Diverted by Simon Hopkinson

I saw the first episode of Mr Hopkinson's new beeb series 'The Good Cook' on Friday evening. I have had a copy of 'Roast Chicken and Other Stories' for many years, and while it's a lovely read I have never used it as a cookbook (I am the kind of person that reads cookbooks like novels). But seeing the programme, and watching him cook, made me want to dig it out again, so i'm making a small diversion into this book for a few days. Its very meaty and creamy so not everything appeals but certainly worth a look!

So I started this evening with the first dish Simon cooked on the programme, Piedmontese Peppers. I have come across this recipe so many times, originally brought to our attention by Elizabeth David, but taken up by various chefs such as Delia, Skye Gyngell and no doubt many others. I have always thought, mmm, I like the sound of that but for some reason have never made it.

Instead of using regular red peppers, I used those long, thin, Romesco ones, sliced lengthways and deseeded. I then blanched, peeled and deseeded a punnet of cherry tomatoes, which was a bit of a labour of love. Then all you have to do is season inside the peppers, lay them in a baking dish, add some sliced garlic, about half a clove to each pepper half, then the tomatoes equally divided. A tablespoon of really nice olive oil to each pepper half, and then bake in a really hot oven for 30 minutes. Mr H then reduces the oven and bakes for another 30 minutes: the peppers I used were quite thin fleshed, and so only needed a few more minutes. Then take them out of the oven, let them cool down a bit, then serve with tinned anchovies and maybe a few fresh basil leaves. You definitely need lots of nice bread. This is a seriously impressive dish and I wish i'd made it before!!!

Last of the Moro and the Marrow

Coming to the end of my time with the Moro book, sadly, I could happily just stick with this book but then I wouldn't be doing what I originally intended......really can't decide what to move onto, got Gordon Ramsay's aptly titled self fulfilling prophesy book 'Just Desserts' in front of me but don't think I could do a week of puddings; and Heston's 'In Search of Perfection' but I really don't have that much time!! May go for Maddhur Jaffrey's 'World Vegetarian' or possibly Sophie Grigson's 'Organic' next, we shall see.

For lunch today was looking to use up some fridge leftovers, so with the rest of the marrow, Greek yoghurt  and half a bunch of mint I made the delicious 'Courgette and Yoghurt Soup'. What's nice about this for me is that you finish it with a swirl of caremelised butter, which is unsalted butter, gently heated until the solid bits start to turn brown and take on a nutty flavour. And the marrow is gone for another year.

Courgette (or Marrow) and Yoghurt Soup

Caramelise 50g unsalted butter as above. Put aside in a little jug or ramekin. Whisk 400g Greek Yoghurt (I actually used half Total, and half regular plain yoghurt, and it worked really well) with and egg and 1/2 tablespoon of plain flour or cornflour. Degorge 1.5kg sliced marrow or courgette, this means tossing in a little salt, putting in a colander, and allowing to drain for about ten minutes. Rinse and pat dry with kitchen paper. Saute in 50g more butter, 2 sliced garlic cloves and 1 tblsp chopped fresh mint for about half an hour until really soft. Squish up with a fork, stir in the yoghurt and 750ml chicken or vegetable stock, simmer for a few minutes to cook the flour. Season well, stir in another tablespoon of mint and swirl over the browned butter. Moro finish with a little bit of dried chilli flakes and more mint.

Marrow Me

I have this thing about marrows. I find them irresistably appealing even though they are just giant courgettes and don't taste of much. I suppose they say Summer to me. When I see them in the shops I just have to but one, only that one, for the year, and I think, 'I'll do something with that' and it sits around looking giant for a while before being invariably baked in a lovely rich tomato sauce or maybe filled with a  herby ricey stuffing.......the Moro book has a marrow recipe, unsurprisingly, as all allotment growers seem to speak of gluts of overgrown courgettes nestling under the leaves that need turning into something, and we've all gasped at a prize marrow.

So I made Fried Marrow with Caremelised Butter, Mint and Yoghurt. It's basically what it says, marrow fried in unsalted butter (anything fried in butter is fine by me) but what was really lovely was the yoghurt sauce to accompany it: a few cumin seeds toasted and then crushed to a puree with a little garlic and salt, stirred into watered down Greek yoghurt with lots of mint. The marrow needs to be really HOT for this to be really good, but the yummy sauce could be served with loads of things......fried aubergine, or hot green beans, or as a salad dressing....nice. We also had a simple salad from the book, of Grilled Onion, Peppers and Lentils. I have never grilled spring onions before (I got an extortionately priced bunch of those nice giant ones from Waitrose) and when you grill them until they are black, they go nice and squidgy inside and have a lovely soft smoky flavour. A nice red wine vinegar dressing: I have some Shiraz vinegar from Australia that worked really well. We threw in a bunch of grilled asparagus, plenty of nice cold white wine and had a rather splendid tea.

