Channel 4 website, and you can access it here.

 Time was tight when I made it, so I’ll admit to chopping my mushrooms in the food processor, and may have slightly overdone it, but in the end it all turned out fine. It’s not the most beautiful thing to look at in the initial stages of preparation, either,  and I had to watch it to make sure it didn’t stick and burn on the pan during the bubbling phase (once the coconut milk is added). I used the juice of a whole lime and a couple of splashes of light soy sauce, and sprinkled the top with some chopped coriander. I also took along some ‘easy crispy pitta’  – pre-heat the oven to 200C, slice up the pitta breads width ways, spread out on a baking sheet and pop in the oven for 10 mins or so till dry and crispy.

 

I was the subject of some interrogation when I added the dish to the spread – there were a couple of wrinkled noses (I had hoped to avoid saying that it had mushrooms as its major ingredient), but I think nearly everyone tried it and it all disappeared – no hope of taking leftovers home and feeding them to the Husband.

It would be a great thing to serve at a drinks party or as a starter – definitely one I will come back to.

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Swedish Summer Cake

She wiped the cream from the spatula, smearing it luxuriously on the sponge, and languorously placed the strawberries onto the vanilla-flavoured confection.Viewed from above, it would be all innocent, all strawberries and cream, but she knew that in truth, this only concealed something altogether more grown up, a custard that tasted like ambrosia but paved the way to darker, more dangerous places, oozing over the fruit, this time sprinkled in sugar so that juices had started to run. Would he be tempted? Could she take him to a place he had never been before. She knew he was watching her. She smoothed down her apron and ran her fingers through her hair. As if in anticipation of what was to come, she moved more slowly. She turned to reveal what she knew he was waiting for - had been waiting for - for so long...

"It's ready, darling" she murmured huskily....

To me, this is cake porn at its finest. The Goddess tries to dress it up as a wholesome and homely summer treat, but it's from Scandanavia, and it's nothing of the sort. True, we had it for pudding on Sunday lunchtime, but it could just as well grace the dessert table of some more decadent feast.

This cake has been whispering to me ever since I got my hands on Kitchen. Every time I looked at the book, I could hear it. Baaaaake me! Eeeeeeeat me! Every time I got the book down from the shelf, it somehow ended up open on that page. This happens to me alot.

I couldn't bear it any longer, and having won the delicious Forman and Field box of goodies last week, I knew that if we were having a celebration meal, this would have to be the pudding.

It’s called Swedish Summer Cake.


I can’t find the recipe on line, so I can’t put a link in. To be honest, even if you didn’t go a bundle on the family food sections (I do - you can't beat her recipes), it would be worth buying Kitchen just for this cake. (She’s not paying me, by the way).

It’s 3 layers of light sponge  sandwiched to gether with a custard cream and strawberries and topped with whipped cream and more fruit.

I think ‘whisked sponge’ might be the technical term for the cake – there is no fat (yes, girls, this could be a slimming aid...or maybe not) in the sponge mixture. You whisk the eggs and sugar together to be a light, moussey texture then add in some hot water as you carry on whisking - I did all this in my trusty Kenwood. Finally, you whisk in flour and baking powder and bake for half an hour or so.

a bit wonky, but hey - did it matter?

There’s proper custard involved:

I know I have eulogised about the properties of Birds Custard before, but I felt that there was no adulterating this recipe. I had to follow it down the line. It was fairly quick and easy to be honest. It did end up a little runny, and a quick consultation of Nigella.com after the event, suggests that I didn’t leave it to thicken up for quite long enough, but to be honest, I’m, not complaining.

You have to split the sponge into 3 discs. I love the way Nigella instructs you to “courageously, slice the cake horizontally into 3 layers...” I sliced courageously and made a bit of a pigs ear of it to be honest. However, I was heartened by her earlier words of encouragement “...any clumsiness is either easily concealed or adds to the homespun charm of it all...” There you see – it was fine that my top layer looked like this after cutting.

