Celebrating the Ruddslide

...and back in London, a domestic cat eyes off some veggie sausages.

the blood thirsty vegetarian

I'm a little out of the groove here at Lily & Chew HQ so excuse me if I step back to October for a tick. Adam and I went to Tanzania and were lucky enough to stumble across this feast in progress. Watching (and listening to) this lion rip the skin off a zebra then clean and crunch its bones near dry is one of the most incredible things I have ever experienced.

Lazing on a gingery afternoon

It is Sunday morning and the plan is to meet Lily for lunch on Columbia Rd. Only problem is, it is very cold, dark, wet and windy and I don't really feel like leaving the house.

As if on cue, I receive a text message from Lily:
I'm not sure I can make it out today

me: I was thinking the same thing. That's fine. I'm all roasty toasty reading Xmas recipes in the food monthly.

L: Me too!

So onto plan B. With a whole afternoon to myself I decide to have another crack at baking. My tendency to freestyle when following a recipe is usually a good thing with savoury dishes, but almost always spells disaster in the land of cake. I'm going to try really hard with this one and resist the urge to meddle.
I've chosen to bake the double ginger cake from Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries (a book that all self respecting food lovers should own) But if you are waiting for it to turn up in your Christmas stocking this year, here is the recipe

The cake turned out springy, wonderfully moist without that greasy, fatty feeling. And above all it is really, really, really gingery (just between you and me, I threw in a few extra teaspoons of ground ginger and used soy milk. I just couldn't help myself). To keep with the ginger theme, I decided make ginger milk tea, which I first tried when I was in Singapore. It partners beautifully with this cake.
Mmmmmm. Soooo warm. Thanks Nigel.

Indian/Singaporean ginger tea
This is a simple variation on normal black tea, it has a lovely gingery kick to it and it also settles the stomach.
Using a mandolin or a sharp knife slice a few slivers of ginger into a mug or teapot, I used about five slices for a a mug but you might want more or less depending on how you like it.
Make tea as you would normally, leave it to brew a little longer to allow the ginger to infuse. Add milk or soy milk, and sugar if you like it.

If it's good enough for a drunk woman

Some of my best cooking has happened while drunk. It's a crying shame when I wake up with a sweet memory of the tastiest early morning supper ever but no recollection of how it happened or what it was. So after returning from Ben and Kara's going-away bash a couple of Sundays ago I made a determined effort to record the meal that followed. I even left clues for myself, like a smashed plate, crumbs in my hair, a fridge ajar and half a blog post that I have only just found again. This really was bloody delicious (I think.)

What you need for a Smashed Bread and Caper Bake sort of thing
Whatever's in the kitchen (in my case baby potatoes, avocado and tomato)
Onion
Capers
Bread
Cheese
A couple of eggs

How you make it
Pour yourself yet another glass of white wine. Finely chop the onion and soften it in a pan with the capers (if you accidentally tip your wine into the pan at this point it can only be a good thing for you and your dinner). Preheat your oven to 200. Oil a porcelain baking dish well and line it with bread. Top the bread with your stuff -- in this case, sliced avocado, halved par-boiled potatoes and slices of tomato mixed with the cooked onion. Break the egg over it all then top with crumbled or grated cheese. Bake for around 20 minutes (so the egg white isn't gelatinous anymore) then grill to brown the cheese. Serve drunk.

Bonfire night

Over the weekend, I trekked out to Wells in Somerset to attend Joseph's 2nd birthday party, part of which involved many fireworks, a bonfire and a lot of food.

Sitting in front of the outdoor fire with my face roasting and my back freezing, I was reminded of my first bonfire cooking experience on a school trip when I was 10. We were ordered to hunt around in the dark for a stick, shove some damper dough on the end and then cook it over the fire. Admittedly, I was more concerned about the hygiene of the stick (an animal could have peed on it!) but once we chowed down on those hot dampers with some honey and butter I soon forgot all about bugs, dirt and animal pee.



So back to the weekend. Carter's sister, Coo, put on a delicious spread - hearty tomato lentil soup, vegetarian sausages and baked potatoes. Perfect bonfire fare.
A few of the potatoes from the oven were a little underdone, so we wrapped a few up in some tin foil with a generous chunk of butter, a good sprinkling of mixed herbs, salt and pepper.



(TIP: When wrapping the potato, gather the tin foil at the top and twist, so it looks like a Hershey's kiss chocolate - this will make it easier to pick up after you have kicked it out of the fire.)
We then placed the wrapped potatoes on the embers on the outskirts of the fire, forgot about them ... then removed them after a few glasses of Cava and half a dozen fireworks.
The end result is a delicious soft, fluffy potato encased in a crunchy smokey skin.

Instead of mixed herbs you could also try a crushed clove of garlic, or fresh herbs if you have some. But it will always taste better with the smell of gunpowder lingering in the air.






ps. I would like to add that I am also a bit shit. I have to post more often. So that's my new years resolution ... six weeks early.

Acting the goat

I'm shit, I know. For far too long I've left Chew to battle blog empathy on her own in the dandelion leaf wilderness and I haven't got a great excuse beyond failing to multitask. But more on that laters.

First, to regain some semblance of continuity, there's one more thing to say about Paris. True, the socialist city will never win Vegan Friendly Town of the Year award, but there is one vego plate you should be able to ask for, sans menu, in any Parisienne restaurant without anyone spitting with disgust into your souffle. And so to my re-entry into everything Lily & Chew -- a variation on the formidable chevre salad. (It's a lowly place to crawl back from but I've got to start somewhere...)

