After a long absence (Please Don't Kiss The Cook has been hitting up London!), we're back with a quick but nevertheless wonderful lunch-or-snack-time treat based on puff pastry, which, although a devil to make, is the easiest thing in the world to buy at your local supermarket and doesn't suffer too much from the 'non-homemade' stigma.
This recipe is not only delicious, but benefits from a great deal of flexibility - you can change it up from day to day, making it a fantastic way to keep your lunchtimes varied. The method below is the version I made recently, but I'll give you a few ideas for variations as well.
Ingredients
A dusting of flour
Puff pastry - about a quarter of a standard 'Jusroll' pack
Tomato puree - about a teaspoonful
A red onion, finely sliced
One garlic clove, crushed
A small, ripe tomato, sliced
About 25-50g of the cheese of your choice (I used Taleggio, which may smell like feet but tastes delicious)
A tiny bit of butter or egg wash
Basil to finish (optional, and not with the Taleggio I think)
Method
Preheat your oven to 200 C. Dusting the table and your hands with flour first, roll or press out the puff pastry to about half a centimetre thick, or until it's around 20cm long and 10 thick. Make sure you keep it reasonably well-floured or it'll stick. You can also buy it ready-rolled if you like. At the same time, sweat the onions and garlic in a small frying pan and allow them to begin to turn golden at the edges.
Now lay your pastry flat and cover with the tomato puree, leaving an edge of at least one centimetre all around. Top with the onion, tomato, and cheese. Wash the pastry edges with a little melted butter or egg. Bake for 10-15 minutes in a hot oven until the pastry has risen and turned golden brown, and the cheese is bubbling. Finish with chopped basil if using. Delicious hot or cold, and lovely with a salad.
Some Variations
You can see how easy the basic method here would be to vary - it's sort of a high-class pizza, and enjoys the same breadth of variation. Just don't insult it with plain tomato puree and cheddar cheese. It's worth more.
Here are a couple of ideas:
Goat's cheese: Cut out the tomato and tomato puree, and use caramelised onions instead of plain red onion. Replace the taleggio with goat's cheese. Top with a little chopped thyme, and serve with a cherry tomato salad.
A fresher option: Leave the tomato and half of the cheese out of the basic recipe (use cheddar or similar, not blue cheese here), and top the finished tartlet with fresh ripe tomatoes, chopped and tossed with torn basil, balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and a sprinkling of torn-up fresh mozzarella.
Salad-on-a-pastry-plate: Use olive oil, rosemary and crushed garlic instead of the puree, and leave out the rest. Bake like this, then top with lightly dressed rocket salad, cherry tomatos, slices of cured beef (bresaola), and shavings of really good quality grana padano.
Meatier Munch: Sprinkle with some crispy-fried pancetta or some thin slices of cooked chicken before topping with the cheese and baking.
Experimenting with herbs: It's definitely not just basil you can involve here. Some chopped parsley rarely goes amiss for a garnish, a bit of tarragon would be lovely with the tomatoes (you could even sprinkle a tiny bit of tarragon vinegar on before the cheese), thyme or rosemary are both an option. Go wild.
Puddin': Why not? Puff pastry is just as much a dessert as a savoury taste. Try strawberries, honey and a dash of lemon juice to bake, with a dollop of creme fraiche to finish. Or, even naughtier, some very good quality dark chocolate and a generous sprinkling of chopped nuts. Eat sparingly!
So there you are, food fans. Fun with puff pastry. Incidentally, smaller versions of this recipe can make a nice canape idea, as the pastry base makes them easy to grab with a drink in the other hand. Just be sure to make them bitesize!
Tuesday 29 March 2011
Saturday 12 March 2011
Creamy Spinach and Smoky Pancetta Soup
A simple and delicious soup (if I do say so myself). Dad always has soup for lunch, and a couple of days ago - shock! - we had run out of the usual 'Covent Garden' style stuff. Well, no worries, because it's not too hard to knock up a soup from a reasonably stocked fridge. Ours wasn't bulging, but it did contain some spinach and industrial quantites of smoked pancetta. Bingo.