To sandwich together you whisk a huge amount of cream with some vanilla extract, and then fold a third of the cream into your custard. You macerate strawberries with some caster sugar, and layer sponge, the custard cream and fruit up, then top with the rest of the vanilla cream and strawbs.

Did you want a reminder of what it looked like?

It is divine.

I'm linking up with Forever Nigella again. The July event is hosted by Amy at Cooking, Cakes andChildren for Sarah from Maison Cupcake

The theme is 'sizzling summer' . If I had to justify the entry of this cake in that category, it is Swedish Summer Cake. Then I can attest to the fact that we ate it for lunch  al fresco on Sunday, hot on the heals of a lovely chicken chasseur.  With a lovely glass of chilled white wine. And if you were focussing on the 'sizzle' part of the category, well, returning to my earlier theme, despite it's innocent looks, I do believe that this is a 'hot' cake...

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Fish & Chips and Reminiscing - Padstow, 9 years on...

The last time we went to Padstow, I was 6 or so months’ pregnant with Blue. It was, I suppose, our last holiday where we were free to do what we pleased. The week started with a night in a B&B in darkest Devon, near South Molton, where we were due to pick up the Husband’s brand new sailing dinghy. Having concluded that transaction, we towed it to Padstow where we were due to spend a night at The Old Customs House right on the Harbour.

Have you ever tried towing anything (or, to be honest, driving even when you’re not towing) through Padstow? I don’t advise it. Anyway, after many hairy turns and near misses, accompanied by some ‘fruity’ language, we eventually we made it out, back to the ‘park and ride’ at the top of the hill outside Padstow and started again. We had a lovely evening, made even more lovely by the fact that we had dinner at Rick Stein’s The Seafood Restaurant. This was probably our first experience of really expensive food, but it was so worth it, and such a treat. It had taken much planning (I’d never before experienced having to book somewhere months in advance), but oh yes, it was worth it.

It was a great ‘restaurant experience’ – very relaxed and jolly – not stuffy like I imagine some places might be, and the food was just divine. My only complaint was that as I was pregnant, I couldn’t indulge in my passion for seafood proper – and there on the menu was the oysters and chorizo dish that I’d seen on some programme or other. I salivated but resisted. I’m storing that particular tale up for one of those “What have you ever done for me” type arguments that I expect will come from Blue in the future.


After our night in Padstow, we moved on to a cute little cottage in Port Gaverne for a week’s relaxing where we spent most of the time trying to work out what we would call Blue depending on whether he was a boy or a girl (he’s not really called Blue – if you hadn’t worked that out). The rest of the week’s food was of course overshadowed by the Seafood Restaurant experience but I also recall a delicious pint or 2 of prawns in the pub (I know – I think I decided that some cooked prawns were probably OK), and also a supremely disappointing fish & chip supper.

Fish & chips are one of my favourites. In my mind, we had them every Friday night as a child from George & Angela’s chip shop (I can’t believe it’s still there, let alone has a web page – but I googled out of idle curiosity and there it was!). The reality is probably that we had them 2 or 3 times, but who’s counting? Anyway, I am always on the lookout for a good chip shop and I remember thinking that Port Isaac would just HAVE to be a winner for fresh fish & chips. So we slogged up the hill (remember, I was quite pregnant by then, and the road was STEEP!) and down the other side from Port Gaverne into Port Isaac and bought the chips, which we then took to a bench overlooking the sea. They were really disappointing, although discussing it recently with the Husband he reckons they were fine and it was my pregnancy taste buds going mad that was the problem. They also gave me chronic indigestion to the point where I nearly couldn't walk back over the hill to bed. Another story to add to the list, perhaps?

One of the things my kids often gripe about is that we never get food from the chippy/pub etc. “When will we eat in a restaurant again?” is a common whinge of Pink’s when she’s feeling like giving me a hard time. Out comes the well trodden speech about mummy and daddy having to choose how they spend their money and how I can feed them better food for a fraction of the price... I know it’s falling on deaf ears, but there we go.

