6.05pm It's raining chips

After a marvellous warm sunny week, the rains have returned. I'm soaked, water is sloshing around in my ballet pumps and my stomach has packed it in and started digesting itself. Only one thing for it...chips from George's - open, with lots of salt and vinegar of course. Piping hot, full of flavour and bursting with badness. Just what a soggy blogger needs.

Gratin tombé

Today I decided to make a sweet root vegetable gratin of potato, pumpkin and sweet potato. Seemed like a simple enough idea...until I discovered that my sweet potato was one of those white yammy ones (SO inferior to the orange ones). Grrr!
Nevertheless, I soldiered on, lovingly applying thin slices of a third of a pumpkin, 1 red onion, 6 small potatoes, 1 sweet potato (imposter) and thyme to a baking dish. Then in a measuring jug I whisked up with a fork 200ml of milk and 200ml cream, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 1 crushed garlic clove and a big handful of grated Parmesan, poured this over the top and sprinkled a layer of breadcrumbs over the top and a bit more Parmesan for good measure. Then I baked this at 180 for about 1-1 1/2 hours.

The thing about my personality sometimes is that while I can be quite meticulous in constructing a dish I can be equally careless when it comes to oven handling. I pull things out of our oven one-handed in the most precarious and dangerous fashion. Usually when I pick it up I know it's going to be fine, but sometimes I know I'm in trouble and I still don't stop...



Voila!

The 5-second rule prevails, plus it didn't even touch the floor anyway, so I scraped it up and re-baked it with a new breadcrumb layer. And it was delicious - creamy, earthy vegetables with hints of thyme and Mr Muscle.

Who wants yesterday's dinner?

Tonight Jasmine T has dashed our hopes of making a delicious mushroom, purple sprouting broccoli and lentil pie, and instead I'm leaning over the kitchen sink at 9.30 eating a concoction of leftovers that I've found in the fridge. Bedtimes are becoming a bit of a drama these days as she has just figured out how to stand in her cot, and thinks it's hilarious, until she realises that she is so tired that she has forgotten how to lie down again. Cue screaming. Carters or I come to the rescue and lay her back down. Repeat 100 times.

So back to dinner. They say necessity is the mother of invention and I'm quietly very pleased with my humble leftover combination. I took the potato and pea mixture left over from when I made curry puffs for our little new year's eve gathering, spooned some into a crisp iceberg lettuce leaf and topped it with a dollop of natural yoghurt and a few mint and coriander leaves. An Indian take on the Chinese sang choi bao. I'm going to razz up the curry mixture and post a proper recipe soon.

What a topping idea

Boy o boy, the dude who invented pizza must be rolling in his grave right now. Looks so wrong but tastes so right.

For my friend Nat's birthday (who you may remember from this post) we had a ladies night in with lots of good conversation, pizza and red wine. Perfecto!


Tune
Appetite for Destruction Guns n' Roses

Post-Halloween gloopy soup

Mental note: don't use sticky Charlotte potatoes for Potato and Leek soup, tastes great but ends up looking like a beige Ghostbusters slime

The Lake District: Currying flavour

Curry night: Lauren and Theo

Whooo! A most excellent hearty curry banquet complete with specialist beers (Cobra). A rare treat to be able to indulge in Indian cuisine without feeling like I've eaten my body weight in ghee and MSG.

Pumpkin & Apple Curry (serves 4)
What you need
Vegetable Oil
large onion
500g of pumpkin/squash, cubed
800g of baking potatoes, cubed
1 large cooking apple, cubed
2 tsp curry paste
1 tsp turmeric
root ginger (2.5cm)
bay leaves
500 ml vegetable stock

The do
Heat oil in pan. Add onion and brown.
Add chilli, curry paste, turmeric, ginger, bay leaves, apple, pumpkin, potato to pan.
Immediately after add vegetable stock.
Bring to boil and then simmer for 20 minutes until cooked.
Serve with fromage frais or yoghurt.