Your basic soup method is pretty consistent. Cook all the meat/vegetables, involved, add some sort of liquid, usually stock and perhaps some cream or creme fraiche, simmer, liquidise, and (if necessary) strain. Exceptions are things like broths and chowders, which need a very good quality stock and are not liquidised. But for the minute our focus is on the classic 'vegetable soup with some sneaky meat involved'. This, incidentally, is not what the French call it.
Without too much fuss, then, we'll get on to recipes. The only other thing to bear in mind is that in this recipe the bulk of the spinach - which is to say the stringy bits - is sieved out before the end, so there will be less soup than you'd think.
Ingredients
(for 2)
Knob of butter
50g smoked pancetta (or use smoked streaky bacon)
Large bunch fresh spinach (one supermarket bag, or equivalent. Use frozen if you need to, but please defrost and thoroughly drain first, and bear in mind cooking time will be reduced)
Glass of white wine
200ml chicken stock, or more if necessary
50-100ml of cream or creme fraiche, depending on your calorie wants!
Salt, pepper
Generous grating of nutmeg
Method
Simple. Melt your butter in a medium pan and cook the pancetta until golden brown/crispy. Add the spinach and the white wine, and cook until the spinach has wilted. Add the warm stock.
Liquidise by whatever means available and strain thoroughly (you have to be tough with it. Knock it about a bit with a spoon).
Return to the pan and stir in the cream or creme fraiche. Season to your taste. Incidentally, nutmeg is always a winner with spinach - if you're serving it as a vegetable side dish, a grating of nutmeg on top brings out a whole new range of flavours.
This is a lovely soup, almost game-y in its combination of earthy spinach and smokey pancetta. Even if you're not the biggest spinach fan, I do urge you to give this a try.
Your basic soup method is pretty consistent. Cook all the meat/vegetables, involved, add some sort of liquid, usually stock and perhaps some cream or creme fraiche, simmer, liquidise, and (if necessary) strain. Exceptions are things like broths and chowders, which need a very good quality stock and are not liquidised. But for the minute our focus is on the classic 'vegetable soup with some sneaky meat involved'. This, incidentally, is not what the French call it.
Without too much fuss, then, we'll get on to recipes. The only other thing to bear in mind is that in this recipe the bulk of the spinach - which is to say the stringy bits - is sieved out before the end, so there will be less soup than you'd think.
Ingredients
(for 2)
Knob of butter
50g smoked pancetta (or use smoked streaky bacon)
Large bunch fresh spinach (one supermarket bag, or equivalent. Use frozen if you need to, but please defrost and thoroughly drain first, and bear in mind cooking time will be reduced)
Glass of white wine
200ml chicken stock, or more if necessary
50-100ml of cream or creme fraiche, depending on your calorie wants!
Salt, pepper
Generous grating of nutmeg
Method
Simple. Melt your butter in a medium pan and cook the pancetta until golden brown/crispy. Add the spinach and the white wine, and cook until the spinach has wilted. Add the warm stock.
Liquidise by whatever means available and strain thoroughly (you have to be tough with it. Knock it about a bit with a spoon).
Return to the pan and stir in the cream or creme fraiche. Season to your taste. Incidentally, nutmeg is always a winner with spinach - if you're serving it as a vegetable side dish, a grating of nutmeg on top brings out a whole new range of flavours.
This is a lovely soup, almost game-y in its combination of earthy spinach and smokey pancetta. Even if you're not the biggest spinach fan, I do urge you to give this a try.
Friday 11 March 2011
Kedgeree
Hello and welcome back, dear reader. I've had a few requests for a recipe for kedgeree, so I knocked some up last week and I'll give you my usual exciting and informative instructions below. Incidentally, if anyone else has a request for a recipe/something you would enjoy hearing me fail to cook, you can always leave a comment below or find me on Twitter @roseblackettord. I'm always open to suggestions.