However, this weekend found us back in Padstow, and – oh joy – Fish & Chips. But not just any fish & chips – Rick Stein’s fish & chips. You guessed it - a romantic re-visit to The Seafood Restaurant was not on the cards, but who needs that when you can sit in the drizzle and eat the most divine fish & chips EVER. The kids were in heaven, but so was I. We had haddock and chips, and I also had a deep fried scallop. The kids had scampi – I shared half my haddock with Blue in return for half his scampi because he couldn’t decide what he wanted, but the scallop was all mine. We also had mushy peas. Now, I know people are divided on the subject, but frankly, I don’t want to hear it. In my book, mushy peas are just lovely, and these ones were pretty darn good.

As for the rest of the food, well, the fish was creamy, the batter was crisp, the chips were lovely and ‘chip-shoppy’, and the tartare sauce came in little tubs and was divine – none of your Hellmans sachets here (although there’s nothing wrong with a Hellman’s sachet, it was fitting that these chips should be accompanied by something a little more upmarket). The ketchup was Heinz. I took a bottle in my pocket.

The kids had lemonade. From a can. And the Husband and I (and our companions, for we were there mob handed in advance of the Padstow to Rock swim that took place on Sunday) washed down the food with an excellent bottle or 2 of ‘Chalky’s Bark’ beer. Apparently the second of Mr Stein’s collaborations with a local brewery, this is beer with a hint of ginger (as opposed to ginger beer) and very good too.

Price-wise – well, without the beer it would have been less than £30 for 4 of us, and to be honest, I don’t think it was that over-priced. The food was really good, and I’ve paid that for vastly inferior chips in Lyme Regis before now.

I didn’t have my camera with me, so I couldn’t take any pics of the food – you’ll just have to take my word for it!

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Meals a deux - Garlic Scape and Fennel Risotto

Did I make rash statements about eating with my children the other day. Well, we don’t always. Sometimes it‘s nice to eat just the two of us.

Sometimes, we want to eat something that despite my best efforts, they just won’t eat – neither of them can deal with a proper hot curry yet, and while mostly I’m happy to lay off the heat, sometimes, I just want to go for it.

Sometimes, when it’s just been a bit full on, it’s essential nice to get them in bed and crack open the wine relax.

On Monday, it was my turn to host the after school hordes. The girls don't have choir any more, so while the boys were at football, I spent an energetic 40 minutes playing hide and seek with them and the dog, before scooping up the boys and taking them home. Pasta with bolognaise sauce from the freezer for them, but I had my eye on a bigger prize for the Husband and I.

the green garlic is in the middle.
You can just see some 'scapes'

One of my purchases on Sunday at the Hampshire Farmers’ Market was 3 heads of green garlic with their ‘scapes’. I had to google ‘scape’ because I didn’t know that it meant the long green bits, but I do now. And so do you. My garlic scapes looked a little like leeks, and they might have dried out a bit, but I was keen to do something with them.






The nice man at The Garlic Farm stall gave me a couple of recipes with my garlic, and contemplating dinner on Monday, and wondering what to do with the fennel bulb I had bought, and the cheese, I came up with

Green Garlic Scape and Fennel risotto

(serves 2)

Ingredients: a knob of butter and some olive oil, 3 green garlic scapes, finely chopped, 1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and fairly finely chopped (if you get fronds, save them and finely chop to sprinkle as garnish at the end – it looks very pretty), 150 g risotto rice, 1 glass of white wine, approx 400 ml veg stock, 50 g Twineham grange Vegetarian pasta cheese, finely grated, salt and pepper

Method: gently heat the olive oil and butter in a wide pan which has a lid, till the butter is melted then add the scapes and fennel and fry gently for about 10 minutes till soft but not coloured (if you can). Add  the rice, stir to combine and cook for about a minute, then pour in the wine and allow it to bubble and cook as you stir, until the wine is almost absorbed.

