Cogitated and Deliberated Reading

Just a short one folks to let you know that Masterchef have produced a book with 250 recipes from the show in, and yours truly has his stuffed chicken and pan haggerty in there. Oh the dizzy heights...

Anyway, if you fancy trying out some recipes from the years of red faced contestants including me and the lovely Hannah, you can get it from the usual outlets.

Reading does not get tougher than this.

Life begins

Happy belated 2010 readers.

2010 brought a milestone to yours truly's door on 1st January when the grand old age of 40 was reached. And looking at my tired, overindulged face and frame on that morning I certainly knew the day had arrived. Time to put things straight at the risk of another broken resolution, or just carry on as normal?

The new year is always a time of false starts and bruised beginnings and I for one am guilty of many a resolution that has failed to stand the test of time. And this year I've decided to skip it completely and carry on as normal. Why? Because I'm happy. Simple as.

One 'change' I will be making on the food front though is to consume more food from South East Asia. It is quickly becoming my favourite world cuisine by far, even surpassing my love of British puds and meaty casseroles. I adore the simplicity of the food that covers this vast continent that amazingly packs in so much flavour. Always hot, sometimes sour, usually salty with a little bit of sweet. It shakes you up from taste buds to toes and makes you feel happy to be alive. 40 or not 40.

This is one of those recipes that can be tweaked according to what vegetables that you have in your fridge along with any leftover meat for a weekend supper to please all. As in this recipe, crunchy cabbage and a piece of fish keep it light, fresh and wholesome. Add the heat of the chilli after serving to your little ones and it becomes family friendly.

Asian Cabbage and Fish Noodles
Feeds 4

1 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
1 tbsp onion seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 onion, finely chopped
1 thumb size of ginger, grated
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced finely
Half a large cabbage, sliced thinly
100ml water
2 fillets of salmon, sliced thin
A portion of cooked noodles
1 tbsp fish sauce (optional)
Milk of one coconut or 100ml coconut milk
Half a coconut, finely grated
Juice of 1 lime
A handful of fresh coriander

1 - Heat the oil in a wok and add the cumin and onion seeds. Cook for 1 minute until they crackle then add the onion, ginger, garlic and chilli. Stir fry for 2 minutes until softened.
2 - Add the cabbage and water, stir thoroughly, bring to the boil and place a lid onto the wok. Steam for 5 minutes until the cabbage has slightly softened.
3 - Remove the lid and stir in the salmon. Cook for 2 minutes then stir in the noodles, fish sauce, coconut milk, fresh coconut, lime juice and coriander. Heat through. Taste for seasoning - you want a nice blend of heat, salt and sourness from the lime.
4 - Serve in bowls with more fresh coconut, coriander and lime wedges.

Turkey Lurkey

The holiday season is finally upon us and with three days to go it is time to start finalising shopping lists and beginning to prep for the feast.

I'm often asked what meat we have as a family on Christmas Day. The turkey has become the traditional bird to be eaten at Yuletide in the UK. Many years ago it was the goose with all of its rich dark meat and perfect roast potato making fat. The turkey was introduced to our shores from the Americas and due to its large yield in meat and value for money it fast took over the goose as the bird of choice.

It is worth having a change now and again and most game, such as pheasant and grouse, is more than suitable for the Christmas table. Duck and a top quality chicken or even a decent piece of beef are great replacements but this year I’m going for the good old turkey. With a superb supplier of the famous Kelly Bronze just down the road from where I live it would be foolish to not go for this great bird.

The turkey does have a reputation for being dry. There are so many different tips and techniques for supposedly keeping the bird moist but my foolproof technique is simple and non-fussy. The majority of the fat is on its back so roasting the bird at the same temperature on breast down should guarantee succulent meat. A traditional stuffing containing a little sausage meat, wild mushrooms and the turkey liver will add moistness to the bird.

Merry Christmas everybody and best of for 2010. x

Traditional Roast Turkey with Chestnut and Wild Mushroom and Oat Stuffing
Serves 8

1 quality oven ready turkey weighing approximately 6kg
1 onion, peeled
Salt and pepper

For the stuffing
1 tbsp olive oil
25g butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
150g wild mushrooms, finely chopped
A handful of fresh thyme, leaves stripped from the stalks and finely chopped
The liver of the turkey, finely chopped
300g prepared chestnuts, finely chopped
150g pork sausage meat
1 egg
100g oats
Nutmeg
Salt and pepper

