More fun with Sophie

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Its been a while since I posted but I have still been cooking my through Sophie's book when I get a chance: I had a lovely break in Yorkshire during which we reverted back to the Moro book for a few days while I cooked some of my favourites for my friend Sara and our children, and a lovely time we had too.

Over the last few weeks I have been dipping into 'Organic' anytime I am thinking 'hmm what shall we have for lunch, or supper': rather than just making something up I am using the book for ideas. Flicking through one afternoon I came across a recipe for gnocchi, 'Gnocchi with mushroom and sage ragout', and I thought I would have a go as I haven't made gnocchi since college! fun and easier than you might think. And so much more lovely than those nasty supermarket ones you can bounce. Really nice sauce too.

Gnocchi with Mushroom and Sage Ragout

1.5kg baking potatoes
1 egg
250g plain flour plus extra
seasoning and grated nutmeg

225g Chestnut mushrooms quartered
1 onion
3 tblsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic chopped
small bunch sage shredded
1 400g can tomatoes
1 tblsp tomato puree
tsp caster sugar ( recipe states a tablespoon but I think this is too much)
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
(15g dried soaked porcini mushrooms- I didn't add these but i'm sure it would add to the intensity)

The recipe advises to boil the potatoes in skins but I favour baking them till soft in the oven and then scooping out the fluffy insides: makes for a drier and easier to handle gnocchi mixture). Weigh out 1kg fluffy potato, push through a sieve or ricer and add the rest of the gnocchi ingredients and work into a soft warm dough. Cover with a tea towel.

Now break off tennis sized balls of dough, roll into a sausage with your hands, to thumb thickness, and cut into 2.5cm pieces. The next bit is the fun bit and takes some practice.....hold a fork facing underside of the prongs facing up towards you, tips on the work surface. Roll the gnocchi up this to get the characteristic marks, and put on a floured baking sheet. When they are all done, cover again and make your sauce.

Soften the porcini in warm water for half an hour if using. Fry onion in oil till soft, add the mushrooms (and the chopped porcini, reserving the liquor) and fry till tender: add the rest of the ingredients and the mushroom juice if you have it being careful not to pour in any grit, and simmer for half an hour.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, and carefully poach the gnocchi a few at a time till they bob to the surface, removing with a slotted spoon and placing in an oiled baking dish. When done, top with the ragout, and a handful of grated Parmesan,  and bake in a hot over for 15 to 20 mins.

Parsnips in the Summer

So the next book from my bookshelf is 'Organic' by Sophie Grigson. It's about ten years old and was co-written with her then hubbie William Black. Half the book is about organic farming and food and is quite interesting. The rest of the book is a selection of recipes that they feel highlight the best of organic produce but of course they can be made with non-organic ingredients but don't tell Sophie.

I had some Glamorgan sausages in the freezer, and as they are made with potato I didn't want a potato accompaniment  but was fancying something sausage and mash-ey, so thought the Spiced Parsnip and Cashew Gratin would fit the bill nicely. I wasn't sure if I could get parsnips in August but there they were, really nice sweet young English ones, so apparently you can!

Sophie peels, cores and slices parsnips thickly, and boils in salted water until just done. I added sweet potato in equal quantities because I fancied them and thought it might make the dish a bit more summery. Then she sautes an onion in oil and butter until soft, and adds a teaspoon each of mustard seeds, fennel seeds and two of cumin, and cooks until the seeds start to sizzle. I didn't use fennel seeds (as I didn't have any) but added a little turmeric instead. Sophie put the boiled vegetables into a gratin dish, and layers the onion mixture on that. I thought it might be nicer to mix the onion through the vegetables.
Its then topped with the cashews, breadcrumbs and grated cheese and baked or grilled. We ate this with a green salad and the sausages. Delicious.

Festival Fun and a Little More Simon

I have been fortunate enough to have been festivalling at Camp Bestival for the last few days so exchanged my kitchen for a camping gas stove, supernoodles and very overpriced underwhelming festy food but then I guess that's the whole point! Saying that, the amazing Kerstin Rodgers did have a Supper Club at the festival with this lovely sounding menu that was reportedly really delicious, and we'll definitely be booking our table for next year:


Starters
Deep fried courgette flowers
Deep fried elderflower fritters
Asparagus mimosa
Stuffed day lilies

Main Course
Salmon wrapped in vine leaves with rice
Gratin dauphinois with wild mushrooms

Local Dorset cheeses

Desert
Local ice cream with candied rose petals
Bergamot posset

Yum eh? And a very cool Midnight Sitting. Missed out there!

Before we went though I managed to explore Mr Hopkinson's recipes a little more. I forgot to look up a recipe before going shopping, but remembered a Smoked Haddock rice dish: I couldn't get Smoked Haddock so I bought some Smoked Cod instead, and I thought what I remembered was Kedgeree like in style so I bought some eggs and decided to wing it from the fridge with the rest of the ingredients. When I got home I looked for the recipe and found that in fact there wasn't one in the book at all but that I had seen him make it on his show. Oops. Anyway I printed from the internet Smoked Haddock Pilaf, but used my cod instead, some homemade garam masala (pretty much all the curry spices I like: cardomon, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, black pepper, cinnamon stick ground in a spice grinder) and finished it off with finely diced red onion instead of spring onion, and fresh parsley instead of coriander, not because I think it's in any way similar but because that's all I had in the fridge. It was very delicious, and I ate far too much of it, and had the leftovers for breakfast the next morning.

My final foray into this book, because it really is too meaty and creamy for me in the main, was driven by having picked up a pack of samphire the previous day. I adore this lovely sea vegetable, especially with salmon, and so decided on Grilled Salmon, Sauce Verte and Fennel Salad, substituting the salad for the samphire and some new potatoes. Simon griddles the salmon to give it a really crispy skin, I put it in a really hot oven, having rubbed the skin with oil and seasoning, and it worked pretty well too. The sauce is made in the style of aioli: for two portions, whisk an egg yolk, at room temperature, with half a clove of crushed garlic, and a pinch of salt, until it begins to thicken. Then whisk in 1/4 to 1/2 a pint of oil in a thin, steady stream, alternating with the juice of half a lemon. Simon uses olive oil, I like a mix of olive and sunflower or else it can be a bit strong and bitter. Whisk until you have a lovely thick sauce. Then to finish, blanch a big handful of flat parsley leaves, and the same of watercress leaves, in boiling water, drain, rinse in cold water, squeeze dry in a tea towel and chop really finely, with an anchovy fillet, a few mint leaves and basil leaves, and add this to the sauce with a big squeeze of lemon and some seasoning. There is something so satisfying about making your own mayonnaise. It is so much nicer than the bought version. So I served this lovely sauce with my salmon, sauteed my samphire gently in a little unsalted butter, tossed in some boiled new potatoes, and delicious it was too. Thanks Simon, you were lovely. I might come back again soon.

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.