Once the wine is gone, add the stock a little at a time, stirring until nearly absorbed. I read somewhere that if you can pull your wooden spoon through the risotto and it leaves a path, it’s time to add the next lot of liquid.

Continue cooking till the rice is pretty much tender but still has some bite to it.

Stir in the cheese and another knob of butter, then put the lid on and leave to sit for a couple of minutes.

Remove the lid, sprinkle with the chopped fennel fronds if you have them

Divide between 2 plates. Serve with a grown up glass of chilled white wine and enjoy the silence.

***************

p.s. I drafted this post a couple of nights ago. This morning, I remembered that I had also chopped up some of the Husband's home made (thanks River Cottage) prosciutto type ham and chucked that in towards the end. It was a tasty addition, but as you can see, I'd forgotten about it, so I add this more as an afterthought.

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Meatballs - revisited

Meatballs and I have history. Meatballs even lead to me actually getting paid to write something – how exciting was that? £25 for a ‘We Like to Eat’ column in the Guardian’s Family section last year. The handy link there (on 'history', if you didn't spot it!) takes you to a post I wrote in August last year, which is a longer version of that article. There was a time in my life when I had to make a particular lamb meatball recipe every day. Funnily enough, they have appeared less frequently on my menu subsequently. They are still a failsafe crowd pleaser, but the last couple of times I have made them, they haven’t been quite as good as I remembered.  However, a couple of weekends ago we were up at my mum’s and she served up meatballs made by mixing lamb mince and sausage meat. I don’t think I have ever come across a lamb/pork combination before, but it was really good. I think I prefer the lamb taste, but the addition of the sausage meat made them less dense.

Thus inspired, and using a Delia recipe (out of the Complete Cookery Course - meatballs braised with peppers and tomatoes - page 203 in my version!) as a rough guide for ingredient quantities, I have made meatballs this evening to feed the ravenous hoards (my turn to host the post- football/choir- pre-cubs play date).  In the interests of my own sanity, I chopped up all the veg, skinned the sausages and put veg, sausage meat and lamb mince in the fridge first thing this morning. I mixed, browned and cooked at lunchtime, and so I just need to cook spaghetti or other pasta and heat up the meatballs when it comes to tea time and the pack are baying at my heels demanding to be fed.

Sorry. Did I just liken my kids and their friends to a pack of animals there? Whoops.

Mediterranean style meatballs with hidden veg

Meatballs: 400g lamb mince, 6 pork sausages, 1 red onion, 1 red pepper, Handful of coriander leaves and stalks, 1 clove of garlic, 2 slices of bread, Salt and pepper, grated zest of a lemon

Sauce: 1 red onion & 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped, 2 cans of chopped tomatoes, 2 tsps Marigold stock powder.

Method: For the meatballs, finely chop the onion, pepper, coriander and garlic – I used a food processor to be honest. In a bowl, using a fork, (or again, using a food processor) mash up the bread into crumbs, then squeeze the meat out of the sausage skins, add the lamb mince and the chopped veg, add the egg, salt and pepper and lemon zest and mix together thoroughly. Form the mixture into meatballs.

Basically you can make them whatever size you want – depending on the size of the mouths you are feeding. I made just over 30 out of this amount which i am hoping confidently predict will feed 2 adults and 4 children.

Once you have formed the meatballs, you need to brown them in batches - heat a tablespoon or so of oil in a pan and put the meatballs in so the pan isn't overcrowded. Cook for a good couple of minutes on one side before turning to brown the rest (if you try to turn them too early, they will stick. i do it all the time) and then remove from the pan once brown and set aside.

It would be a good idea to drain them on kitchen paper if you have it to hand (I didn’t today), while you make the sauce.

For the Sauce: heat a tablespoon of oil in a large casserole and add the onion and garlic. Fry for a few minutes, then add in the cans of tomatoes. Put the stock powder into one of the cans, and fill with boiling/hot water. Tip the water into the second can (to get all the leftover tomato stuff out) and then tip into the casserole. Add some salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Bubble for 10 mins or so, then add in the browned meatballs. Turn the heat down to a simmer, put the lid on and cook gently for 25-30 mins.