1 – Ensure your turkey has sat at room temperature for 2 hours before cooking. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/GM4.
2 – To make the stuffing, heat the oil and butter in a frying pan. Add the shallot, mushrooms and thyme and sweat for 5-10 minutes until the water has evaporated from the mushrooms.
3 – Tip into a mixing bowl then combine with the remaining ingredients, seasoning with a little grating of nutmeg and salt and pepper. If the mixture looks too wet, stir in a little more oats a handful at a time until it stiffens.
4 – Stuff the neck of the turkey with the stuffing by loosening the skin around the neck and pushing the stuffing up towards the breast. Secure the skin with a couple of cocktail sticks or a skewer.
5 – Season the turkey all over with salt and pepper and place the onion into the cavity. Place breast side down in a roasting tin.
6 – Cook the turkey for the allotted cooking time (2 hours for a 4kg bird, adding 15 minutes per kg) turning the turkey breast side up for the final 30 minutes to crisp up the skin. To be on the safe side, buy a good meat thermometer and check the thighs of the bird for the correct temperature as per the thermometer.
7 – Remove from the oven and rest for 30-45 minutes. To make a simple gravy, skim off the excess fat from the roasting juices and add a glass of white wine. Bring to the boil and taste for seasoning.

Following Yonder Star

Is it just me or is time flying by faster than ever? It seems like only a few months since last Christmas. The cupboard is now teetering with gifts that Santa has kindly left for us there, the cake is maturing in the cupboard, the turkey is ordered and the Stilton takes up a large part of our fridge. So it's a good job I love this time of the year.

What I love about Christmas is it is the one time of the year that we can indulge with a great excuse. It is refreshing that in this current world of 'celebrity' chefs, as well as health 'experts' who claim to know it all on our televisions telling us what we are doing wrong with our bodies, we can gorge to our hearts content without being tutted at.

I for one will be pigging out as usual and facing the consequences in the New Year when sensibility returns. It has already started if truth be known and at the weekend it was time for the nipper and I to get the pots and pans out and begin making jams, chutneys and edible decorations for the tree including Marron Glace and sugar almonds.

Some little orange and spice biscuits, thickly covered in chocolate and decorated with silver balls, now speckle our modest tree and make for a tempting treat each time you see it. Like anything edible sitting around the house, the difficult part is not eating them too early. But I reckon you could be forgiven for this. After all, it is Christmas. Go on, just the one...

Spiced Orange and Chocolate Stars
Makes lots

125g plain flour
50g rolled oats
125g butter or margarine
75g caster sugar
A pinch of baking powder
Zest and juice of one orange
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
A pinch of fresh nutmeg
100g dark chocolate
100g milk chocolate

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 180C/GM4.
2 - Tip the flour, oats, sugar, spice and orange zest into a large bowl.
3 - Melt the butter in a pan then stir into the dry ingredients thoroughly along with the orange juice. If it seems too sticky add a little more flour but you want a very soft dough.
3 - Roll out the dough until approximately 1cm thick. Using a star shaped biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits and place onto a greased baking tray.
4 - Bake on a high shelf for 8-10 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown and slightly risen.
5 - Cool on a wire rack.
6 - Melt the chocolates in an ovenproof bowl in the oven. Stir thoroughly with more zest of orange. Using two forks, gently toss each biscuit into the melted chocolate then drain on a wire rack until dry.
7 - Cover each biscuit in foil. Thread the biscuits with a needle and thread, form loops and decorate your tree.

Adding the Pounds

Each year around this time in the calendar we have approached that most sacred of tasks of making the Christmas cake. And each year I post about it.

I'm a sucker for a good fruit cake. Whether with tea, coffee or something a bit stronger, it almost seems like the healthy option of the cake world and I fool myself that I can have huge slabs of it without any poundage being added to the waistline. The Christmas cake however can sometimes be a step too far for the cake lover, often being accused of being too rich, too heavy or too boozy.

Some years back I tweaked around with a recipe to come up with something that would suit the whole family: rich, but rich with succulent fruit; heavy, but heavy with mysterious spice, orange and cocoa; boozy, but boozy enough to just give you a hint of sharp brandy or whisky.

We all stir it, we all prod it, we all lick the spoon. And this year we went all traditional and threw in 3 silver coins. If my slice puts that pound back in my pocket I would still swap it for another slice. Thank the heavens that Christmas is almost here...