Easy Tofu Curry (serves 4)
What you need
good swig of vegetable oil
Tofu, diced
Seasonal veg - I like to use broccoli & green beans
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp mild curry powder
2 medium fresh green chillies, thinly sliced
5 cm chunk of ginger, grated
2 onions
1 can tomatoes
1 can coconut milk (use light coconut milk if you want a healthier option)

The do
Start by browning the tofu pieces in a pan until brown.
In another pan, heat the oil and add your spices and ginger.
Fry for a few minutes, then add the onions and fresh chilli.
Cook for another 5 minutes then add the tofu and tomatoes.
Simmer for 10-15 minutes then add your favourite veg (broccoli and beans are yum!)
Finally, add the coconut milk and simmer for a final 5 minutes.
Season and serve with basmati rice, raita, mango chutney and fresh tomato salad.

Fresh Tomato Salad (serves 4)
What you need
6 medium tomatoes, diced
Small onion, thinly sliced
Fresh Coriander
Juice of fresh lemon

The do
Combine the ingredients and season with lemon juice to taste

Tune
Sung Tongs Animal Collective

Getting clucky

In the spirit of the recession and all, I only tend to cook things these days which also make a tasty lunch the next day. One of my favourite leftover lunches is Spanish tortilla, which really is just as good cold as it is freshly cooked - and better reason to whip one up than being given a box of freshly laid eggs by my workmate Mike, who has a collection of chickens in his yard which he is extremely fond of – the leader of the pack is called Jasmine.

The eggs were from a variety of different types of chicken and as a result were really unique shapes and colours – some had two pointy ends and others were almost round – and they all had amazing bright yellow yolks. You really can tell the difference between a home-laid egg from a pampered chicken and a free range supermarket one…

I’ve made this tortilla based on a bbc good food recipe – but as per usual, couldn’t resist making a few little tweaks here and there.



SPANISH TORTILLA

The do

You’ll need about 6 eggs, broken into a bowl and mixed together with a fork

Cook the potatoes – I par boiled mine, pre-sliced, because I’m impatient. Excellent tip: when cooking potatoes in cubes or slices, add a drop or two of vinegar to the water and the potatoes won’t crumble or break once their cooked, they’ll go firm on the outside and keep their shape perfectly.

Grill the red peppers – I grilled them whole for a few minutes until the skin had gone black. Once they’ve cooled down you can peel the skin off really easily and chopped them into strips.

Throw the peppers and potatoes and some parsley in a frying pan along with a fistful of chopped parsley and pour over the eggs. I like putting some halved cherry tomatoes on the top as well.

Cook for 5-10 minutes on the hob, then crumble some feta on the top and place the whole pan under the grill. Grill for 5-10 minutes or until the top is golden and the middle is no longer wobbly.

Serve with a pile of rocket, and look forward to a couple of delicious slices for lunch the next day…

Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas everyone!
Our day was spent in the company of lovely friends, Carter's homemade Christmas crackers, brand new Mighty Boosh DVDS and Pictionary.
I made my usual sweet potato and leek Christmas roulade (except this year I made one with prune stuffing and the other with feta), chestnut and cranberry stuffing balls with red onion and Guinness gravy.
Kelly worked her magic on the vegetables - carrots and parsnips with wholegrain mustard and maple syrup, and the best roast potatoes I have ever had.
Oh, and we also had the most amazing cheeseboard known to man. Manchego, Chaumes (I hadn't had this cheese before - it is pasteurised, has a sticky soft orange rind and is an excellent start for those beginning a lifelong quest for the gooiest, stinkiest French cheese), Brie, Wensleydale, Cheddar, Gruyere, Cornish Yarg, Raclette accompanied by Italian baked figs, apple chutney, quince paste and fancy crackers. Mr Stilton was sorely missed, but he isn't so good for unborn babies, so next year I'll have to have twice as much.