Serve with pasta - I usually cook about 50 g per child and 100g per adult - anything left over goes into Pink's lunch box the following day - and today we're having green beans.

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Looking for comfort food? Roast pork belly with coriander and fennel crackling, and rhubarb and ginger crumble

There is no use me pretending that I and anything other than totally and utterly hungover. And a little cold and tired. So cold in fact that the Husband has lit a fire, and I’m cooking a dinner more appropriate for a cold November. Not that I’m complaining.

We’ve had a great weekend: the new tent was super quick to put up so by 9.30 on Friday night, the kids were tucked up in bed, and I had my first G&T of the weekend sitting by a roaring camp fire in the wilds of Hampshire (OK, so the Hampshire countryside’s not that wild, but we felt pretty remote).

 We were camping at a slightly odd and lovely place called The Sustainability Centre. The Husband is fairly sure it used to be a military establishment and that he had been there in his previous life. The assault- course- wall-turned- ‘Rural Skills area’-boundary, coupled with some typically military red brick buildings would tend to bear this out, but beyond that, there’s little evidence of its previous use. Now, it’s a haven of peace and tranquillity, there’s a ‘Natural Burial Site’ there (I ventured that way with the dog, and then got confused with Waking the Dead and started hallucinating about Tara Fitzgerald’s body farm place and went the other way), and a small camping ground, complete with yurts and a couple of tipis for those who don’t want to bring their own tents.  

We were there for my friend’s 40^th. By yesterday evening there were about 60 adults and children and 2 dogs. We had great weather all day, and a fabulous evening: drinks and a curry (catered by the on site veggie cafe) in an amazing open sided wooden event structure in the woods. The children ran riot, got muddy, built dens, we had a camp fire for marshmallow toasting, and then later for general conviviality. However, the upshot was some fairly sore heads this morning, and although the veggie cafe opened early to do us all breakfast, bacon was definitely missed. Oh, and I can confirm that compost toilets and hangovers do not go well together.

We decided to forego hanging around today, in favour of getting home and cleaned up and just chilling out, but not before stopping in Tescos in Winchester to get MEAT for supper. Despite my recent forays into vegetarian food, I still haven’t found anything to beat either a bacon sandwich or a roast dinner when I’m feeling like this. In the absence of bacon for breakfast, it was going to have to be a roast for tea.

We had hoped that it might have been the Winchester Farmer’s Market today but sadly not, so Tescos it was, for a piece of belly of pork. I won’t bore you with the story of how we bumped into the most glamorous person I know while we were there, and how it would have to be on a day when we all smelt of wood smoke and looked like we’d been dragged through several bushes backwards but there we go.

Back home, and I’m sitting here, salivating at the smells that are now coming from the oven. For dinner we are having: Roast thick end of Pork belly with coriander and fennel crackling, thanks to Hugh’s River Cottage Everyday, and rhubarb and ginger crumble, from my head, because there is rhubarb in the garden, and it’s that kind of day.

Roast thick end of Pork belly with coriander and fennel crackling

I got nearly 2 kilos of meat (the lady in the meat counter sold me slightly more than I wanted on the basis that it would tip me over the £7 threshold thus qualifying me to use a £2 money off voucher.

Following St Hugh’s advice, I bashed up 3 teaspoons of coriander seeds and 2 of fennel seed, rubbed just over half into the crackling, which I had to score with a craft knife because I didn’t feel up to sharpening any of the kitchen knives, and put the rest of the seeds in the bottom of the roasting tray, laid the pork on top, and put it into a really hot oven for 30 mins to get the crackling going and the meat cooking. Once the ‘sizzle’ was over, I turned the oven temperature down to 180 for the rest of the cooking time. Hugh’s recipe says this will be 1.5 hrs, but I’m not so sure I can wait that long – it smells so good. We’re having mash and chard from the garden , along with 6 asparagus spears that have pushed up while we’ve been away. How exciting!

