Rhubarb, Orange & Prosecco Jam

Well, it's been several months sinced i last posted, but it's time to get back into the kitchen & feed the houseboy up for winter. The summer has been filled with weddings (including our own wonderful day) an amazing Italian honeymoon, parties, hen do's & weekends away which have all been brilliant fun, but it's secretly quite nice now it's all calming down.

 

This time of year is great for jam making & due to our amazing (& very surprising) British summer there is an abundance of deliciously ripe fruit available. This is a recipe from a Jam & Preserves book i've had a while but never used - the recipe actaully calls for plain old boring water, but i thought i would liven it & add some prosecco & it works very well. The ginger isn't too overpowering & the orange really enhances the flavour of the rhubarb. It's quite a sweet jam (more so than say a raspberry jam) so would work well with desserts like greek yoghurt.

 

Ingredients:

• 1.5 kilos of rhubarb
• 50g of fresh root ginger
• pared rind and juice of two oranges
• two lemons
• two pints of prosecco (its just shy of a bottle - top up with a little water)
• 1.75 kilos of sugar
• 15g butter

Method:

 

Slice the rhubarb & add two thirds to a large heavy based saucepan. Finely grate the fresh ginger, zest & juice the oranges & juice the lemons. Add these to the rhubarb along with the prosecco and the two half's of lemon shell (the pectin in the lemon helps set the jam). Bring the mixture to the boil & simmer for around 45 minutes to an hour with the lid off so the fruit has reduce by about half. Allow to cool & remove the lemon shells. Add the remaining rhubarb & gently simmer for about 5 minutes until the fruit is soft. Gradually stir in the sugar over a low heat until fully dissolved, bring to the boil and reduce to a gentle simmer until it reaches setting point. Take off the heat, stir in the butter and skim the scum off the top. Pour into clean and warmed jam jars, top each with a disc of waxed paper & allow to cool completely before screwing on lids.

 

The Wedding Day

Hazelnut & Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today was spent mostly tucked away in the kitchen by myself. I'm a social person & love a good chat, but i'm also very happy being by myself. Especially in the kitchen listening to Radio 4 or watching re runs of Casualty (i never said i was cool) So with the Houseboy out practicing his golf swing i spent the afternoon making Summer Greens Soup, Aubergine Chutney & Cookies. All a success (well i think so) although i didn't quite anticipate the Chutney being so hot-despite the recipe warning me. I reckon it will balance out with a good strong cheese.I always cook for others & love having people over, but i think i sometimes lose sight of cooking purely for myself. I can thank a certain Mr T. Fry for making me change this slightly. He recommended a great blog www.gastronomicalme.com. In it she talks about the pleasure of eating alone & purely relishing simple ingredients put together. I'l be getting a fair bit of practice starting tomorrow as the Houseboy is heading off to Aberdeen for the next two weeks... They say 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' or in the Houseboys case buys him two weeks peace & reduces my washing load by half.  

Earlier in the week i mentioned seasonal produce & i when i was walking down North End Road yesterday i saw a fruit & veg stall selling fresh figs. Figs are a fruit i rarely eat, i think because trying dried figs put me off. After buying a tray of ten & getting home i wondered what i was actually going to do with them. I had a good look through my cook books & found an interesting recipe for Fig Jam by Stephanie Alexander but quickly realised that they firstly needed to be dried out in the sun. Fail, as, not only do i not like dried figs there is no chance i could find enough sun in August let alone October to complete the recipe. So we decided to eat them simply wrapped in Parma Ham & they were delicious. I'm looking forward to having some for breakfast tomorrow morning. 

This is a Nigel Slater recipe from a Guardian publication in 2009, its one of the nicest cookie recipes i have made in a while. I doubled the recipe (only because the Houseboy & i are both taking them to work) & made them really big. Crispy on the edges & chewy on the inside. Perfect with a cup of tea on an Sunday afternoon.  

Ingredients: 

• 75g skinned hazelnuts
• 180g butter at room temperature
• 90g golden caster sugar
• 90g light muscovado sugar
• 2 eggs
• 100g plain chocolate
• 180g plain flour
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 

Method:

 

Set the oven at 180C/gas 4. Toast the hazelnuts till they are golden brown. This is easiest done under a hot grill with a watchful eye, but you can do it in a non-stick pan if you prefer.

Cut the butter into small pieces and put into a food mixer fitted with a beater attachment. Add the sugars and cream to a light and fluffy texture – you may have to scrape the mixture down from the sides a couple of times with a rubber spatula. You can, of course, do everything with a hand-held electric mixer or even a wooden spoon if you prefer to do it that way.