On to some kedgeree chat.
Traditionally thought of as a breakfast dish, and especially as an element of that great old English institution, the Country House Breakfast, kedgeree also makes a great simple supper. Like the kipper, its days of regular early-morning appearances are, for the most part, a thing of the past; nevertheless, its creamy combination of rice and fish is not something that should be allowed to slip away into the mists of time. Hence, this recipe, along with the recommendation that you give kedgeree a chance on your supper table. One final added bonus? It's brilliant for using up leftover fish - one of those 'leftovers' recipes which gives the sad remains a whole new lease of life.
Ingredients
(for 3)
250g fish - almost any kind/combination. It should be cooked (cover with milk and water in a pan, bring to the boil then allow to cool). A combination of smoked/fresh often works well. Smoked salmon is nice too, and a few prawns won't go amiss.
100g rice - basmati or long-grained.
2 eggs - hardboiled (immerse in boiling water for 12-15 minutes, allow to cool) and shelled.
Double cream - 1/2 a small pot, c.70ml
Butter - a chunk
Chopped herbs - about 2 tbs altogether. Parsley and chives are good. Dill would work too. You can also substitute spring onion for chives.
Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper - pinch of each
Method
First of all, make sure the fish and eggs are all ready and cooked. Run the eggs under cold water to cool, then remove the shells and chop them into medium-sized chunks.
Cook the rice according to the instructions on your packet, then drain, run some cold water over it, and drain again. While the rice is cooking, make sure any skin and bones are removed from the fish and gently separate it into bitesize pieces.
Now for the quick putting-together bit, which you can normally do just before you eat. Melt the butter in a pan, and add the cream and chopped herbs. Leave over the heat. When it begins to bubble, add the fish, rice and egg and stir gently until all is evenly combined (try not to break up the chunks of fish too much if you can avoid it). Season to your own taste with the salt, pepper, and cayenne. Eat with green vegetables and hot buttered toast.
A lovely supper which can be pre-prepared and put together at the last minute. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.
On to some kedgeree chat.
Traditionally thought of as a breakfast dish, and especially as an element of that great old English institution, the Country House Breakfast, kedgeree also makes a great simple supper. Like the kipper, its days of regular early-morning appearances are, for the most part, a thing of the past; nevertheless, its creamy combination of rice and fish is not something that should be allowed to slip away into the mists of time. Hence, this recipe, along with the recommendation that you give kedgeree a chance on your supper table. One final added bonus? It's brilliant for using up leftover fish - one of those 'leftovers' recipes which gives the sad remains a whole new lease of life.
Ingredients
(for 3)
250g fish - almost any kind/combination. It should be cooked (cover with milk and water in a pan, bring to the boil then allow to cool). A combination of smoked/fresh often works well. Smoked salmon is nice too, and a few prawns won't go amiss.
100g rice - basmati or long-grained.
2 eggs - hardboiled (immerse in boiling water for 12-15 minutes, allow to cool) and shelled.
Double cream - 1/2 a small pot, c.70ml
Butter - a chunk
Chopped herbs - about 2 tbs altogether. Parsley and chives are good. Dill would work too. You can also substitute spring onion for chives.
Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper - pinch of each
Method
First of all, make sure the fish and eggs are all ready and cooked. Run the eggs under cold water to cool, then remove the shells and chop them into medium-sized chunks.
Cook the rice according to the instructions on your packet, then drain, run some cold water over it, and drain again. While the rice is cooking, make sure any skin and bones are removed from the fish and gently separate it into bitesize pieces.
Now for the quick putting-together bit, which you can normally do just before you eat. Melt the butter in a pan, and add the cream and chopped herbs. Leave over the heat. When it begins to bubble, add the fish, rice and egg and stir gently until all is evenly combined (try not to break up the chunks of fish too much if you can avoid it). Season to your own taste with the salt, pepper, and cayenne. Eat with green vegetables and hot buttered toast.