There isn't a picture of the asparagus yet because it's still in the ground waiting for literally the last moment when the Husband will leap out, cut the spears and race back to the kitchen for maximum freshness...

Rhubarb and Ginger crumble

For the pudding, I’ve used 800g of rhubarb, which I sliced up into chunks, and mixed in a baking dish with the juice of nearly a whole orange and a tablespoon or so of soft brown sugar.

I covered this with foil and bunged it in the oven with the pork for 20 mins, just to get the rhubarb going. I don’t always pre-cook the fruit when I make crumble, but I think you need to with rhubarb. Once I’d done that pre-cook, I added in a thinly sliced ball of stem ginger and stirred that in with the rhubarb. The ginger was a bit of an afterthought but we’re all a little cold, and ginger is very comforting. For the crumble topping, I used 110g oats, 110g plain flour, 100g soft brown sugar and 75g of unsalted butter rubbed in. It’s already cooked, because experience has taught me that if I serve crumble straight from the oven, at least one of us will be unable to wait till it’s cooled down enough, and give ourselves third degree burns in the process.

So there you have it – comfort food for a slightly dreary and hungover May Sunday. If anyone’s got any veggie hangover cures, I’d be pleased to try them out!

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Spanish style Pork one-pot & a poncey ingredient alert

Last night was ‘meat night’. I was never intending to get to this point when I picked up Veg Everyday and the various other veggie tomes that I have been dipping into, but more often than not now, I am choosing not to cook with meat. It’s made a difference to our shopping bill, certainly, and I like to think we are healthier for it.

But we are not vegetarian – and I don’t think I could ever choose that label.  I’m not ready to give up a bacon sandwich with a cup of coffee while we’re camping, a delicious steak (and I like mine rare), roasts, BBQs. No, I couldn’t give up meat, but we’re certainly eating less of it.

On the whole, the Husband and the kids have adapted fairly well, but when it became apparent that there was meat on the menu last night, there was all round rejoicing. Even the fact that rice was involved didn’t deter Blue, who’s not fond of rice. The dish is based on a recipe of Paul Rankin’s that I found in an old Good Food mag (May 2006). I couldn’t find a link to the original recipe for you, so you’ll have to suffer my version. It was very quick and easy and got the thumbs up all round. It was billed in the magazine as a ‘speedy after work supper’. It was really quick to put together, and meant that I could do the chopping when I got in from picking the kids up from school – with assistance from Blue who chopped the olives for me, and then do the frying off and get the casserole in the oven before I went to pick Pink up from ballet. Then, in a jolly family scene, the Husband arrived home at the same time as we got back from ballet, the supper was ready, and we all sat down and ate tea together. Really. There was even pudding in the form of left over cake from Pink’s birthday party.

Family harmony and pudding to boot - I love it when a plan comes together.

Recipe Junkie’s Spanish Style Pork One-pot

Ingredients: 800g lean, boneless pork, diced or in strips, olive oil, 1 red onion chopped, 1 or 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped, 2 red peppers, deseeded and chopped, 1-2 tsp smoked paprika, 175 g long grain rice, 300ml veg stock or water, 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, pitted green olives*, halved   2 slices preserved lemon**, finely chopped for garnish (optional)

*I used the remains of a jar I had in the fridge. The original recipe said 280g jar of artichoke hearts in oil, drained and quartered, but mine aren’t keen on artichoke hearts (damn them!) and the olives needed using up

**poncy ingredient alert - my French friends bought me a selection of delicious goodies when they came to stay a few weeks ago, including a jar of ‘confit citroens’. The Husband and I once tried to make preserved lemons following a Jamie Oliver recipe. They were rubbish, but I knew that done properly they would taste lush – and they did...)