What you need for a toasty chevre salad
100g wheel of goat's cheese (I cut mine in half to make wheels for two)
Baby spinach leaves
Grainy bread (sliced thickly for toast)
Baby potatoes
A few fresh sage leaves
1 boiled egg for each plate
Dressing (for me - red wine vinegar, olive oil, S&P)

Making it
Boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes then drain and toss them in some olive oil, torn sage leaves and sea salt. Roast for 15 minutes (or until the potatoes are golden and the sage crispy). Build the spinach, with wedges of tomato and boiled egg, on plates. Toast one side of bread under a grill then turn over and toast the other side very lightly before placing the chevre wheels on top. Grill until the cheese is melting, golden and a little bubbly (careful not to burn your toast). Scatter the roast potatoes and crispy sage around your salad then top with the chevre toast. Dress it up and dig in.

But I still haven't found the squash I'm looking for

Back in my native Australia, one of my favourite vegetables, the squash, takes the form of a little UFO shaped disc that would sit in the palm of your hand with lots of room to spare. It cooks and tastes much like a bitter courgette and it always brightens up your plate nicely.

Last Sunday at the farmer's market I got very excited when I saw something that resembled the squash from my homeland. When I got it back to the kitchen and cut it open I discovered it was more like a small pumpkin.
Goddamn mutton dressed as lamb!
Oh well, time for a change of plan.

ROAST PUMPKIN WITH THREE COLOUR BEANS AND WALNUTS
This is a fantastic side dish for autumn as it reflects the colours of the season.

What you need
beans - I used three different varieties, green, purple and yellow
2 hand-sized squash or 1 butternut pumpkin/squash
a small handful of walnuts
1 tablespoon of honey dissolved in a tiny bit of boiling water
olive oil



The do
De-seed and chop the squash into chunks - if you are using the normal squash you will need to remove the skin (when roasting butternut squash I always leave the skin on). Throw into a baking tray with some olive oil and bake in a medium oven until soft.
Cut the beans into thirds. Don't get precious about top and tailing the beens. I leave them all on, mostly because I like how the ends look like little elves shoes.
Boil a kettle.
Place the beans into a big bowl. Cover the beans in boiling water and cover with a plate. Allow to sit until they are cooked to your liking. I like them a little raw so you may want to leave them for longer or even boil them over the stove for a bit.
Once you are happy with the beans, flush them with cold water and throw them into the baking tray with the pumpkin. Add walnuts and pour the honey mixture over the top and drizzle a little more oil into the tray, toss and return to the oven for 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate and serve.

France: they hate vegetarians Part 2

After spending a week in drizzly Paris, we high-tailed it out of there in style with first class train seats to the picturesque, but touristy, seaside town of La Rochelle.
In terms of eating out, we experienced more of the same disappointment. But it's hard to be grumpy when the sun is shining. After perusing a popular strip of restaurants looking at each menu board - not a single one had a vegetarian dish on it - we asked a man setting up tables outside a tapas place if he knew of any restaurants that might be vegetarian friendly. His reply was "not in this town".
After some wandering around, we found a cute little restaurant near the market serving simple fare such as galettes, tarts and salads. Holding a menu and being able to choose a range of things from it was quite a refreshing change.

We decided to stop off at the market the next day and gather some provisions for a day trip to Ile d'aix.






What greeted us was every food lover's fantasy: a bustling market full of fresh seasonal produce. The stallholders were friendly, chirpy and above all, helpful. Considering that the only greenery that we had laid eyes upon was the mould on cheese that was given to us at Aux Lyonnais, oh, and the 'salad' (a.k.a bowl of dandelion leaves), we went a little crazy and by the time our tasting and buying frenzy was over, our shopping bag was full delicious goodies which included:



from the fruit and veg stall:
raspberries
strawberries fragrant and sweeeeeeeeet
cherry tomatoes on the vine
butter lettuce
radishes
flat white peaches the shape of a Breton beret and possibly my favourite fruit. Fleshy, juicy and sweet - and very, very ergonomic.





from the cheese man:
2-year-old Comte cheese an outstanding cheese. It has an Emmental vibe with a waxy texture and a hint of sweetness and nuttiness. I hadn't tried one this old before.
a small wheel of goat's cheese mild with a delicate soft texture and a very slight sour edge.



from the baker:
brioche buttery, crumbly and soft
paprika and Parmesan biscuits like a cross between a Carr's cheesy melt cracker and a scone. Full of buttery cheesy goodness
grainy baguette





We took the boat to Ile d'Aix, via Fort Boyard, and hired bikes to find a nice beach to sit on and chow down on our very successful market haul.



SIMPLE BAGUETTE

Back in London it's easy to write off bought sandwiches as a lunchtime option because, well...they're horrible. Nasty preservative-packed stale bread buttered within an inch of its life bracketing some sort of filling which is unrecognisable because of all the sandwich filler they have slapped on it.
Remember the good old lettuce, tomato and cheese combination? Sounds boring - but with quality ingredients it's a taste sensation. Wherever you are - picnic, work or Ile d'Aix, it's dead simple and takes two seconds to prepare.

What you need
Swiss army knife
Baguette
Comte
cherry tomatoes
lettuce

The do
Split the baguette lengthways. Fill with lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes and Comte. Grind some black pepper if you have it.
Tip If you are making this for later, lay the lettuce and cheese on the outer layers so the tomato doesn't touch the bread and make it soggy.

(I wish) everyday was like Sunday

These are a few of my favourite things...

HAND HELD CHOPPER

I purchased this little friendly-faced gadget in France. It crushes nuts so efficiently it's enough to make a bloke squeamish. Easy to clean AND comes in my favourite colour.