Honey & Soy Salmon with Stir Fry Veggies.

It's July, it's pouring down with rain & i've worn a waterproof jacket to work everyday the last TWO WEEKS. I seriously feel like i'm about to grow gills. But life goes on, just with soggy shoes.

It was my birthday recently which has tipped me well & truly into my thirties (i didn't count turning thirty last year, i just didn't happen) & we headed to Barrafina in Soho for an evening of tapas & sherry. We ate amazing Morcilla Iberica with Quail Eggs, Pimientos de Padro, Courgette Flowers... & finished off with great desserts paired with sherries. I've decided that i might not wait to be an octogenarian before i start hitting the sherry bottle. Along with birthday excitement we had even more excitement picking up my official engagement ring from Hatton Gardens, probably one of the most nerve wracking but exciting tube journey on the way to pick it up... it's absolutely beautiful with a lot of meaning behind it, the Houseboy's dad mined the yellow sapphire in the Australian gem fields & we have a gorgeous ring which will be become an heirloom.       
 

Despite the fact the weather has been shocking i'm still in the mood for summery food, so we have been eating a lot of salads, fish & vegetables. This is super easy, super quick & healthy. 

Ingredients:

Feeds: two

• two salmon fillets
• one large clove of garlic
• one piece of fresh ginger roughly the same size as  a garlic clove
• three tbsp dark soy sauce
• one tbsp runny honey
• pinch of pepper
• a selection of veggies to stir fry
• sesame oil  

Method:

Start by finely chopping the garlic & ginger and mixing with the soy sauce, honey & pepper, carefully lay the salmon on an oven proof tray, spoon over the marinade & place under the grill. Quickly chop the vegetables (stick to veggies like spring onions, mange tout, red peppers etc...) & stir fry on a high heat with a tiny splash of sesame oil. Keep an eye on the salmon making sure you don't over cook it.

Recipe Book Challange #3 Banana & Golden Syrup Loaf

Wow, Jubilee mayhem is over. Such a great weekend (as most long weekends are) & it was brilliant to see everyone get into the spirit of things. The flotilla started from really close to our place & instead of standing 10 deep in the pouring rain by Tower Bridge we were able to see the very start of it all sitting right on the Thames drinking champagne & watching all the boats go by with the sun out. A local charity also organised a street party outside our local gastro pub The Sands End who were serving their excellent Scotch Eggs, sadly the only excellent food on their menu now as the quality of the food has dropped dramatically over the last year. So disappointing as i am a firm believer that good quality food is not hard to do, but they seem to have attempted to reinvent the menu and it reads very poorly. Much better to head to the Imperial Arms or The Rose near by. Hopefully it will pick up it's feet soon.   

The Houseboy also completed the dreaded Copenhagen marathon in a very decent 3.45, which for his first marathon and given his injured foot was amazing. Copenhagen is a great city for a weekend, super easy to get to from London, fun people, very cycle friendly but not so friendly on the old pocket!

Jubilee Cupcake

 This is a recipe from Gary Rhodes New British Classics, this cookbook was pretty much my bible when i started out catering in Scotland, it's good British cooking laid out simply. Lots of clients liked 'nursery puddings' and it's filled with bread and butter pudding, suet pudding etc etc, it also is fool proof for cooking a perfect roast. This recipe may be a little sweet for Banana Bread purists, but those with a sweet tooth will love it.

Ingredients:

• 225g self raising flour
• 110g butter soften
• four ripe bananas mashed
• 50g dark brown sugar
• four tbsp golden syrup
• four eggs   

Method:

This recipe will a buttered & grease proofed 900g loaf tin. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Then simply mix all the ingredients until well combined. Spoon the mixture into the lined tin and bake in your preheated oven for 50-55 minutes. The loaf can be tested by piercing with a skewer, it's ready when the skewer comes away clean. Remove from oven & rest in the tin for ten minutes before turning out & allow to cool. 

