Food Fact of the Day

A new feature!


Food Fact of the Day:

~ The term 'Fool' as in 'Gooseberry Fool' comes from the french word 'fouler' ~ to crush.

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Many Thanks...

To Rosie, for recommending this new feature for my blog (I loved the idea)
And to Raylin, for buying me the perfect present- 'The Cooks Comparison', a think book, Edited by Jo Swinnerton

Dinner 28.04.10

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Plaice, mushroom and Bacon Parcels

Last night my housemates boyfriend cooked us dinner, and I took the role of assistant. (Yeah, I know!)
We also made a veggie version which was in no way inferior- butternut squash, Danish blue cheese (I would recommend Gorgonzola but crappy Asda never seems to stock it. For shame, Asda.) spinach and mushrooms.
It was really lovely- thankyou Jonny!!











I would also recommend~

Cod and pesto wrapped in filo pastry
Curried sweet potato pasties

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Valentine Warner's Mackerel Tataki- Tested by Aaron

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"I have a bit of a food crush on Valentine Warner at the moment and this mackerel recipe of his is to die for. Super fresh raw mackerel with ginger, spring onions, nori seaweed, sesame seeds, soy and lemon juice. So fresh and light."

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Karolina's Strawberry and Honey Porridge

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"I always mix oats with oat bran 50/50. Todays porridge I have cooked with milk and a pinch of cinnamon. In a bowl I added fresh strawberries (quartered) and about tablespoon of runny honey. I always bring organic Polish honey from home, because my stepdad's cousin is a bee keeper.

I bring good quality honey when coming back from Poland, because I know it comes from a good source and it is truly delicious. And it does not cost a fortune, like hanuka honey!"

- Karolina (www.sensesinthekitchen-karolina.blogspot.com)

Thankyou so much for your contribution! This definately sounds like one to try.
If you are as impressed by this porridge recipe too, check out her blogspot. Her recipes put mine to shame!

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Seabass

Sea Bass with New Season Vegetables.


"Really quick and simple. Two pan fried fillets of sea bass served on a bed of fresh, steamed new season vegetables. I love spring vegetables because the colours are so vibrant and you don't need to do much top them at all. The sauce is with roasted sweet peppers, passata, wild garlic and herbs simmered and reduced down to a gooey sticky sweetness. Delicious!"



- Contributed by Aaron. Thanks for yet another beautiful recipe :)

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Porridge of the Week #3

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Porridge of the Week #3

Porridge with apple juice, apricots and mixed seeds

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Category: Healthy

Replace your milk or water with apple juice. Soak some apricots in warm water, and then add to the porridge. Sprinkle with sultanas, cinammon and mixed seeds.

I've been given some recipes for some really great, decadant porridges, but following the absolute indulgence of Aaran's porridge two weeks ago, I feel its time for a healthy porridge. Apricots are great health foods, and the apple gives you an extra shot of vitamins.

... I promise it tastes good, too!

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Flageolet Beans.

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My current bean of choice is 'France's favourite bean'- the Flageolet.

Being relatively small, single and often eating alone (I couldn't have made that sound more tragic) I often find myself with left overs. Alongside people neglecting breakfast and bad grammar, this is one of my pet hates.

Waste not want not.

The way I often combat this is by cooking huge portions, esecially wtih casseroles and curries, and then freezing the leftovers for a later date. Another preferable technique is to take my leftovers and recycle them into something new that I haven't tried before. Some of my favourite recipes have been discovered this way!

Here is my week in Falgeolet beans (I'm amazed how far one tin can stretch...)


Monday: Flageolet and makerel salad with spinach leaves, spring onion, lemon pepper and grated courgette.

Tuesday: Flageolet Bean Bake, adapted from a bbcgoodfood.com recipe, flageolet beans baked in a creamy sauce of yoghurt, ground coriander, onion, garlic and the remains of the spinach with a crispy topping made from bread crumbs (I use up the negleted end pieces) grated cheese and grated brussel sprouts. I find ground coriander and plenty of garlic is the key to this recipe.

