Curry for a Gloomy Thursday

Today is a gloomy day for all manner of reasons, and cooking and eating a curry is just the thing to cheer me up!  A search through my most recent Good Food magazine gave me just the recipe I needed: lamb and pea keema, which is a mince based dish packed full of green peas and flecked with red tomato.  It's full of fragrant spice rather than anything too hot, making it edible to everyone, not just boys trying to show off their ability to cope with heat!  I served this with naan bread and chutney, and I will definitely be making it again when we have people round for curries as it is relatively fast and is made up of store-cupboard stand-bys.

Lamb and Pea Keema (serves 4)
1 large onion, oughly chopped
2 garlic cloves
4cm piece of ginger
2 large red chillies
500g lamb mince
2 tbsp garam masala
2 tsp turmeric
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped into small pieces
2 tbsp natural yoghurt
200g fresh or frozen peas
Small bunch of coriander

1) Put the garlic, onion, ginger and onion into a blender and whizz until finely chopped.  Add a tsbp of oil to a wok or large frying pan, and then cook the chopped ingredients until fragrant.  Don't do this on too high a heat or the chilli wil choke you!
2)  Add the lamb to the wok and cook until brown.  Then add the tumeric and garam masala.  Cook for a minute or so.
3) Add the tomatoes and yoghurt, stir in and then cook for 30 minutes.  I put in about 100ml of water at this stage to stop the currying drying out too much.
4) Add the frozen peas after 30 minutes, and cook for another five minutes. 
5) To serve top with a good handful of coriander.

Samosa Pride

Today is a cooking day.  It started with me flipping through cookbooks (I am currently loving The Masterchef Cookbook).  It's got a ton of fab recipes and simple instructions - plus lots of photos which I think are a must in a cookbook!  So much of food is visceral.

Anyway, one recipe that I am not cooking from there today is a practice for an upcoming dinner party.  A group of Mr B's and my friends have started Come-Dine-With-Me style dinner parties.  Fortunately there is not judging going on, but it's basically to make sure we get our arses in gear and reciprocate dinner!  Our turn is coming up, and so far the canapes on offer have been pretty bloody good!  For mine, I have decided on two things so far: beetroot scones with goats cheese, and miniature samosas.  I have to admit that the beetroot scones are a second choice as I initially wanted to make beetroot meringues as they do at the Ledbury in London (thanks to Gourmet Traveller for the photo and inspiration) but after numerous trials (and a lot of errors!) I wasn't getting anything like I wanted!

Anyway, the samosas are the main point of this entry!  I suppose this recipe is actually a cross between a samosa and a spring roll as the veggies I used in it were supposed to be for a stir-fry, but I flavoured them with Indian spices.  Either way, if you pack your filo with lots of filling they are very yummy indeed!

Baked Vegetable Samosas

250g pack of stir-fry vegetables.  I used one with bean shoots, carrots, peppers, and cabbage.  Make sure the chunks aren't too big if you are making canape-sized samosas.

1 garlic clove

1 flat tsp ground cumin

1 flat tsp ground coriander

1 flat tsp mustard seeds

3/4 tsp tumeric

3/4 tsp mild chilli powder

salt to season

100ml water 

150g ready made filo pastry

30g melted butter

1) Dry fry the spices for a minute or so in a wok.  Add a small dash of oil and the crushed garlic clove and cook for another minute or so.

2) Add the vegetables and stir well.  The tumeric will turn everything yellow.  Add 100ml of water and salt and cook the until the vegetables are cooked through and are turning slightly soft.  Remove from the heat.  Preheat the oven to 180C.

3) Taking one sheet of filo at a time, brush it with melted butter and then cut the sheet into 5cm wide strips (or 8cm if you want larger samosas)

4) Place a heaped teaspoon or so of filling on the filo strip at one end. Fold the end of the strip into a triangle shape and keep folding until you reach the end of the strip. Place on a baking tray. Below is a very skillful drawing(!) of folding the samosas:

5) Keep on going until you run out of pastry, filling or patience!  You should be able to make 16-20 samosas.  Once you are done, put the samosas in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden.

6) Serve hot with chutneys and raita.

Berry Good

I have to open with an apology for this recipe - I threw it together and took no real measurements of what I used.  If you're a keen cook, you should have no problem recreating these as they are super simple, you will just have to use a bit of "feel" to guess what's right!


As I say, I threw these together for a quick dessert and this normally includes me rummaging around the cupboards, fridge and freezer to see what I might be able to cobble together.  Frozen berries are one of my all time favourite standbys (along with frozen peas!) because they add so much colour to whatever you are cooking.  They are also incredibly versatile and can be used in anything from smoothies to cakes to coulis.

I also tend to have some form of pastry floating around the freezer.  Pastry is something I tend to make double amounts of so I can rustle something up quickly (if I take it out of the freezer in time of course!).  It's not that I hate making pastry, its just...well, I don't know.  It's just not my favourite kitchen pastime!


Eggs, milk, cream and sugar are my staples.  And by this point, you can probably see where I am going with this!  Berry and custard filled tartlets anyone?