KELLY'S BEST EVER ROAST POTATOES

What you need
Around 16 potatoes - Maris piper, King Edward or Desiree, peeled and cut to size
2 tablespoons plain flour
sunflower of veg oil

The do
Preheat the oven to 190. Throw potatoes into a big saucepan and cover with cold water, bring to boil and boil for 2 minutes. Drain, keeping the potatoes in the pan. Sprinkle over the flour, put the lid back on and shake violently so the potatoes get all roughed up.
Place a large metal heavy duty roasting tray on the hob over high heat. Add a few big lugs of oil. When the oil starts to spit, add the potatoes and fry for about 5 minutes turning the potatoes with tongs to lightly brown on all sides.
Place in the preheated oven. After 20 minutes, take the potatoes out and put back onto hob, frying and turning the potatoes for 5 minutes. Return to the oven for another 20 minutes then return to the hob for another 5 minutes turning the potatoes carefully.

When done, sprinkle over some sea salt and serve.



ONION AND GUINNESS GRAVY

What you need
50 g butter
2 big red onions halved and sliced 1 cm thick
8 sprigs of thyme, leaves stripped from stalk
2 sprigs of Rosemary, leaves stripped from stalk and roughly chopped
200ml Guinness
2 tsp marigold bouillon dissolved in 600ml boiling water
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard

The do
Heat butter in a saucepan. When melted, add the flour and onions. Fry for a few minutes on a medium heat until they just begin to brown. Add the Guinness and mustard and reduce to half.
Add the thyme, rosemary and stock and simmer on lowest heat for 45 minutes without the lid. If you like it a bit thicker, dissolve a teaspoon of cornflour in a little cold water and add to gravy. Bring to boil. Repeat until desired consistency is reached but don't go crazy, it will reduce more when it cools down and gets reheated again.

This tastes even better when it has been living in the fridge for a few days. Plus it'll be one thing less you have to bother with when you are enjoying your Christmas champagne.

Pie in the sky

The week leading up to a holiday has an element of that blissful feeling you get after you've just quit your job. I've been going through the motions with a big grin on my face knowing that in a few days time I'll be I'm a climate warm enough to apply copious amounts of sunscreen.
Tonight Kelly - Rocky's favourite aunt - is coming over for a feed, I'm going to use up the remaining veg in the fridge so it doesn't die a slow death in my absence. It's been a busy week and there is quite a lot left so I'm going to make two - that way we can have one for tonight and the other for later.
You can use any combination of vegetables for this pie - butternut squash, peas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, spinach, cauliflower, celery, courgettes, carrots, sprouting broccoli, aubergine or mushrooms (pan fry with some garlic first)


Going on holiday/clearing out the fridge pie

What you need
An assortment of veg. I used:
5 small heads of broccoli, cut into small florets
4 carrots
Half a handful of runner beans, chopped
2 small handfuls of green beans, chopped
1 butternut squash, cubed

Sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Butter
Gluten free flour
Rice milk

For the mash
6 big potatoes
Chives
One small tub, or 3 big tablespoons of goat's yoghurt
Rice milk

Boil potatoes until soft then set aside.

Get the steamer going and throw the veg in starting with the ones that take longest to cook. I started with the carrots, then a few minutes later added the pumpkin, then 3-5 minutes later the broccoli then the beans.

Omce the veg is all lightly steamed, separate into two baking dishes and spread out evenly.

Mustard sauce
Make a White sauce; melt about 40g butter in a medium saucepan then add a few tablespoons of flour and half a teaspoon of cumin - gently blend together over a low heat, do not brown.
When throughly combined, slowly add rice milk stirring with a whisk until it's a saucy consistency. Add the mustard and salt and pepper to taste. If it's too runny add a little more flour or reduce for a little while longer. Remove from heat.
Ladle the sauce onto the veg so it is well coated.

Drain the potatoes and mash with olive oil or butter, chives and goat's yogurt
Add salt and pepper to taste
Spread mash over the veg with a fork, roughing it up so it looks like the Himalayas.
Bake at 180-200c until it is heated through then finish it off under a scorching grill so the peaks go deliciously brown and crispy.