For a nutty finish you can 50g of walnuts or hazelnuts.

Sand End Scotch Egg

Creamy Mushroom Pasta

I really thought for a moment that spring was here, two whole days of semi blue skies, sunshine & no coats. But sadly the rain is back & today was another rainy commute wearing my waterproof...

It's been a couple of weeks of delicious food. We had an amazing night with the talented Miss Stewart who hosted a fantastic evening of food with wine paring. Serving a series of starters size dishes ranging from grilled goats cheese with honey & thyme to mini beef & red wine pies, each course was carefully paired with a complimenting wine. Such a lovely way to eat, although having so much wine certainly made waking up the next morning rather painful. The only way to combat the hangover was to head to La Famiglia just off Kings Road to celebrate a Mr Squire's 30th, which started off very civilised & then quickly descended in chaos. 30th parties can have that effect on people, it's like that mad dash to prove you can still hold your own like an eighteen year old, if only the hangovers were the same as you were when you were eighteen. 

The Houseboy had never eaten at Megan's Deli on Kings Road, which is one of my favourite nearby places for dinner. We had a lovely wine free meal with platters of roasted vegetables, sliced meats & rocket salad, grilled octopus with skinny french fries & artichoke. The food is always fresh & delicious, it's such a good place when the weather is nice, with a pretty garden out the back. At home, the menu will be carb heavy this week, well for the Houseboy anyway, as on Sunday he will be running in the Copenhagen marathon which is exciting. I won't be running, but instead will be dusting off my pompoms, donning the Australian colours & shouting myself hoarse. I'mpretty excited about having some smørrebrød & carslberg beer. 

Sometimes, nothing hits the spot like a big bowl of pasta. My all time favourite probably being pasta with olive oil, garlic & chili, it takes about 10 minutes to make and is just delicious. This dish will take you maybe an extra five minutes but is well worth it, if you are extra hungry pad it out with some chopped bacon and a sprinkling of cheese. 

Ingredients:

Serves two. 

• enough rigatoni pasta for two
• mushrooms (chestnut or field or white or portabello or a mix -  what ever you fancy)
• 20mls of creme fraiche
• two cloves of garlic
• handful of chopped parsley
• s&p

Method:

Put the pasta on to boil as per the instructions on the pack, remember to add a pinch of salt - makes all the difference. Slice the mushrooms, making sure they are not to thin, you don't want them to get soggy. Melt a little butter in a pan, crush the garlic, add & saute until golden. Add the mushrooms & saute for about 4 minutes, add the creme fraiche, stir, heat through quickly & remove from the heat. Stir in the chopped parsley. Check the pasta & drain if ready. Then take the mushrooms & mix with the freshly drained pasta. Serve immediately with an extra sprinkle of parsley in top.

 

Herb Encrusted Cod with Garlicy Butter Beans

So this recipe isn't from one of my cook books as my self imposed cooking challenge states should be. But hopefully i will get round to adding one, i have a few more days & i'm planning on doing some cooking over the weekend. 

At the moment we are talking wedding menus (yes i'm very aware that we aren't getting married for another thirteen months but if you want the good people you need to get organised. I keep getting so excited & changing my mind on things, but we have a fair idea of what we are going with. Mrs Rhodes is in the midst of an organisational flurry of marquee quotes & portable loo choices which is a great help, you might think you know what a wedding entails, but once you start writing it down & you get onto the second piece of A4 paper the panic sets in... Currently the main issue is the Houseboy's insistence that our first wedding dance should be LMFAO shuffling song...

Pretty excited about the upcoming bank holiday which is going to be filled with activities - some of them healthy, some of them not so much. Tomorrow night we kick off proceedings with a wine tasting evening at Miss Stewart's where we each take our favourite choice from our recent wine tasting course at the West London Wine School (so worth booking into) i will be taking a Château L'Hospitalet La Clape, which is a massively punchy red.