Wednesday: Flageolet and courgette pasta. I don't eat a lot of pasta, but I love the aesthetic of the coloured fuseli... Sooo, fuseli, mixed with a little leftover yoghurt, lemon juice, pepper, thick slices of courgette and roughly chopped sprouts and onion with fresh torn herbs.

I would love to try a cream flageolet bean and garlic soup, but I'm all out for now! Maybe I will be making that sometime soon...

Three key ingredients, three days, three recipes. Bam.

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Morrison's Magazine.

I got to admit, I wasn't expecting much when I picked it up the other day, but with some nice home made pesto recipes, and a double page spread on things to do with makerel (and some pretty interesting looking bits at that) I have to say, I was impressed.

Hats off to you, Morrison's.

Focus On: Shoreditch.

Shoreditch is one of my absolute favourite places. The art galleries, markets, street art, ethnic shops... Not to mention the Brick Lane Beigal Bake! Above all, it has the most amazing range of food, from the Sunday stalls in the Up Market on Brick Lane, to the bread and pastries on sale in Spittlefields market.
Here are a couple shots that I took whilst rushing about, hyperventilating...

You know where I should do next...?
Borough Market. Oh yes.

Hannah's Epic Salad.

Pork-y Superfood-y Salad-y Goodness
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• 1/2 pack m&s freerange stirfry pork
• 1 pack edamame, chickpea, adzuki & pea salad, with mint dressing
• Big-ass handful of spinach
• 1 pack asparagus (I very pretentiously had purple)
  
  "Spray a wee bit of oil in a medium-hot pan, add pork, coat in lots of paprika and some coriander/mango/chili mix if you so happen to have some!
  
  Cook for a few minutes, turning over.... Steam the asparagus and spinach for a few minutes, add spinach to pan of pork and mop up herbs and spices, put a lid on it so it sweats a bit.
  
  Plonk salad pot onto a plate, with dressing, put asparagus on top and dribble a little soy sauce and pepper over it,Add pork and spinach, bit more soy sauce.... MUNCH."
  
  Additional Notes:
  
  "I'm so full, and also full of love for the man that reduces things when I walk into m&s. Ommmm nom nom."
  
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  Thanks to Hannah for the very amusing, and epicly tasty sounding salad recipe. It has inspired me to get a little bit more salad in my life... So stay tuned!

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Natalie's Blueberry and Rhubarb Pie

"Remember lots of sugar!"

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Morning my Darlings!

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Good morning! I'm in such a good mood today. Breakfast can do that to me.
It is oft said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and this is something I firmly believe in. Nothing offends me more than people who skip breakfast (Apart from maybe bad grammar...)

My holy grail in life is to achieve the nutritionally perfect breakfast. I research all the contrasting theories surrounding the best things you should eat, and in what quantities- but that's a long long story for another today.

Today it was sunny, so I woke up feeling amazing anyway. This led to making celebration smoothie- banana and strawberry. I used the leftover to make smoothie porridge. Healthy, and good hot or cold! I must say I'm actually very taken with it chilled.

Whilst I'm on the topic of smoothies and porridge, let me recommend this for you-

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Breakfast Smoothie

Often in the summer I'm just not feeling the warm heaviness of porridge, even though I do love it. I like to get the same good porridge benefits but with an uber summer vibe by making a breakfast smoothie.

Simply blend yoghurt, soya milk (go on, live dangerously) with mixed oats and a bit of cereal- I find muesli is best, especially if you get one with nuts and lots of dried fruit.
Tip in a cup of frozen berries. Not only does this make it super fresh and cheap, its also much more economical! Blend it all up into a thick, cold, beautifully coloured mush in a food processor- it will have the consistency of textured sorbet.

Finally, top with some mixed fresh berries and crushed fruit and fibre. Just looking at it makes me feel as good as I do when I drink it.