Now you can get started on your packing...

eatin's cheatin at atp

10 of us took a minivan to ATP on the weekend. We stopped at Tesco on the way and bought a fair whack of groceries; salad, eggs, pasta, veg, fancy cheese etc etc. Our plan was to cook at least four meals over the course of three days. I don't know what the fuck we were thinking. Our shop would have been far more productive if we split the cash on beer, pear cider, Pimms, vodka, rum, mixers, tobacco, papers, filters and Anadin Extra.

Today, still shagged but absolutely blasted full of good time vibes, I came home from work to a lot of eggs and a hankering for the tortilla. I am no tortilla expert by any stretch and I really am too buggered to spell out the shizzle but all I can say is go for the long, slow cook and I think the experts favour a small deep pan rather than the wide shallow one I have at my disposal.

All you need to do is skin and parboil some taters then cool and grate them. Soften some sliced Spanish onions and garlic with chilli flakes, stock and wine. Mix them with the grated tates, some chopped parsley and salt'n'peppa. Then beat the lot with four eggs (for 2) until it's all frothy. Pour into a med-heat pan. Let it cook slowly till the arse is tanned then pop it under a fan forced grill to brown the top. Serve with fresh coriander. Done darlin.

Chowing down on chowder

Celeriac has been a regular in my market shopping bag for the last few months. So far, I've been making Lily's celeriac soup, or mashing it up as a side, but now I feel the need to do something different with it. Here is a hearty chowder that will fill your belly on those cold lonely nights. And it's great for lunch the next day too.

CELERIAC, SWEETCORN AND BUTTERBEAN CHOWDER
The celeriac gives the chowder a lovely light earthy flavour, the corn adds a sweet textural difference while the potato brings everyone together for a big group hug.

What you need
1 can of butter beans, drained and rinsed. (Or if you have time soak some dried beans overnight and use those)
1 celeriac, peeled and cut into cubes
3 potatoes, washed and cut into cubes
1/2 a pint of soy milk
2 heaped teaspoons of Marigold bouillon powder
2 big leeks sliced
2 medium sized onions, finely diced
1 sprig of rosemary
Fresh parsley

The do
Put a kettle on the boil. In a big pan over medium heat, fry the leeks, rosemary and onions in some oil until soft. Add the celeriac and potato, fry for a few minutes then pour boiling water over the veg until just covered, add the bouillon. Keep at slow boil without the lid, when you can just stick a fork through the celeriac, throw in the beans. Turn the heat down and simmer until the beans become plump and take on the flavours of the soup. Do not allow to boil at this point or else the beans will split and breakdown into mush. When the beans are done, add the milk and simmer for a further 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve with some crusty bread and fresh parsley.

block rockin rhu-beets

I've said it before and I'll say it again: beets are beautiful. Earthy, sweet and bright as a blast of sunshine on a crisp and frosty winter afternoon. They are also ideal after a Sunday spent wandering through Highgate cemetery (home to reposing souls as diverse as Karl Marx and Titanic riders).

This recipe is a peculiar one. My interest was piqued when I read about rhubarb and potato soup a while back. When my research uncovered a Nordic dessert, I decided to take it into a different direction and go for something savoury instead, bringing beets into the mix. The result was delicious, fresh and tangy: potato held the rhubarb's creaminess while the beets tempered their tart ways and added some resistance to the mush. Lest it was a one-off fluke, I made it a second time. Once again, I enjoyed a gorgeous combination of mellow beets pushing against the barb's tongue lashing.



What you need
A bunch of small beets for 1/2 a bunch of rhubarb (twice as many beets for your barb is a good ratio)
1 med-large potato
Handful of fresh parsley
Handful of fresh sage (not essential)
Veggie stock
Splash white wine
Olive oil

Making it
Wash, peel and chop your beets and potato. Mix them through a couple of tablespoons of heated olive oil with your rhubarb (washed and chopped). Add some fresh chopped parsley and sage if you have them handy. Let it all heat through on medium for about ten minutes, stirring regularly. Add the wine and cook for another few minutes. Fill the pot with veggie stock and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for a good 20-30 minutes, until the rhubarb and the potato have disintegrated into mushy pieces.