This is fairly quick & simple dish which is lovely & healthy. Serve with additional veggies or raw spinach. You can also play around with what you combine with the bread crumbs, maybe add some ginger, or some grated cheese (maybe not together though!) use different herbs & spices. This works best with white fish.

Ingredients:
Feeds two people.

• two cod fillets
• two large handfuls of breadcrumbs
• one whole red chilli
• zest of one lemon
• one large handful of flat leaf parsley
• good slug of olive oil (sorry for sounding like Jamie Oliver)
• s&p

• one - two tins of butter beans (depending on if you are serving with other veggies or not)
• one large clove of garlic
• four tbsps of chopped chives
• splash of olive oil
• s&p

Method:

Pop your grill on to heat up. Finely chop the chilli & parsley, zest the lemon & combine them all with the breadcrumbs, olive oil & s&p. Lay the cod fillets on a baking tray & carefully spoon the mixture on the top of each fillet making sure each one is nicely topped. Place under the grill until the fish is cooked through & the topping is crispy.

While the fish is grilling you can whip up the butter beans which will take a speedy five minutes. Add a splash of olive oil to a hot pan, crush the garlic, add to the pan & soften - make sure it doesn't burn. throw in the drain butter beans and give it a good stir. When the butter beans are warmed through, toss in the chopped chive, give it a good stir & season. Check the fish & if ready serve up & tuck in (sounding like Jamie Oliver again. Oh dear.)  

 

A super cool rainbow over the north sea 

near Mrs Rhodes' house. 

Recipe Book Challange #2 Hazelnut Tiramisu

I recently decided buying vegetables in the supermarket was starting to annoy me. Too much packaging, too expensive & they don't last any time all. There are some great markets near us but unless you are super organised it can be very easy to miss them. So i thought i would give delivered veg  boxes a go & after having a good browse on the web i chose Abel & Cole. Now i'm not one of these blogger that get present for saying nice things about places or companies (mainly because i'm small fry & nobody knows i exist, otherwise i probably be a present whore) but i can flat out say that i love A&C. We opted for the gourmet box for two people, which means the veg choice is slightly more interesting than the standard box & it comes every Tuesday & makes me cycle home that much quicker. It forces us to cook new things which is great & apart from the Houseboy having a Wednesday night freak out over an Artichoke (apparently not a weekday veg choice) all has run smoothly. I have to say, the box for two is more than generous, we have to make sure we eat veg everyday otherwise we fall behind & end up wallowing in greens. We have also tried the eggs, bread & milk which were all great. So i you want fresh vegetables on your doorstep once a week, hop on line or talk to one of their ridiculously chirpy & helpful people.

I was never really a fan of Tiramisu until the Houseboy & i spent a long weekend in Venice, we ate it sitting next to the water after eating huge plates of pasta & really i should have been way too full to even contemplate dessert but i gave it a go & it was delicious. Truthfully i don't think i will ever have such an amazing version again, but this recipe is good. I doubled the amount of cream & marcarpone (already accounted for in the amounts listed below) because i didn't want half pots left in the fridge (ooh will have to remember that excuse for the furture) & the ratio worked out perfectly.

This is from the Australian Women's Weekly After Work Fast cookbook, which the Houseboys parents sent us when we moved into our flat. Two recipe books down, a fair few to go... 

Ingredients:

• one tbsp instant coffee granules
• two tbsp caster sugar
• 160ml boiling water
• 80ml hazelnut flavoured liqueur (i cheated & used sherry because it was lingering in the corner)
• 250ml whipping cream
• 500g mascarpone cheese
• twelve sponge finger biscuits
• 25g coarsely grated dark chocolate
• 70g coarsely chopped roasted hazelnuts (i chopped mine quite finely though)

Method:

Dissolve the coffee & half sugar in the water, stir in the liqueur & leave to cool. Meanwhile beat the cream with remaining sugar until it forms soft peaks (it's easier to use electric beaters) & carefully fold in the mascarpone cheese. Dip the biscuits, one at a time in the coffee mixture & lay in a single layer in a shallow dish. Pour any remaining mixture over the biscuits. Carefully spoon the cream mixture over the biscuits & sprinkle on the chocolate shavings & nuts.