Break the eggs and beat them into the mixture. Chop the chocolate into small chunks, the size of small gravel and add it, together with the sieved flour and bicarbonate of soda, slowly and at quite a low speed, to the dough.

Take a large, heaped 15ml tablespoon of the dough and put it on a non-stick baking sheet (or use baking parchment if you prefer). Flatten it lightly. Continue with the rest of the mixture, putting the dollops of mixture well apart from each other.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes until they have spread and are golden in colour. Let them cool for a few minutes before lifting them off and transferring them to a cooling rack.

Rocky Road Biscuits

I had a lovely start to the week with a very impressive lunch in Battersea Park with Dr Feggetter & Lesley. The ladies brought the most amazing array of Smoked Salmon, Prawns, Fillet Beef, homemade Chocolate Mousse & Strawberries. After all that food & two glasses of wine, the rest of the afternoon at work was a complete right off, but well worth it. It was a slow start to the week on the cooking front, but it accumulated at the weekend in a marathon session of jam jars, sugar & puff pastry & chocolate. Happy days.

The Houseboy has been in Australia for the last two weeks celebrating his dad's 60th & this has brought some interesting points to light. Firstly, the flat has never been so immaculate, secondly i've not tripped over a pair of socks in days & thirdly as much as i love cooking, i've realised that for me its all about cooking for other people. Don't get me wrong, i still ate (the end of the world would not prevent me from eating) but i pretty much lived off veg stir fries, cheese & Merlot. I'ts just so much better when you have someone to show off to. He's back tomorrow morning (yay) & i have already prepared one of his favourite meals for tomorrow evening, Lamb Shank in Red Wine Sauce. 

Rich Tea Biscuits

On Saturday morning i had a jam making session (therapy for nearly dying at spin class again) i starting off with my Chili Jam recipe which i love making, it literally goes with everything & then had a crack at a sweet jam. About 18 months ago i tried my hand at making Bramble Jam for the first time. It was an unprecedented disaster & very disappointing. I ended up with a jam so thick you could cut it into cubes & was so sweet that one mouthful would have your teeth begging for mercy. When the lovely Rosie & i were moving my belongings across London in a van, i accidentally dropped a jar on the pavement. The jar shattered but was almost perfectly held together by the super glue jam. A fail of epic proportions.  Anyhoo, we all have the odd off day in the kitchen so i gave it another go & this time it was a success! I stuck with plain old raspberry & it turned out nicely. I'm already coming up with different ideas on unusual combinations. Rhubarb & Ginger Jelly anyone?

Toasted Hazelnuts

Sunday afternoon was spent with the ladies at a baby shower for Mrs Philips. Everyone brought along delicious dishes & it was my favourite kind of afternoon, a good chat, lots of yummy dishes & champagne. I made homemade Sausage Rolls with honey mustard & finely chopped apple & the biscuits below. The Houseboy & i found amazing little baby booties with the Union Jack flag on them. He's going to the best dressed baby in London!

Baby Shower Fare

This is a recipe from a great little book titled 'Cookie Magic' by Kate Shirazi  i thought it looked fun & a little different. I made a few changes, by toasting the hazelnuts & adding a few sultanas. They are very sweet but incredibly moreish. 

Ingredients:

• 225g plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 75g caster sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 175g unsalted butter
• a wee bit of milk

•  300g milk chocolate
• 200g mini marshmallows
• 100g hazelnuts
• 100g raisins (optional)

Method:

To bake the Rich Tea Biscuit base start as follows. Place all the dry ingredients in a bowl, add the butter & rub it using your fingertips until you have a consistency like fine breadcrumbs. Add enough milk (a dessert spoon at a time) until you have a firm dough. Roll out on a lightly floured surface, try to make as thin as possible. Cut with circular cutter, prick all over & place on a lined baking tray. Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden. 

Making the topping is a bit messy but great fun. Start by toasting the hazelnuts either in a hot pan or in the oven. Take the chocolate & break it up into little pieces in heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Make sure the heat isn't too high, you don't want to burn the chocolate. That would be mean & disappointing. Once fully melted add the hazelnuts, marshmallows & raisins & mix in well. Gently spoon the mixture on top of the biscuits (make sure the biscuits are cool) The chocolate is a bit like glue so you can pile it up nicely. Try and leave an edge round the mixture. Leave to set fully in the fridge before getting involved. 

The Jams

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Well, second time lucky uploading this recipe, my first attempt reigned triumphant for two days before mysteriously disappearing without trace....Lesson learnt? Always, always, always, back up in word! For those of you reading this perhaps for the second time, hopefully this one will be better than the last. Its also very late now, because i've been having a barrel of laughs in Sunny Portugal-more of that soon.