The Best Christmas Cake

200g dark muscovado sugar
100g honey
250g butter
100g each of raisins, currants, sultanas, dried figs and dried prunes, roughly chopped
1 espresso cup of coffee
A large splash of brandy or whisky
Tablespoon of mixed spice
Zest and juice of an orange or 2 satsuma, tangerines or clementine
1 tbsp of cocoa powder
3 large eggs
100g plain flour, sifted
150g ground almonds
Teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda
Salt

1 - Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C, GM3. Grease and line a 22cm spring form cake tin.
2 - Melt the butter and sugars in a large pan then add the fruit, coffee, brandy or whisky, spice and honey. Zest and juice the oranges and add along with the cocoa powder. Stir until dark, caramelised and fragrant.
3 - Beat the eggs and add to the mixture along with the flour, ground almonds, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt. Fold in thoroughly until not a trace of flour is left.
4 - Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake on the middle shelf for 2 hours. If the top looks like it is catching, cover with baking paper.

A Whole Lot of Toad

Toad in the hole. It's a recipe that most Brits have all eaten but probably have no idea where the name comes from. Don't ask me - I haven't got a clue.

If I had to guess, I would suggest that the image of a sausage poking its head out of crisped batter probably resembles a toad sticking its head out of a hole. After a few beers that is. Like I say, who cares? It is delicious, warming and comforting and that is what's important here.

Toad in the hole is a recipe I want to see in more restaurants at this time of the year, alongside shepherds' pie, steak and kidney pudding and chicken and leek pie. I've no ideas why more chefs are reluctant to put such fabulous food on their menus but it probably comes down to the image. Comforting British food such as these dishes seems so appropriate during the colder months and of course we make the best comfort food in the world. Don't we?

This is a simple family favourite that is ace for those cold midweek nights when the soul and tummy need cheering up. Serve with mash, greens and lots of onion gravy. Right now.

Toad in the Hole
Feeds 4

250g plain flour
A pinch of salt and pepper
3 eggs, beaten
500ml milk
3 tbsp sunflower oil
500g quality sausages

1 - Pre-heat the oven to 220C/GM7.
2 - Put the oil into a roasting tin and place into the oven. When the oil is hot, add the sausages and bake for 5 minutes, turning every now and again until beginning to brown.
3 - Put the flour, salt and pepper into a large bowl. Make a well and add the beaten eggs. Begin to whisk in the milk until the batter has the consistency of double cream.
4 - Remove the roasting tin from the oven then pour the batter in and over the sausages. Place back onto a high shelf and bake for 30-40 minutes until the batter is risen, golden and crunchy.

Curry in a Not So Hurry

As the cold nights set in and we don ever thicker socks and silly winter hats, we turn our thoughts to sustaining food that fills stomachs and warms the soul. Rich stews and broths, packed with chunky vegetables and barley, pulses and meat that melts in the mouth and fat dumplings to fill up any missed corners of the tummy.

I've embraced my slow cooker like an old friend this past few weeks. They are ideal for the busy household at this time of the year and they need not cost the earth. Mine was £7 and it does exactly what I want it to do.

I've perfected the art of the busy man getting tea ready at 7am. No softening of onions and garlic, no sealing of meat. I literally 'plonk' everything into the chamber, set it to the lowest heating and go to work. When I arrive home the house is filled with the aromas of something that you just know will do the job.

We have all had the sniffles of late (who hasn't?) and I always find that an onion, garlic and ginger packed curry of some form is a great antidote. And amazingly, all that pre-frying of onions and toasting of spices seems to have been an unnecessary 'cheffy' thing to do as the slow cooker way appears to work every time, making it a healthier option too. If you don't believe me, give this one a go and tell me if it didn't work. It is utterly delicious, fuss free and an absolute winner for the busy family.

Slow Cooker Pork Curry
Feeds 4

4 pork leg steaks
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 thumb of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cinnamon
Half tsp chilli powder
1 whole dried chilli (optional for heat)
1 tbsp ground coriander
3 cardamon pods, whole
3 cloves
2 bay leaves
1 tin chopped tomatoes
100ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 tbsp tomato puree
Salt and pepper

1 - Cut the pork steaks into large chunks.
2 - Place everything, and I mean everything, into the chamber of your slow cooker. Give it a good stir until thoroughly combined.
3 - Put it onto the low setting (6-8 hours cooking time). Let it cook.
4 - When cooked, taste for seasoning. Serve with boiled rice and fresh coriander.

Fright Night

Hallow’s Eve is almost here and little ones up and down the land are getting excited at the prospect of free food in exchange for a fright.

Like any annual event in the calendar it is a great opportunity to have a party and as it is a child friendly time, they can get involved with the making as well as the eating. This year we will be making home made spooky pizza faces, wormy bug pasta and ghoulishly green apple and avocado smoothies.