Adventures Through My Cookbooks

I know it's not a particularly original idea, a la Julia Childs and many others no doubt, but I do find myself cooking the same old handful of dishes, and, lovely as they are, I have so many cookbooks, packed with so many recipes, that I have decided to try and cook through them all. Not every recipe obviously, so just a handful, according to season, what I find in the shops, what sounds too delicious not to cook, and there will definitely be a fish and vegetable bias as I don't really eat meat.

So I started last week with the Moro East book by Sam and Sam Clark. This appeals to me because it's so simple, and has a lovely 'good life' feel about it which is so very now, as it's based around what they and their neighbours  grew on their Hackney allotment (before it was bulldozed for the Olympics).

The first recipe I cooked was the Celery and White bean soup. Primarily because it has to be practical and I had a blinking great head of celery and some almost going tomatoes lurking in the fridge. Oh my gosh what a dish to start with. Talk about something being more than the sum of it's parts. Even my child, who eats anything but nevertheless still said 'urgh celery' thought it was divine. I made some of the flatbreads on the side too, I didn't have strong flour but only plain and wholemeal, so I did a mix of those and they still came out great: served with labneh (I actually mixed together Greek yoghurt and cream cheese as recommended and it was lush).

The next night we had Syrian fattoush. This is a really lovely salad, very simple, using the homemade flatbread dough rolled very thin, baked, then brushed with a little butter and re-baked to make it really crispy. And pomegranite. Now I thought pomegranite was a Winter fruit, to us, from about October to March, but I was able to get it from sad to say Tesco's...... but the dressing with this salad is to die for, just pomegranite juice, garlic, olive oil and seasoning. The rest of the ingredients are aubergine (they saute it but I would roast it next time for a firmer texture with less oil) pomegranite seeds, flat parsley and mint, spring onions and cherry tomatoes. Yum yum yum.

Then it was the Spring vegetable pilav. Again so simple. I make lots of paellas, pilavs, risottos, those kind of composite rice dishes but what i think makes this so special is that there is quite a lot of onion, which is braised till soft and going brown, in butter, as a base; and quite a lot of dill. Served to visitors with a lemon and olive oil pot roasted chicken, the juices whizzed up to make an amazing sauce, and some Cos lettuce with the rest of the dressing from last night. Very well received. And the leftover rice, cold, the next day, with a nice homemade quiche made a perfect picnic contribution.

My version of the recipes I used:

Celery and White Bean Soup

Slice a head of celery, and saute gently for 10 mins in a good glug of olive oil. Add a bunch of sliced spring onions,  3 or 4 sliced cloves of garlic and a pinch of salt. Cook for another 10 mins, stirring often. Add 500g skinned, seeded and chopped fresh tomatoes, a big pinch of celery salt and a can of drained white beans (either cannellini, or haricot are perfect). Cook for a further 5 mins then add 250 ml water (I used the water I used to blanch the toms) and 60ml olive oil. Cook for a further few minutes and serve with a swirl of nice olive oil. The Clark's serve with Turkish bread, oily black olives and crunchy sping onions. I didn't and it was still lovely.

Flat Breads
Mix 225g half and half strong white flour and wholemeal flour with 3/4 tsp salt. Mix 1/2 tsp dried yeast with 150ml lukewarm water and 15ml olive oil. Gradually add this to the flour, and when all incorporated transfer to a floured surface to knead until lovely and smooth and elastic: this takes about 8 minutes for me. Leave to rise, in a bowl covered with a cloth, for about 1 1/2 hours until doubled in size. Then divide the dough into 8 balls,  roll each into a rough circle and bake on a floured baking sheet, in a hot hot oven, for 5 to ten mins, baking two at a time.

Spring Vegetable Pilaf
Melt 75g unsalted butter in a saucepan, with a piece of cinnamon stick and 6 pimento or all spice berries, until foamy, and add a sliced, large onion, a pinch of salt and saute until soft, about 20 mins. I deviated here, as I couldn't get fresh artichoke, and added half a jar of artichoke heart in olive oil, sliced, with about 8 spring onions chopped up, and cook for a few minutes more. Add 300g basmati rice which has been soaked in lukewarm water for an hour, then drained, stir it in to coat in the butter. Add whatever vegetables you like now, I used asparagus, frozen peas and broad beans, and courgette. Add half a bunch of chopped dill. Now add some stock: whatever you have. Fresh chicken stock would be perfect, I used vegetable stock powder which was good too. You need half a litre. Bring to the boil, add a tight fitting lid, cook for 5 more minutes on a medium heat, 5 more on low, then turn off and leave to rest for 5 more. Stir in two tablespoons of finely chopped mint. the rest of the bunch of dill, and three more sliced spring onions. Test for seasoning and serve.