Method: Chop up all the ingredients that need chopping, then about 45 mins before you want to eat, turn on the oven (180c, 160c fan). Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large oven proof casserole (one which has a lid) and brown the pork pieces all over on a high heat. Add the onions, garlic, peppers and smoked paprika and cook for 5 mins, stirring occasionally. Add the rice, stir in and cook for another 2-3 minutes, then pour in the stock, the can of chopped tomatoes and the olives, bring it all up to the boil, then put the lid on pop in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

I served it with a bag of watercress spinach and rocket salad, and it went down very well. The kids and I both liked the addition of the lemon, the Husband less so. You could also have garnished with chopped parsley – I would have done except my trusty trough full outside the kitchen window all bolted and the Husband pulled it all up and planted radishes instead – so watch out for radish recipes coming soon...

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The Inaugural post of the Sam Barnes Google Recipe Challenge - Purple Sprouting Broccoli

The Husband and I went out for a quiet drink and a curry on Friday night. It’s hopeless trying to go out for a quiet drink where we live because there’s always someone else in the pub trying to have a quiet (or not so quiet) drink. We bumped into some friends, including Sam, who, I’m sure she won’t mind me saying, is utterly fabulous. She’s a great artist, she did the drawings on my blog, and her stuff is really worth checking out.  Alcohol had been consumed, and amidst the general chatter she announced: “I think you should do a Google thing. You know, see what you’ve got left in the fridge, type it in to Google and see what it comes up with. It’d be great. The weirder the better!”

“Fantastic! Yes! Chilli pickled rhubarb with polenta!” The Husband and I nearly didn’t make it to the curry house...

Anyway, never let it be said that I shy away from a challenge and use the excuse that I was drunk. Let me present:

The Sam Barnes Google Recipe Challenge: Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Tonight was a good night to do this, as the kids were fed elsewhere and instead of planning a sumptuous grown up feast for 2, it was looking otherwise like beans on toast. On inspection, the fridge contained an over-optimistic amount of purple sprouting broccoli, starting to look more than a little sad. In the interests of using the challenge to use up more of the left over bits and pieces, further delving produced some new potatoes, half a red onion and half a jar of anchovies in olive oil. I googled ‘purple sprouting broccoli’ and came up with this recipe from the Daily Telegraph. Almost a perfect fit. The fridge did not magically produce quails eggs, but the chickens have been co-operating, despite me clipping their wings yesterday, so we had:

New potato, red onion and p.s.b. salad with anchovy cream and poached eggs – serves 2 as a main course

½ red onion, finely sliced, 300g new potatoes, 250g purple sprouting broccoli, any woody bits trimmed, Juice of ½ lemon

55g anchovies in olive oil, 1 clove of garlic, 55g pine nuts, olive oil, Juice of ½ lemon

Make the cream: put the anchovies and oil, the garlic and pine nuts into the small bowl of a food processor and whizz together. Add the lemon juice and pour in a couple of glugs of olive oil in a steady stream while whizzing, till you get a smooth-ish, thick-ish puree. Taste and add more lemon if necessary.

Make the salad: heat a glug of olive oil in a pan and gently cook the onions until they are soft. Boil the potatoes until cooked and steam the broccoli till tender. You should be able to steam the broccoli over the potatoes for the last 4-5 mins of the potato cooking time. Put the onions, potatoes and broccoli in a bowl, and toss with a tablespoon of lemon juice, and salt and pepper and set aside while you poach the eggs. Do you need me to tell you how to poach eggs? I’ll leave that to Delia.

Pile the salad onto 2 plates, drizzle with some of the anchovy cream (although don’t overdo it – serve the rest of the sauce on the side in a jug – anything left would taste gorgeous stirred into pasta – which is what I’m planning to do for lunch tomorrow!) and place a poached egg on top of each pile of salad.

Consume.

It was delicious.

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That's why you'll aways find me in the kitchen at parties...