The Americans are the masters of Halloween celebrations and they have used the pumpkin - something we usually simply carve out then throw onto the rubbish tip - to its full potential in a whole range of delicious pumpkin related recipes, including desserts. Pumpkin pie is a fabulous concoction of pureed pumpkin, sugar, cream and eggs and if you can get your head around the fact that there is a vegetable in the mix you will love it.

I like to use molasses packed sticky black treacle in mine, and they can be made into individual ‘pies’ for little hands by using mini pudding moulds such as in this recipe or jam tart cases. They are seasonal, delicious and frightfully fantastic. Happy Halloween kids.

Witches' Cauldrons
(Mini pumpkin and black treacle pies)

One pack of short crust pastry
500g peeled and chopped pumpkin
300ml double cream
100g muscovado sugar
3 eggs, beaten
3 tbsp black treacle
½ tsp ground cinnamon
A little ground nutmeg
1 tsp ginger


1 - Pre-heat the oven to 180C/GM4. Roll out the pastry then portion and line some mini pudding moulds leaving the edges overlapped. Put into the fridge to rest.
2 - Bring a pan of water to the boil then cook the chopped pumpkin until tender. Blend to a puree.
3 - Pour the cream into a pan then add the sugar and spices then heat up to just under boiling point.
4 - Pour in the eggs and whisk well, then add the black treacle. Stir in the pumpkin puree and pour into the pudding moulds.
5 - Bake for 25-30 minutes or until just set.

Titus Bramble

Autumn is well and truly here and you don’t have to look too hard around the hedgerows of the United Kingdom at this time of the year to find some free food.

It is such a great season for getting out with your children and doing a bit of food detective work. Plums, apples, pears and brambles are just some of the delicious fruit we have been plucking recently.

Brambles are a big favourite of my daughter. We make a day of it by donning protective gloves and collecting a few plastic bowls full before returning home to cook a multitude of dishes, from bramble pies, crumbles, jams and ice creams to sticky sauces for rich meats.

It’s free, fun and delicious, therefore making it priceless for the whole family.

Bramble Ripple Ice Cream

300g brambles
2 tbsp sugar
300ml double cream
200ml milk
4 egg yolks
100g sugar

1 – Put the brambles and sugar into a pan. Bring to the boil then cook gently for 5 minutes, crushing with a fork as you go. Allow to cool then push through a sieve and reserve the juice. 

2 – Put the cream and milk into a pan and bring to just under the boil.
3 – Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl then pour in the hot cream and milk. Stir then return to the pan on the heat, stirring all of the time. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon and cook on a low heat. The custard is ready once you can wipe a finger across the wooden spoon without the custard running.
4 – Allow to cool then pour into an airtight container and place into the freezer. Check every hour and stir with a fork to distribute the crystals. This can all be done in an ice cream maker of course.
5 – Once the ice cream is almost frozen but still loose enough to stir a fork through, pour over the bramble juice and lightly fold through. Return to the freezer to freeze through.
6 – Serve with fresh brambles and optional meringues.

Take It Berry Sloely

Last week's wild fruit horde was sweeter than ever for the simple reason that we brought home a huge amount of that acrid berry, the sloe.

Sloes are only really good for one thing and that is plonked in a jar or a bottle with a load of sugar and alcohol. In the raw form a bitten sloe can make even the most beautiful of faces turn inwards and cause children to run screaming. However, a long soak in sugar and booze and the true qualities show, permeating gin or vodka with unique floral flavour and smells making the risk of a nasty cut from its spiky home in the blackthorn bush all worthwhile.

I now wait patiently as the sloes sit in a demijohn in the garage doing what they do best. 3 months should do it but if you can resist it, the longer the marinade the better the flavour and a more intense, purple colour.

Sloe Gin
(Multiply the ingredients depending on your pickings)

1kg sloes
500g caster sugar
2 litres gin

1 - Wash and pick your sloes. Now the bit that causes debate. Do you spend an age pricking each berry to allow the juices to flow or do you freeze then thaw allowing the skin to burst naturally? It is up to you, but I bashed mine in a pestle and mortar and will sieve carefully when it comes to bottling.
2 - Pile into a sterilised demijohn or large clean bottles. Pour in the sugar and gin, seal tightly, shake well and place in a cool dark place. Give it a shake every week.
3 - After a minimum of 3 months, pour through a muslin cloth into clean sterilised bottles and it is ready to drink, however the longer you leave it the better it will get.