Recipe Book Challange #1 Blueberry Cake

We have no internet & it's like living in the dark ages, it's a bit stupid how much we rely on the net in our household & not just proving each other wrong on general knowledge. But thanks to Miss Whindler's dongle or bongle (didn't quite understand the whole thing) i'm back on line & posting. I'm actually embarrassed how long its been since i last blogged. No internet is a fairly good excuse but but the real reason is the Houseboy & i seem to be socialising way too much. Too much you say? Yes TOO MUCH. Leaving me tired, unfit & a skint, i am positively excited that the only thing on this week horizon is book club.

We recently watched the film Julia & Julia, which seems to be every food bloggers favourite film, understandably because it's about a blogger who 'makes it' after toiling over her blog cooking a recipe a day & writing it up. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get round to it, but i finally sat down & subjected the Houseboy to it (i reckon he secretly loved it) The result being that i have decided to set myself a wee challenge (not to the same ridiculous & knackering scale Julia Junior achieved) I have to cook a recipe from every cook book i have. One recipe per book per week, this will this force me to follow a recipe & use cook books i've not picked up in months years, some of them i have read countless time but not actually cooked from them. 

So the first recipe is a Blueberry Cake from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, which was a gift from someone lovely. It's a dense vanilla sponge dotted with blueberries (technically my cake was a vanilla sponge with a layer of blueberries at the bottom, but hey ho) & a nice frosting. I would warn you that this is a big cake, perfect when you are having people over for afternoon tea - not just when there's two of you. Otherwise you are both fatties. 

Ingredients:

Cake

• 350g unsalted butter
• 350g caster sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 450g plain flour
• 2 tbsp + 2tsp baking powder
• 280mls sour cream
• 250g fresh blueberries (plus extra fir decorating) 

Cream Cheese Icing

• 250g cream cheese
• 100g butter (room temperature)
• 600g icing sugar

Method:

Preheat your oven to 170C (325F) Gas mark 3, & prepare a tin by lining with greaseproof paper on the bottom round the side.

Cream the butter & sugar together until light & fluffy, either using a hand held electric whisk or a mixer.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping any unmixed ingredients back in the batter. Then beat in the vanilla essence , flour, baking powder until well mixed. Add the sour cream & mix well until everything is combined & the mixture is light a& fluffy. Gently stir in the blueberries by hand until evenly dispersed then pour the batter into your prepared tin.

Bake for forty minutes* or until the cake springs back & is golden in colour.

While it's baking away make the frosting by combining the butter, cream cheese & icing sugar until smooth, using a food processor is fool proof. When the cake is fully cooled, take the cream cheese icing and cover the cake, lastly decorate with a few blueberries. 

I'm not sure why but my cake took FOREVER to bake - almost an hour & a half.. still came out nice & moist, also would to warn you it's a huge cake.

Something's Up

Hello Folks,

Something seems to be up with Blogger at the moment and some of my posts and info are currently missing. I will looking into this with a lot of hand flapping and shrieking and will hopefully have everything back to normal asap. I'l make sure the next recipe post is extra nice to intice you back!

Jenny

Chocolate Truffles

Ok, so this is the biggest gap between postings ever & i feel very guilty... but in my defence i have a very good reason for leaving it so long. Not only did we spend an amazing week skiing in St Anton, Austria with beautiful weather, great snow & the craziest après ski ever, but the Houseboy asked me to be Mrs Houseboy. YAY! All very very exciting & i've been running around like headless chicken. So there has been a lot of drinks & dinners & meeting people which is has been lovely but exhausting so the blog has been neglected a little, i also haven't had much time in the kitchen while i have realised i need to keep me sane. But we are getting back into a routine so will be hitting the kitchen hard, i'm dying to make banana bread, & have been dreaming of creating jaffa cake cupcakes.