Take your red hot soup off the stove and let it all calm down for a good five minutes. Blend in batches if need be (this is the last thing you want to send spinning round your kitchen walls). Divide between bowls. If you want to add a little creme fraiche, go right ahead. One thing I would advise is to accompany this soup with your favourite toast: its intensity warrants a small serving rather than a whopping plate. If you want to reduce the intensity, bring a little more potato into the mix.

Блинчатый пирог: Russian Pancake cake

Last October I was lucky enough to visit Russia. It was a great trip all in all, once I developed a healthy sense of humour and a tolerance for inane bureaucracy (England has trained me well). Everyone looked like they wanted to kill me, but that turned out to be a false impression, and Russians are actually very friendly once you chisel your way through the frosty exterior.

From a culinary perspective, I approached the trip with great trepidation. I tried to imagine what it would be like to survive on boiled potatoes and bootleg vodka for 10 days. I even thought about packing food alongside my thermal underwear.
As it turned out, the food was fantastic. We had some great hearty soups like barley vegetable, cream of mushroom and of course borscht, lovely salads with lots of dill, a few wild mushroom-type dishes. We were lucky enough to make it there just before the proper winter set in, while the restaurants were still using fresh produce.



After this time they use mostly frozen food. We visited a supermarket (one of my favourite things to do whilst in another country) and found this pick n mix frozen aisle that had all kinds of fruit and veg - from mushrooms and broccoli to strawberries and blueberries.

One of the highlights was a very popular blini cafe (Russkie bliny ul. Gagarinskaya 13; 15-20 mins from Nevskiy Prospekt metro) on the outskirts of central St Petersburg. It wouldn't win points for ambiance, it was like someone had set up a makeshift cafe in their front room by throwing in couple of chairs and tables with complete with plastic tablecloths. It was perfect.



Carters had a blinchiki (deep-fried folded pancake) with egg and shallots while I went for a Blinchaty cake (pancake pie) - think lasagne but with pancakes instead of pasta, layered with light buttery potato mash and gamey wild mushrooms. The perfect lunch for a very cold and hungry person.

Several months later back in London, Miriam and Ross hosted a Foods of the World Russian lunch, and seeing as it was the perfect occasion for it, I decided I'd give the ol Blinchaty cake a whirl.



I used the same ingredients as the one I had in St Petersburg but with the addition of spinach for some greenery.




Блинчатый пирог: Pancake cake
What you need
a frying pan and springform tin of approximately the same diameter

For the crepes
3 eggs
1.5 cups flour
2 cups soy milk
half a teaspoon cornflour
2 tbsp oil
1 pinch salt
butter

For the filling
2 small handfuls of dried porchini mushrooms, soaked in hot water
750g of fresh mushrooms, diced finely
750g bag of organic frozen spinach
7-8 medium sized potatoes
2 onions, diced finely
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
a few springs of dill, chopped
supermarket breadcrumbs
parmesan cheese
butter
soy milk



The do
Boil the potatoes in salted water until soft and then mash with soy milk and butter. Season with lots of salt and pepper. Set aside.

crepe mixture: combine 1 egg and a half glass of milk in a mixing bowl. Add sifted flour, salt and cornflower. Slowly whisk in the rest of the milk. Add 2 tbsp of oil. Whisk until thoroughly combined. The batter should be quite runny, like the consistency of pouring cream. To prevent lumps, add all the ingredients gradually. Allow to stand for half an hour.
Heat a frying pan on high until it's very hot, throw a small knob of butter in the pan. With ladle in one hand, and the pan tilted at an angle with the other, put a ladleful of batter onto the top part of the pan. Move the pan quickly in a circular motion so the batter covers the whole surface before it sets.
When the edges start to lift away from the pan, flip the pancake over, cook for about 5-8 seconds then transfer to a plate. Repeat, stacking one on top of the other until all the mixture is gone.

mushroom filling: Drain the mushrooms, making sure you keep the water. Finely dice them and then sieve the water to remove any grit.
In a pan over medium heat, fry the onion and garlic, then after a few minutes, add all the mushrooms and the water. Fry until mixture is dry, season with salt and pepper.

spinach filling: in a frypan over medium heat, fry frozen spinach lumps until thawed. Remove from heat and push into a sieve to remove excess water.