At one stage on Saturday afternoon, my (as yet, child-free) youngest brother looked into our playroom and announced that the sight of approximately 35 18 month-11 year old children watching Tangled and sugar-loading on lemon drizzle cake and Fruit Shoots was ‘his worst nightmare’. I had to correct him and advise that his worst nightmare would in fact be when the TV went off, but the reason why I mention this is that we have a reasonable-size cottage (small rooms, low ceilings etc), and I had somehow managed to invite approximately 120 (give or take) people for my birthday party – probably half and half adults & children (again, give or take). There were children in the playroom, children playing football, children at the park over the road (with responsible older child – thanks Rowan!), children hiding out in the bedrooms and the cooler ‘children’ making the best of our ipod selection (Massive Attack and some old Ministry of Sound Ibiza albums were about the best they could come up with) in our sitting room.

I always find some welly boots add a certain je ne sais quoi...

On the other hand, us adults – all 60 or so of us were crammed into an area approximately 4m by 12m, made up of our dining room and decking – with the French doors open (for ease of access between the cakes and the fizz) and a gazebo keeping off the (thankfully infrequent) showers. Ok, so it wasn’t the kitchen, but in that fine tradition, we had all crammed ourselves into the smallest space possible. Believe it or not, the sun shone for most of the time, the bunting fluttered in the breeze, and if I do say so myself, I think it went rather well. A bit like a wedding without the commitment bit. My lovely, lovely Husband did a fab job with the fizz, Allotment Junkie, my brother and his wife, and my school friends were wonderful doing tea and topping things up and everyone was WONDERFUL. I have amazing friends and family - all of you - and I had a ball. Bring on 50 that's all I can say.

In case you were interested, this is what we catered – and ended up with literally one small plate consisting of 1 pumpkin cupcake, a few slices of fruit bread and 3 pieces of chocolate and walnut brownie – pretty good going, given that on Saturday morning I was worried that I didn’t have enough, and then just before everyone arrived, I was worried that there was far, far too much...

I decided that we ought to have a little savoury in the unlikely event of there being anyone there who didn’t like cake (I know, I know, but I do like to cover all eventualities, however unlikely), so:

4 loaves of bread made into smoked salmon sandwiches (used 450g of smoked salmon) and cucumber sandwiches (2 cucumbers) (thanks Hugh and Natalie)

750g puff pastry made into marmite and cheese swirls, raspberry jam and cheese swirls and ham mustard and cheese swirls (see below).

And now, the important stuff:

40 bottles of fizz (30 of prosecco, 10 of various - by that stage, I’m not sure anyone was really worried- brought by lovely guests)

mmmmmmmmm....

70 mini chocolate éclairs and 2 trays of ginger shortbread (thanks, Allotment Junkie)

60 cupcakes (various flavours) (thanks Catherine, Emmie, Kathryn, Louise and Ruth)

1 tray of exceptionally scrummy peanut and Crunchie rocky road type thing (thanks Louise)

1 fruit loaf (thanks, Rachel)

2 trays of lemon drizzle traybake, 2 of raspberry bakewell slice, 1 of chocolate and walnut brownie

30 florentines – an afterthought, but I’ve been desperate to bake them ever since I saw a Nigella recipe for them in Domestic Goddess, and first thing on Saturday morning before anyone else was up seemed like a good time as any...

80 teabags (yes, we did actually drink tea... then more fizz)

I didn’t take any  specific pics, but they're on the green plate on the right of the table, and in the interests of providing a recipe in this post, here’s what I did for the savoury swirls (with thanks to Sarah P, who gave me the idea ages ago):

Take 250g puff pastry, roll into a rectangle if not already rolled. Spread with e.g. Dijon mustard, top with chopped ham and grated cheddar, roll up long the long side, slice into rounds, approx 1 cm thick for dainty, 2 cm for chunky, place rounds on a greased baking sheet, whack into pre-heated oven (200⁰C fan)  for 15-20 mins till golden – job done. You can make these with almost anything – marmite and cheddar – good for kids’ parties - pesto and parmesan, tapenade (I nearly did this, but my French friends had bought me some particularly delicious tapenade as a gift and I was feeling selfish...), sundried tomato paste and mozzarella...

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