Being a chocolate fan i have tried more than a few chocolate truffles, some of my favourites can be found at Rocco Chocolates & Charbonnel et Walker & the amazing William Curley but actually they are really easy to make at home & also make lovely gifts at Christmas or as a thank you. You can flavour them in so many ways, zest, nuts, mint, booze, or more unusual additions like sea salt or lavender. The main thing is trying to keep your hands as cold as possible otherwise you can end up in a sticky, chocolaty mess. Not necessarily a bad thing!

Ingredients:

•         400mls double cream
•         400g dark chocolate (i used 75% coco solids)
•         zest of two oranges
•         a pinch of salt
•         a splash of brandy
•         5 tbsps coco powder for dusting

Method:

Take the chocolate & break into small pieces, and place in a bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water (make sure the bowl isn't touching the water) & gently melt. While that's happening zest the oranges making sure you get any of the pith as it's bitter. Once the chocolate is melted, remove from the heat and stir in the cream, orange zest, salt and brandy. Place in the fridge & leave to cool for at least two hours or until it is fully set. Once the ganache is set you are ready to roll. Literally. Grab a teaspoon & scoop up some ganache & quickly roll into a ball with your palms. Make sure you keep your hands as cold as possible to stop the chocolate melting. I usually keep a bowl of iced water near by to stick my hands in (make sure you dry them fully before continuing) Take a bowl & add the coco powder carefully roll the truffle around the bowl coating it fully and shake off the excess. Keep the truffles in the fridge - they should last a week. They should, but they won't because they are so darn delicious.

 

My Holding Ring

Chicken in Spicy Yoghurt

We are on another attempted health kick. This, i guess, is when i should start advocating a healthy balanced diet etc etc but if you want that kind of chat then this may not be the place for you. If i'm having to eat healthy 90% (wishful thinking) of the time, then my weekly blog will be my calorie slip up. One of the reasons for the said health kick (apart from my favourite belt getting too tight) is the because The Houseboy is competing in his first half marathon in Bath and followed swiftly by his first full marathon in Copenhagen. Needless to say i will not be running but i will be standing at the finish line waiting for him with a shiny foil blanket thingy & a sandwich.

The Houseboy is a bit of a junk food prude & can ignore a plateful of biscuits easily, i on the other hand find it a little harder. For one, this is partly down to my workplace which seems obsessed anything to do with sugar. Cakes, biscuits, robinson's fruit juice, sugary tea... There is always something tempting lurking on the meeting table. Some things i can say no to - rich tea biscuits & ginger nuts to name the very few, but when someone brings in treats from Ottolenghi it's completely impossible to resist. I also have to confess now that i baked a carrot cake to take in tomorrow. The Houseboy is right - i am a feeder and i have no will power. 

                                                               Temporarily banned...

                                          

Don't be fooled by the substandard picture, this is actually a lovely recipe full of flavour & takes no time at all to rustle up. I originally saw a version of this on salmon & green chillies in place of harrisa paste & thought that i would try it out with chicken instead. You can omit the harrisa paste if it's not your thing.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breast
• one large yellow pepper
• 250g of spinach
• 300g low fat greek yogurt
• one tablespoon of harrisa paste
• 2" knob of fresh ginger
• two cloves of garlic
• one bunch of coriander
• s&p

Method:

Take the ginger, garlic & coriander - pulse together in a processor or mini chopper (or finely chop by hand if you're old school). Add the yogurt & harrisa paste, mix well, taste & season. Slice up the chicken and the pepper setting the pepper aside for a moment, take the chicken and cover with the yoghurt mixture leaving a couple of table spoons spare. Add to a medium hot pan or wok & begin to cook gently (you don't want to curdle it) until the chicken is cooked through. Throw in the yellow pepper & cook for a further three or four minutes (you don't want them to get soggy) and finish off by stirring in the remaining yogurt dressing. I served this with couscous but it would go equally well with rice. 