Mercier Champagne

Firstly a quick round up of our trip with Mrs & Mrs Brown in the Champagne region of France, a great area hosting some of the best drinks in the world, Pol Rodger, Moet & Juliet Perrier to name but a few. The trip was filled with tours, picnics, meals out & dodgy banter. We did tours of Tattinger & Mercier which were fun & informative, although i spent most of the time anticipating the tasting afterwards. Mrs Brown & i proved that cycling & champagne do not always mix after an amusing double fall on Avenue de Champagne...

Chicken & Fois Gras Terrine with Prune

We had a fantastic meal out courtesy of Mrs Brown's research. La Table Anna a small & cosy restaurant in the center of Reims was outstanding. Reminiscent of your nan's sitting room in the 80's it's a totally unassuming place & the food is fantastic. After an amuse bouche of Courgette Soup with Goats Cheese Cream  i chose the Chicken & Foie Gras Terrine with Prunes. I am a big fan of prunes used in savoury dishes & they went very well with richness of the foie gras. I avoided eating fois gras for years thinking the process quite cruel, but embarrassingly after my first taste all thoughts flew out the window & i now love it. I do appreciate the methods used offend some people.

Pig Trotter with Mushrooms & Duck Liver Mashed Potatoes

My main wasn't any lighter but was even more delicious. Pigs Trotter stuffed with Cheese & served with mushrooms. This was also accompanied by a small pot of buttery mashed potato with believe it or not, a ducks liver in the middle. Possibly the richest dish i have ever had... The meat was amazing, very tender after being cooked slowly for hours. The Houseboy's snails were fantastic & the best I've ever tried, served in individual little pots with toasted tops, the were hot, earthy & very very garlicky. 

On return to London we spent a fun Friday night celebrating Mrs Philips' birthday at Vinoteca, a busy a lively place in Farringdon. I started with Razor Clams served with Samphire, the dish was done well but i did keep thinking back to the wonderful ones i had in Scotland over Easter. The highlight was definitely the main - Gressingham Duck with Polenta & Blood Orange. The duck was perfectly cooked cooked, seared on the outside & pink in the middle. The polenta was an interesting addition, i never cook with it a home for some reason but i will certainly add it to my repertoire now. Mrs Rhodes once made a Chocolate Polenta Cake when i was growing up, but if my memory serves me correctly it didn't quite make it to the afternoon tea table. Pudding was a Triple Chocolate Mousse which nice but quite sweet, despite dark chocolate being used.

The Bake Off Entries

Sunday morning was spent baking a Lemon Drizzle Cake for a continuation of Mrs Philips' birthday celebrations in the form of afternoon tea. Mr Philips proposed a 'bake off' (Australians love a bit of competition) Mr Philips produced a stunning Bill Granger Chocolate & Mandarin Cake which was dense, moist & very good with whipped cream. Miss Challen's Toasted Coconut Cake finally convinced me that sweet coconut is actually delicious, Miss Lummis rustled up a traditional Teacake which had great flavour & perfect density. Miss Holford, the busiest socialite i know brought beautiful cupcakes, and lastly the Houseboys splendid Summer Fruits Tart pipped everyone to the post & was declared clear winner. (i hate it when he cooks something better than me)

Toasted Coconut Cake

This Lemon Cake is a really simple recipe with great results. It's actually originally a reader submission to Delia Smith's website, but i have made a few changes. You could also make this with limes for something a little different.  

Ingredients:

• 4oz butter
• 6oz caster sugar
• 6oz self raising flour
• 4 tbsp milk
• grated zest of 2 lemons
• 2 large eggs
•  
• juice of 2 lemons
• 2-3oz caster sugar

Start by setting your oven to 160c, then lightly grease a 2lb tin (you can use a square or round tin of you wish) Add all the cake ingredients to a bowl & gently mix until well incorporated. Pour into the cake tin & cook for 35-45 minutes. Check it every so often to make sure that it cooking evenly & not browning too much, if you feel that it is, carefully lay a sheet of tin foil over the tin (don't seal round the edges) & this should prevent it happening. While the cake is baking mix the lemon juice & caster sugar together & gently heat until the sugar dissolves.  Leave the cake to cool for 10mins before carefully pouring the drizzle over the cake. Leave to cool completely before turning out. In my experience it's better to keep this wrapped in greaseproof paper, as tin foil sticks to it. It should keep for 4/5 days if wrapped up carefully.

The Baking Crew