Putting it all together: Line a springform cake tin with tin foil and sprinkle a thin layer of breadcrumbs onto the base. Lay a crepe on top of the crumbs, then a thin layer of potato (use your fingers, it's easier) spinach, grated parmesan, crepe, mushrooms, dill, grated parmesan, crepe, potato, spinach, dill, parmesan, crepe, mushroom, dill, parmesan, crepe. Continue until you run out of ingredients, finishing on a crepe with cheese on top. Press down firmly. Cover with foil, then bake for 40 mins or until a knife stuck into the centre comes out hot. Slice up and serve.




The Russian Table of Food was a sight to behold. Delicious salads and borscht. Little aubergine and sour cream blinis. Gorgeous freshly baked Georgian cheese bread.
And the desserts were A M A Z I N G.
There was a sweet plum pizza with nuts on top, and a creamy pudding with almonds which had to be set in a flower pot. Oh, and the pear, rhubarb, quince and lime favoured vodkas!
(At this point, I have to admit that I have been an irresponsible blogger and while I should have been writing down the names of these dishes I was eating them instead! Fingers crossed that their creators will be reading and be kind enough to email the recipes to lilyandchew@gmail.com so I can post them. Watch this space...)

grab sunday by the sweet and curlies

I love these Sundays: lazy, vague, dreamy, mine to spend poking and scuffing around a cold and woolly city. And with the dark drawing in so early, time to see out the weekend with a slow, long meal.

It makes sense that, as winter really kicks, all the seasonal vegetables go underground and look like shit. I picked up a knobbly load of them at the Islington Farmer's Market yesterday - Jerusalem artichokes, celeriac, giant parsnip - and put them to good use in a variation of Chew's Artichoke Bake. As good as I remember it the first time around, this really is a proper, rich and silky mid-winter Sunday dinner (I included parsnip, leek and celeriac between artichoke and potato layers - with parmesan and fresh peas on top for added crunch).

While waiting for the root bake, I made the following sweet and nutty plate of yummy goodness to sit alongside it.

Sweet Curly Kale and Beets

1 small onion, grated
2 bunches of kale (wash the leaves, rip them off their spines and chop them well)
1 beetroot - peeled and cut into sticks
1 small handful of toasted pine nuts and slivered almonds
1 teaspoon of honey
1 splash of orange blossom water (if you have it)
4-6 dates, chopped
salt, oil and butter



Melt a chunk of butter in a few good glugs of oil. On low heat, soften the grated onion. When it is getting sticky (6-8 minutes), add the chopped dates. Let it all caramelise slowly, stirring regularly. Add the chopped kale with a pinch of salt then cover and cook on a low heat (add a little water if it dries out too much). When the kale has softened and wilted, add the beetroot sticks and toasted nuts. Cook for five minutes then add your teaspoon of honey and dash of orange blossom water. Cook for another five minutes and let it all cool down for a bit before you fill up on some sweet joy.

A good old English pie 'n' mash - Linda's way

I just realised that I haven't seen sunlight for four days. And you know what the temperature is in my home town right now? 42 degrees! Man o man - I should be frolicking in the sea and complaining about the heat, not trudging back and forth to work in the freezing wind under the cover of darkness like it's some covert operation.
Homesickness. It's a cruel thing this time of year - and when it feels like it'll never stop raining, only two words make it all A-OK...comfort food.
This is by no means gourmet (it involves frozen goods AND instant gravy) but the beauty of it is that it is fast and the key components are sitting there ready for when you need that comfort fix.