I used my small tart tins (again! I am loving them!) which are around 10cm across.  You will need enough frozen berries to fill them about 3/4 full (so you have space for custard and pastry).  You can make as any as you like, as there will be plenty of pastry and ample custard. Defrost the berries before using them and drain off any juice.




Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
As I mentioned, this will make far more than you need. Simply place the extra in a freezer bag and freeze until next time!


8oz/200g plain flour
4oz/100g butter
3-4 tbsp icing sugar
1 egg


Put all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until you have a pastry.  You will probably need to add a little water too.  Roll the pastry into a ball and wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for around 20 minutes to rest.  Preheat the oven to 180C


After 20 minutes, flour your work surface well and roll out the pastry.  Make sure it isn't rolled too thin.  This pastry is not the easiest to work with, but as you are only making small discs of pastry it should be a little easier.  Cut out pastry to fit the tart tins, trim and cover with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans.  Bake blind for around 10 minutes.


Custard Filling
While the pastry is baking, you can make your custard.  This makes around 1/2  pint (250ml) of custard which will be ample for 4 tarts. 


4 fl oz/100ml double cream
2tbsp caster sugar
drop of vanilla essence
2 eggs
milk to make the custard up to 1/2 pint or 250ml.


Whisk all the ingredients together well, and then strain through a sieve. 


Building the tartlets
Remove the pastry cases from the oven.  Take out the greaseproof paper and beans.  Fill the cases with berries and then pour over the custard to the top.  Carefully transfer the tarts back to the oven and bake for around 20 minutes until the top is turning golden and the custard is set.


There is nothing technical about these, so you should find them easy enough to make.  And even easier to eat of course!  Serve warm with mascarpone or creme fraiche.  The berries add a lovely sharpness to the creamy custard. Mmm.

Sweet Idea for a Savoury Starter

Personally, I think one of the best things in the world is a warm (but not piping hot) apple tarte tatin served with a good dollop of quality vanilla ice cream.  There is the soft and flaky pastry against cooked apples and sweet warm caramel.  Plus a contrasting icyness from the ice cream.  It's making me drool as I write.  I have played around with fruit over the years, using pears, plums and most recently, rhubarb (dear reader, you are probably now getting to know that I love this pink weed).  But never have I tried to make a savoury tarte tatin.  I have read recipes and had them on the backburner, but for some reason I have never got round to it until this afternoon. 

I had puff pastry.  I had peppers.  I had my new individual tart tins.  What more inspiration does a girl need?  Plus, it killed the hours whilst Mr B was engrossed in the FA Cup semi-final, which I'm afraid appeals about as much to me as a ready-made microwave lasagne.  That is, not much.

So on went the oven, and out came the rolling pin to make Individual Caramelised Pepper and Thyme Tarte Tatins (makes 2)

2 peppers (different colours make it prettier!)
1 tsp brown sugar
small knob of butter
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
6-8 sprigs of fresh thyme
150g puff pastry
You will also need two individual tart tins.  Mine are shown below.  They are about 10cm in diameter.

1) Cut the pepper into long slices, and preheat the oven to 180C

2) Put the butter and sugar into a frying pan and heat until bubbling, then add the peppers.  Cook for a couple of minutes on a high heat and then add the balsamic vinegar and thyme.  Turn the heat down slightly, add salt to season and leaveto cook until the peppers are relatively pliable and are browned.

3) Meanwhile, roll out the puff pastry and cut two circles large enough to top the tart tins.  Prick with a fork.

4) Once the peppers are cooked, divide them between the tins.  I made sure my bottom layer of peppers were all skin down so it was more presentable when turned out.  Once the tins are filled, chop up the remaining pepper and fill in any gaps in the pepper.  Top with the puff pastry, pushing it into the edges of the tin.

5) Cook in the oven for 20- 25 minutes until the pastry is risen and golden.  Remove and leave for 5 minutes to cool slightly.

6) To serve, simply invert the tins onto the serving plate and the tatin should easily come out of the tin.  If not, slide a knife aroud the edges and try again.

As I have been writing this, I have found out that Portsmouth have just scored a penalty against Tottenham.  This is not good news and will certainly put Mr B out of sorts :-(  Let me go and put the kettle on to make him a consoling cup of tea...

Harry Eastwood: A Baking Genius

A couple of weeks ago I was at my friend Liz's house.  She's also a keen baker and cook (she even does wedding cakes!) and she had just bought a new cookbook.  Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache by Harry Eastwood.  I was primarily captivated by the book's beauty and utter sweetness, but look beyond this and you see that Eastwood is a GENIUS!  The basic premise is that you remove the butter from the recipe and replace it with grated veggies.  This includes anything from beetroot to courgette to squash.  It's also coeliac friendly as the recipes use rice flour (although this can be swapped with plain flour).  Frankly, I was spoilt for choice.  I didn't know where to begin on what I'm sure will turn out to be a marathon bake-a-thon as I try to get through all these scrummy recipes.