Voila!

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Dinner 20.05.2010

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Makerel Salad
You know how I feel about makerel.
Celebrating the new summer weather with salads:
Peppered smoked makerel served with avacado, asparagus, beetroot, mixed seeds, etc., with a warm balsamic vinegar, oil and wholegrain mustard dressing.

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Today I have been mostly...

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Embracing my heritage.

And when I say embracing my heritage, I really mean prancing about the kitchen listening to Belle and Sebastian and making shortbread.

For some reason I have a compulsion to break out the jam everytime I make pastry... So there were a few inevitable cherry jam shortbreads thrown in the good measure.

The white glaze you see is a mixture of icing sugar, milk and vanilla essence and I actually like that even more than the shortbread...

I've also been feeling especially narcisistic, so there are more photos than may well be necassary, but if you're going to be as self indulgent as I am with my constant baking and blogging, you may as well do it properly.

Muffin Ideas!

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Emma and I have been brainstorming new muffin flavours to try. The possibilities are endless!!
A while back we made breakfast muffins and I really want to try capucchino muffins. (Decorated with mocha icing, and a chocolate coated coffee bean! Oh!)

Above all though I'm intruiged to try Pudding Muffins. These are muffins I plan to make based around classic pudding recipes, and ours are as follows:

Pudding Muffins Top 5:

Apple Crumble
Stewed apple, with cinammon and nutmeg. The 'crumble' would be made by adding oats and granola. Topped with plenty of brown sugar!

Sticky Toffee Pudding
Dates and toffee pieces with a sticky toffee sponge and a caramel topping
(My personal favourite)

Bakewell Tart
This is a creative one... Almond muffin (blended with plenty of ground almond)
Slice the top of the muffin and place inside a thin layer of marzipan and jam. Maybe finely chopped pieces of cherry within the muffin?
Top with white icing and a glace cherry. Pretty!

Carrot Cake
Carrot Cake muffins with that yummy carrot cake cream topping.

Banana Cake
Banana bread, in muffin form- stuff with fresh banana and plenty of spice.
No topping, just a messy drizzle of icing and a dried banana slice.

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So that's the low down! What do you think?
I want your opinion as to which I should try first and also your muffin flavour suggestions. You give em, I'll bake em!
Thankyou!

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Emma's Baking!

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Chocolate cake with a chocolate topping

Fruited teacake with cashews, walnuts, apricots and raisins.

Thankyou to Em for sending me these pictures from your lovely little country kitchen ^_^ I love all the contributions that have been coming in recently, y'all get baking!!



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Oatmeal Cookies.

Porridge of the Week #2

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Porridge of the Week #2

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Spiced Apple and Chocolate Porridge, with Cream

Category: Pudding

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Porridge oats, with stewed Bramley Apple, demerera sugar, raisins, a pinch of cinammon, topped with whipped cream, grape nuts, and melted or flaked chocolate.

Sometimes if a porridge is really rich, even I feel a littl wrong eating it at nine a.m! However, fanatic as I am, I do love using porridge oats to make puddings.
But hey- if you think you can handle it at 9am... Fais ce que tu voudrais!
Thanks to Aaron for contributing this gorgeous recipe- you're my hero!

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Cook off!

Monday night was the first ever Lou Loves Food communal cook off, featuring baked camembert stuffed with garlic and rosemary, and salmon, spinach and cream cheese wrapped in filo pastry.

Thanks to Aleks and Lisa for the use of your kitchen, and your courgette, and to Raylin and Helene, for the fresh salmon fillets and the helping hands!
Can't wait to do it again xx

Baking with Ameretto...

My friend has invited me over to cook me dinner tonight, so I decided I would say thankyou by doing a bit of baking, as ever.
Ameretto biscuits are one of my favourite baking ingredients. They make a great base for liquer cheesecakes or crumbled over icecream etc. I decided to try some new recipes based around using them and came up with~

Crumbly Ameretto and Chocolate Biscuits

Made with plenty of crushed ameretto, these biscuits have a nice crisp texture and are perfect with Irish coffee, or served with Bailey's Icecream.