Ottolenghi Raspberry Cheesecake

                                                     

Smoked Salmon Pate

I feel like i've just completed a foodathon, but i'm not sure if sure if i came first or last...

We ate so much food over the weekend that i should really do a 24 hour self imposed famine like i did as kid for charity (was tough but a lot easier than a sponsored silence) It's probably not going to happen though. Anyway the reason for eating so much was a good one - catching with friends & going to a great restaurant. For the first time in ages we headed to The Hardwood Arms in Fulham which sports a Michelin star, a menu to make a meat lover swoon & a lovely atmosphere. It's well worth a visit - just make sure & book. After our fantastic meal we headed round the corner & over the road to Vagabond to samples some wines. A great place where you can buy wine by the snifter, the glass or the bottle its perfect or people who like me who love wine, but doesn't always know where to start. The Houseboy felt nice & smug when one of my favourites turned out to be an  South Australian Shiraz called Sitting Spider.

When ever i make pate, i always seems to do either chicken liver or smoked mackerel, but given the fact that that we still have a whole side of smoke salmon in the freezer the decision was a simple one. I originally found this recipe on the BBC Good Food site but changed it as i thought it didn't have enough smoked salmon in it & i prefer chives instead of fennel.  

Ingredients:

• 300g smoked salmon
• 150g creme fraiche
• 50g cream cheese
• handful of chopped chives
• juice of half a lemon juice
• a little cracked black pepper
 

 Method:

Take all the ingredients, place into a food processor & pulse until combined. It's that easy folks.

...Crisp Brawn with Jerusalem Artichoke Puree & Bread & Butter Pickles... 

  ...Ruby Shirt Steak with Potato,  Spinach & Mushroom Puree...

 

...And finally the Yorkshire Rhubarb Eaton Mess...

Apple & Raisin Cookies

So this weekend past i made ice cream, which happened to coincided with the coldest weather London has seen in a long time - great timing. The Houseboy was pretty against my choice of dessert, requesting a wintry pudding possibly featuring apples & pastry, but i couldn't get the idea of ice cream out of my head, so i just locked myself in the kitchen & got with it. The Houseboy despite his misgivings still managed to eat quite a hefty portion...

Apart from some weekend ice cream & soup making, cooking took a nose drive last week due to a nasty bout of flu which left me not giving a fig what i ate as i couldn't taste anything. The highlight had to be a Swedish/German dish cooked up by Miss Crabbie involving ham, sweet red peppers, cheese, cream & potatoes. It was delicious (possibly the last thing i tasted before my senses went into lock down) despite Crabbie claiming she forgot what she was doing half way through. This week will filled with more hearty fare to try & combat this cold (i don't why i'm moaning, it was waaaaay colder growing up in Scotland as a kid) so cottage pies, soups & goulashes will all be making an appearance. 

Everyone loves cookies, & if they don't, they're not worth knowing. This recipe was an attempt at recreating an Apple Strudel Slice which i saw in being sold in a dodgy shop in Battersea. I was going to buy the slice but then i read the ingredients list & realised it would take me several spin classes to work off the 'trans fats'. So i made these instead. They may have butter & sugar etc, but at least you know whats gone into them. Next time i make these i will be throwing in a handful of chocolate chips & hazelnuts instead of apples & raisins. Just to mix it up.    

Ingredients:

• 250g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 100g caster sugar
• 200g soft brown sugar
• 170g melted butter
• a handful of chopped dried apple
• a handful of raisins 
• one egg
• one egg yolk
• one tsp vanilla essence 

Method:

Set your oven to 170C, grease a baking tray & set aside.