My first attempt has been Orange Squash cupcakes.  That's squash as in butternut.  And boy, are they good!  The grated butternut squash vanishes when it's cooked and my Guinea Pigs (not real ones obviously!) had no idea what they were eating!  It tastes like full-fat-made-with-butter-cake! I tried to be a bit arty and decorate the tops to look like an orange, but I wasn't really successful.  I'll have to keep trying...

Rhubarb and Custard - An Old Perennial

I am writing this recipe up on a day which truly feels like a first day of summer, and I am about to tell you about a warm pudding.  This is truly awful! Maybe I should be hoping that it is raining and cold where you are, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone - well unless it made you eat this pudding of course!

Usually, I make crumble when I have rhubarb.  It's a foolproof combination whose tastes and texture is heavenly.  However, for a change last night I made a cobbler.  Now, Mr B says this is on a par with crumble, which is a big thing for him to say!  I think this pud could feature quite heavily in my repertoire now :-)

I was always under the impression that a cobbler was like-a-crumble-but-not.  It turns out it is nothing like this, and is much more cakey.  Served with cream or custard this is an absolute winner.

Rhubarb Cobbler (serves 4)

For the base

600g rhubarb

2 tbsp fresh orange juce

1 tbsp cornflour

1/2 inch fresh ginger finely chopped

1 tbsp sugar

For the topping

100g plain flour

45g butter

1 tsp baking powder

30g caster sugar

100ml milk

2 tbsp double cream

1 tbsp demerara sugar

1) Preheat the oven to 170C

2) Cut the rhubarb into 1 inch pieces, and in a large bowl mix with the other ingredients.  The place into a large, relatively shallow baking dish.  (I used one about 10cm deep) and put to one side.

3) Rub the flour, baking powder and butter together until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

4) Mix in the sugar and then the milk until you have a sticky and slightly runny dough.  It should resemble a stiff-ish cake mix.

5) Dollop the toppng on top of the rhubarb.  It doesn't need to be neat - in fact it should have patches where the fruit still shows through.

6) Mix the cream and demerara together in small jug and then pour over the cobbler. 

7) Cook at 170C for 25-30 mins.  I would recommend putting a baking sheet underneath the dish.   I didn't do this and spent this morning cleaning spilt rhubarb from the inside of my oven when it had bubbled over. Annoying.

Next time, I hope to be back with something which rather suits the weather better!

The Chicken or the Idea?

Today's recipe is a completely made up thing out of my head.  I am sure if you tried you could find a similar recipe or idea, but as far as I am concerned the chicken came out of the freezer and then came the idea.  Or was it the other way round?  I'm not sure really.  Either way, I made a spring time feeling green chicken stew/onepot which is satisfying in both greenness (it certainly looks healthy!) and in satiating hunger pangs!

I have to admit I cobbled together ingredients and quantities, but I think this is the kind of dish which doesn't require too much accuracy and which cn be changed to suit your own needs.  I also made a tad too much, so the remains were my lunch today.  I swear it almost tasted better cold!

Spring Chicken (serves 4)
8 Chicken drumsticks, or equivalent
1 1/2 pints chicken stock
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 onions, finely sliced
300g peas
200g broad beans
300g macaroni
rocket/basil pesto to serve

1) In a large pan, sear and brown the chicken.  Remove from the pan and set to one side.
2) In the same pan, add a glug of oil and cook the garlic and onions over a medium heat until soft and turning brown.
3) Put the chicken back in the pan, and then add the stock.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
4) After 30 minutes, add the peas, beans and macaroni to the pan. Make sure there is enough liquid in the pan to cook the pasta - if not, add some water.  Cook for 10-12 minutes until the pasta is ready.
5) To serve, I put a dollop of homemade rocket pesto on the top, which added stacks of flavour to the already yummy stew.

My lovely model in the above picture is Mr B who was very patient whilst I took this photo. 

Also, he seems to have found us a house.  The only problem is that it is in Norfolk (and thus far away from where we live) and it is partially submerged.  Not great news for the new fandangled kitchen I am after...

Not Swindled

I am branching out today to become a book reviewer.  Why, you might ask, am I not writing this on Amazon, with a proper "bookish" audience?  Well, it's because my other love, apart from food, is reading.  Anything which combines food and reading in my mind is good, and therefore books can make an occasional guest appearance on the blog!

Anyway, on to this book.  Bee Wilson is a food journalist for the Daily Telegraph and this shines through in her book "Swindled: From Poisoned Sweets to Counterfeit Coffee - the Dark Secrets of the Food Cheats".  She bounds through food cheating from the 1820s to the present day, mainly across the UK and USA showing how food has been adulterated through the ages and the effects this has had on the consumer.  From death in the form of arsenic sweets, and the lengths people went to to make false tea, to today's fear of carcinogens and transfats.  It's a really charming book - despite being full of death and corruption! What's really interesting are the character profiles of those brave souls who tried to change the world of food and who aimed for food in it's purest possible form. This helps add depth to a subject that could easily become a list of dates, adulterated foods, and laws.  I loved this book and was so disappointed when I reached the last chapter, knowing it had to end!  And look at the sweet front cover - how couldn't you love the vintage images on it?!

On one final note, I hope everyone had a fabulous chocolate filled Easter and I will be back writing up recipes in my next post!