Out of Season Chocolate Ruby Nest Eggs

Based on the simple children's classic, these nest eggs have a slightly adult twist. Made with chunks of ameretto biscuit, oats, flaked almond and raisin, they are bound with melted chocolate mini eggs for a crunchy consistency, and blended with chocolate infused fortified wine.


... If you have any other ameretto recipes, feel free to share! I'll let you know how they go down tonight x

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Dinner 16.05.2010

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Baked Salmon with an Oat and Seed Mustard Crust

Had to cook something quick for dinner before heading out with the girls... I haven't had nearly enough fish this week and so I decided to try this recipe. Its a throw together based on a few things I'd seen in various cookbooks. I had also read on the Dorset Cereal website (Yeah, I lurk there too) about cooking with oats and wanted to try that.

So this is basically a fresh salmon fillet coated in wholegrain Dijon mustard and then topped with a mixture of oats, breadcrumbs (I used a walnut and date pave) and seeds, blended with herbs and chili oil. Extra Virgin Olive Oil would be fine, but chili oil gives it a nice kick.

Before sticking it in the oven I grated a bit of cheese over. I went with Cheddar as I couldn't find the parmesan, but I think that would even nicer...

I made a salad wth the left over red Pak Choi and fresh spinach, and plenty of beetroot and tomato. The colours were beautiful and it tasted really earthy and strong.

I apologise for the photo quality- the light in my kitchen in terrible. So much noise!

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Victor's Grown-up Salty Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

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1 1/2 sticks of butter,
1 cup light brown sugar,
1/2 Cup sugar,
1 teaspoon baking powder,
1/4 teaspoon baking soda,
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon,
2 large eggs,
1 teaspoon vanilla,
1 3/4 cups flour,
2 cups rolled oats

"Mix flour , baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon

Beat butter and sugars, add eggs and vanilla

Add flour mixture and oats, mix well. Let rest in fridge for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 375 f, cover baking sheets with parchment paper
make golfball sized cookies, flatten slightly, sprinkle with sea salt crystals.

Bake 12 to 14 min, until puffed and turning golden, don't overbake; cool on wire rack."

Thanks so much to Victor for this recipe!! I'm going to try it soon... I may well add an illustration to this soon. Keep em coming! :)

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Aaron's Makerel with Salsa

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'A really simple Ottolenghi recipe, this is my favourite thing to do with makerel. The salsa has olives, raisins, capers, parsely, honey, celery, sherry vinegar and other yummy things that give it a really nice contrast of sweet and sharp flavours.

Add to quickly grilled makerel and it becomes a beautiful 15 minute supper. The only thing I try and do is make sure the makerel is as fresh as possible. I find that makerel becomes inedible if its over a day or two old.'

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Thanks to Aaron for contributing this post! It looks tooo beautiful. I'm always looking for new things to do with makerel as its one of my favourite fish. If you have any recipe you would like me to post, then feel free to send your ideas or photos- or if you just send me the recipe I'll try cook it up myself!

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Dinner 15.03.2010

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Tonight's uber health dinner: Green Soup.
That's not a real name, I'm just a bit lazy...

Brocolli, Spinach and Courgette soup, with celery, onion, kael, red pak choi and jagallo nero

with a whole lot of garlic and roasted seeds...

... Nom?

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Ode to an Adsa Mango

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Honestly, I cannot get enough of them at the moment!

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Dinner 14.05.10

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Warm, cosy, the day-after-the-night-before food.
Yet again created when using left overs...








Butternut Enchilada-

Butternut squash, spinach, baked beans and onion in a tomato curry, wrapped in tortilla, topped with spinach, beans and cheese, and baked in the oven. C'est simple.

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