Linda's Pies with mash, peas and mushroom gravy

What you need
(Serves 2)
Linda McCartney vegetarian pies or any other vegetarian pie you can get your mitts on
greens (I used Curly kale)
2 small handfuls of frozen petit pois peas
Potatoes for mashing (approx 1 medium sized potato per person)
handful of thinly sliced chestnut mushrooms
1 finely diced celery stalk
gravy granules, mixed according to instructions (I used a vegan one from Holland and Barrett)
a few sprigs of thyme
soy milk
olive oil

The do
Preheat oven and baking tray.
Place potatoes in a big pot and cover with cold water. If you are impatient like me, cut potatoes into quarters so they cook faster. Add a little salt and boil until you can stick a skewer through without any resistance.

Get out your Linda's pies and stab a knife into the top a few times (this will prevent the pies from spewing out their insides once they get hot) and brush with some soy milk. Sprinkle liberally with sesame seeds. Throw the pies onto the hot tray and bake at about 180 degrees for about 30-45 mins or until the crust is golden and crunchy and the filling heated through.

While the potatoes and pies are cooking, get out a small saucepan and on a medium heat, fry the celery and mushrooms and thyme in a splash of oil. Add a handful of peas per person. After a few minutes, add the gravy mixture then turn down to the lowest heat setting.

When the potatoes are done, mash in the pot on the lowest heat setting with lots of good olive oil, pepper and salt. Add hot soy milk until you achieve your desired consistency. Take off the heat and cover until needed.

In another pot bring some water to the boil and throw in the chopped greens briefly, be careful not to overcook them. Drain.

Arrange it all on a warmed plate, making a crater in centre of the potato for a pea/gravy lake.

holidays at home

Aside from being bombarded with every single minute detail of the American presidential election until November, 2008 already looks to be throwing some fine shapes: next month alone I'll be eating my way through Fes and Italy. I happily saw out 07 in London (the capital is quite endearing when there's no one in it) and, unlike Chew, with no Christmas dinner duties I had time to venture to markets out of my hood and indulge in some lingering home cooking.



The Slow Food Market on the South Bank on December 23rd was light on for action (perhaps unsurprisingly). But the mushroom man from Stoke Newington's Farmers' Market was there and I picked up a huge bag of mixed wild mushies to accompany a gnocchi recipe from Chew's fab birthday pressie last year, Antonio Carluccio's Complete Mushroom Book.

Gnocchi with Horn



I'm not kidding, that's what Carluccio calls this recipe. He is referring to the type of mushroom - Horn of Plenty - but any wild ones will taste so delicious that eating it may very well give you the horn.

For the gnocchi
800g floury potatoes, peeled and chopped for boiling
200g plain flour
1 beaten egg
Salt'n'peppa

For the sauce
Loads of fresh, clean wild mushies (he says 500g mix of Horn of Plenty and Chicken of the Woods, I chucked in a big mixed bag)
20g dried ceps or other dried wild mushrooms
Olive Oil
30g butter (the recipe says 55g but I thought it was a little rich)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
150ml dry white wine
A handful of chopped fresh parsley
Freshly grated parmesan


Making it

Boil and drain the potatoes, making sure all water is steamed off (let them dry out a bit over the heat if you want). Mash them finely - roughly by hand and then in a food processor if necessary. Mix with the flour and beaten egg on your bench and roll into a dough. Keep loads of flour on hand because the dough is quite sticky. Roll out into sausages and cut into desired chunks (about 2 x 2.5 cm). Leave to rest on a clean, floured cloth.



For the sauce, chop all the mushrooms into strips. Soak the dried ones for 20 minutes then chop them finely, reserving the water. Melt the butter in olive oil then fry the chopped onion on a low heat to soften. Add the mushrooms and cook slowly for about 15 minutes. Add some of the dried mushroom water and the wine and reduce for another ten minutes. Just before serving, mix in the parsley, some salt and lots of cracked pepper.

Cook the gnocchi dumplings in salted boiling water until they float to the surface then chuck them in the sauce.

Shake it all about, add some parmesan and dig in.

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.