A lovely supper which can be pre-prepared and put together at the last minute. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.
Thursday 3 March 2011
Magical Banana Cake
I say 'magical', because this is the easiest piece of baking I have ever had the pleasure to undertake.
Let me just get on the record here and say that I. Absolutely. Love. Banana. Cake.
Seriously.
I very rarely get the chance to eat it, because its not something we tend to make at home. The two times I had it before today were once in Scotland after a long day's walking, when I felt like it warmed all my insides up at once; and once at tea with a friend when I'm pretty sure I ate at least half a whole cake. Scrummy. And today, well, I saw four slightly sad-looking bananas sitting on their own in a bowl, ostracised from the big fruit bowl where the oranges and apples and grapes all squatted looking snide (bananas in your fruit bowl make other fruit go bad faster). And I thought, what joy those bananas will bring to the world when I make them into CAKE.
There's something about the texture of a banana cake that just sets it apart. Not for you the slightly crumbly fluffiness of the average sponge. Your cake is heavy and moist - a word which is often reviled but which here means wonderful things. Your cake is solid and satisfying and easy to bake. Your cake quite possibly counts as one of your five fruit and vegetable portions a day.
Enough chatter. On to the recipe. Munch on this one with hot cup of tea in the middle of the afternoon and, as with the cookies, make sure you take your first bite when it's still warm from the oven.
Ingredients
(Makes one loaf-sized cake)
170g each of:
Caster or demerara sugar
Self-raising flour
Butter, cut into small chunks
2 bananas, cut into chunks
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence (NOT extract, as usual)
Method
Behold! The easiest baking method in the history of man. Ladies and gentlemen, if it wasn't for the hot oven and the blades, a five year old could do this standing on its head.
Grease a small cake tin or a standard-sized cake tin. Pre-heat your oven to 160 C.
Put all ingredients in your blender or food mixer. Mix/blend until totally combined and consistent (takes 5 mins or so). Put in cake tin. Put cake tin in oven. Wait one hour. Take out, cool, munch.
Boom. Banana cake. Do It Now.
Let me just get on the record here and say that I. Absolutely. Love. Banana. Cake.
Seriously.
I very rarely get the chance to eat it, because its not something we tend to make at home. The two times I had it before today were once in Scotland after a long day's walking, when I felt like it warmed all my insides up at once; and once at tea with a friend when I'm pretty sure I ate at least half a whole cake. Scrummy. And today, well, I saw four slightly sad-looking bananas sitting on their own in a bowl, ostracised from the big fruit bowl where the oranges and apples and grapes all squatted looking snide (bananas in your fruit bowl make other fruit go bad faster). And I thought, what joy those bananas will bring to the world when I make them into CAKE.
There's something about the texture of a banana cake that just sets it apart. Not for you the slightly crumbly fluffiness of the average sponge. Your cake is heavy and moist - a word which is often reviled but which here means wonderful things. Your cake is solid and satisfying and easy to bake. Your cake quite possibly counts as one of your five fruit and vegetable portions a day.
Enough chatter. On to the recipe. Munch on this one with hot cup of tea in the middle of the afternoon and, as with the cookies, make sure you take your first bite when it's still warm from the oven.
Ingredients
(Makes one loaf-sized cake)
170g each of:
Caster or demerara sugar
Self-raising flour
Butter, cut into small chunks
2 bananas, cut into chunks
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence (NOT extract, as usual)
Method
Behold! The easiest baking method in the history of man. Ladies and gentlemen, if it wasn't for the hot oven and the blades, a five year old could do this standing on its head.
Grease a small cake tin or a standard-sized cake tin. Pre-heat your oven to 160 C.
Put all ingredients in your blender or food mixer. Mix/blend until totally combined and consistent (takes 5 mins or so). Put in cake tin. Put cake tin in oven. Wait one hour. Take out, cool, munch.
Boom. Banana cake. Do It Now.
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