Take the melted butter & cream together until blended.

Add in the vanilla essence & eggs & blend till light & fluffy.

Carefully sift in the flour, salt & bicarb & gently mix.

Add the raisins & apple & fold in.

Place roughly one tbsp of the mixture onto the baking tray - don't flatten them.

Bake for 15 - 17 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack & keep in an air tight box.

Smoked Mackeral & Beetroot Salad with Salsa Verde

It's Friday night, it's after ten pm & i'm still writing this bloody blog. It's not all glamorous dinner parties & perfectly risen cakes, it's more sweating in the kitchen, trying to write things that sound vaguely interesting & attempting to take artistic pictures while your food grows cold. Bah. Saying that i still love it, i still think about food all time, i still think about lunch while eating breakfast & i still plan dinner menus while cycling to work. I'm classed as a 'hobby blogger' i believe & i very much doubt i will ever give up the day job & sit gazing out the window while writing a daily blog about how maaaaarvelous everything is while being paid. I may sound a little bitter, but i'm not, even an old gas bag like me would eventually run out of words.

My culinary hit list for twenty twelve seems to be growing rather shrinking & that's annoying. I should be happy that i'm full of cooking inspiration, but instead, i'm getting cranky that i can't keep up with it all. There are fifty two weeks in a year so i should really just shut up & get on with it. Over all not the most positive sounding waffle this week, but even the most cheeriest people are cranky on the odd occasion. 

This is more a collection of ingredients rather than cooking, but again what qualifies as actual cooking? Stop thinking about & just make then eat it. This dish makes me hopeful that January is going to end & the getting up in the dark, leaving work in the dark & general gloom of the first month is going to end. I hate January.

Ingredients:

This serves two people

• three mackerel fillets
• three raw beetroots (you can buy them already cooked & in sweeten water if you like)
• one large avocado
• one bag of rocket

Salsa Verde

• one bunch of parsley
• one clove of garlic - crushed
• two tbsps of capers - roughly chopped
• four anchovies fillets
• one shallot - finely chopped
• zest & juice of a lemon
• olive oil

Method:

Take the beetroots, slice the tails off & put them on the boil as you would potatoes, cook until tender - this should take about 30 minutes. Once they are ready, put them into cold water to cool & carefully peel off the skin which will come of easily. While the beetroots are cooking make the Salsa Verde which is ridiculously quick & easy. Either take all the ingredients & pulse in a food processor until roughly chopped then mixed with enough olive oil until you achieve the consistence or chop everything by hand & combine with olive oil. 

Take the beetroots & avocado & quarter then lay round the plate then take the rocket & place in the middle of the plate. Lay the mackerel fillets & top with a dollop of salsa verde.

Enjoy.

Lemon Curd

It's no surprise that i love cooking shows & luckily the Houseboy is happy to watch them. One of our current favourites is Heston Blumenthal's show which is great despite the fact he's completely bonkers. His wacky enthusiasm does give me inspiring ideas - not quite to his madcap scale but it has given me lots of ideas about pairing flavours & textures, my next book purchase will definitely be The Flavour Thesaurus for this very reason. A Salted Caramel Tart will be one of this first things i bake - i love things which are both salty & sweet. Heston love a gadget but I have to say the most dangerous kitchen item i have lurking around is a blow torch (i never ever tell the Houseboy i'm about to use it otherwise he gets really nervous) I would love to have lots of gadgets & pointless but fun things like a melon baller or a little thingy that makes butter curls but unfortunately our wee kitchen is so over loaded that there is a current ban on buying anything new. That will last approximately until i next walk past a kitchen shop.

With my recent promise to myself to do more creative things in twenty twelve i have written a list of things to do & achieve. Firstly a weekend photography course, secondly to make cushions using the beautiful tweed fabric Mrs Rhodes gave me for Christmas, thirdly - actually do something with all the vintage scarves i have collected & fourthly cook a list of dishes that i have been putting off or ages which includes: Marshmallows, Chocolate Truffles, Eccles Cakes, Border Tart & Cornish Pasties. I'm exceedingly good at starting things & not particularly good at finishing things but i am going to endeavour to change that. Hopeful yet realistic on that one...

After making this Nigel Slater recipe i will never buy Lemon Curd again, it's just too easy to make & so delicious. It's ridiculously good on toast, amazing with Meringues & Cream, great as a Lemon Tart filling & fantastic when you just stick your finger in the jar. You can also substitute the lemons for either oranges or limes.

Ingredients:

Makes two jars.

• zest & juice of 4 unwaxed lemons
• 100g butter
• 200g sugar
• 3 eggs & 1 extra egg yolk

Method:

Put the lemon zest, lemon juice, the sugar & butter into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water - making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Stir with a whisk from time to time until the butter has melted. 

Mix the eggs & the egg yolk lightly with a fork then stir into the lemon mixture. Let the curd cook stirring regularly for about ten minutes until it's thick & custard-like. It should feel heavy on the whisk. 

Remove from the heat & stir occasionally as it cools. Pour into spotlessly clean jars & seal. This will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge. 

Onion Marmalade

I'm almost hesitant to say this out loud & it's doubtful that the Houseboy would back me up just yet, but i think, think, that i may have the beginnings of my bread baking mojo back. When i first learnt to bake bread i was (in my opinion) pretty good at it. Then BAM, i suddenly i could only produce heavy, dense, unappealing lumps of unhappiness. But this weekend past i made a Wholemeal Loaf which not only was i able to slice with the bread knife, but it's even edible without toasting! Yip-bloody-yee. I have to say this is mainly down down to the shorter of the two on the Fabulous Bakers Brothers which has recently started on Channel 4. A butcher/chef & a baker brother duo  who are passionate about all things culinary it looks like it's going to be a great series. His biggest piece of advise was to kneed, kneed & then kneed some more, and i think in hindsight that's been my problem. So on Saturday morning i set to it & threw in some serious muscle, the result was heartening and i will be baking bread every Saturday until i get it just perfect.

i didn't make this but i wish i did

I spent Sunday wandering through Brick Lane & Spittlefield markets indulging in my love for vintage scarves with an old school friend Miss Crabbie (a funny hybrid of Scottish & Swedish, i wouldn't be surprised if she deep fries her herring) Admittedly it's it had been months & months since i last headed out East to hang with the cool kids (and they are so cool - embarrassingly so) but i couldn't believe the change it's gone through. It's almost clean & tidy! Gone are the towering piles of food wrappers in dingy corners, no more bizarre people sitting on pavements trying to sell you a teapot with no spout, there are even loos in the Sunday Up Market! The charm of old & broken v new & shiny is all part of he feel & i'm all for improvements but i'ts now hovering on the line of just becoming another bland enterprise. A bit like poor old Camden Market, (which i still like i have to say) once a quirky, strange place were you could buy something that no one in earth would wear (or want to) is now overrun with mass produced nylon dresses & knock off watches. 

 

Not only is this onion marmalade great with cheese & biscuits but it's also a fantastic filing for a Onion Tart. If you suddenly find yourself with people over at feeding time it's a quick & easy starter or main with a hearty salad. Garnish with savings of parmasan cheese and bake in the oven till its melted and the pastry is crisp. You can use either red or white onions, bearing in mind that red onions are sweeter. 

Ingredients:

• 110g butter
• 675g onions - either red or white
• 1 & 1/2 tsp salt
• good pinch of pepper
• 155g caster sugar
• 7 tbsp red wine finger or sherry vineger
• 255ml red wine

Method:

Start by putting the butter on to gently melt, while it is, slice the onions thinly & add to the pan with the sugar & s&p, cover & cook until soft & caramelised. Add vinegar & wine & cook until it thickens.