Sweet Potato Mash

I realise I haven't posted any recipes for a while. This is a hearty healthy winter warmer.

Serves 2-3

2 Sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 white potato, peeled and chopped
Big knob of butter
Splash of milk
Salt and pepper
Cubed Pancetta (optional but lovely)

Boil the potatoes (sweet and white) in hot salty water for about 15 minutes, until soft but not falling apart.

Meanwhile fry up some cubed Pancetta in a small frying pan, ideally in some garlic oil.

Strain and return to pan with butter milk and seasoning.

Mash well. Stir in the pancetta. Check the seasoning again and serve while piping hot.

Great with fish or griddled poultry.

Spicy Root Vegetable soup

With all this cold weather at the moment, it SO is the time for soup. The heat of the spices in this one gives that little extra warmth too.

Ingredients:

Big glug of olive oil
1 large sweet potato, diced
1 white potato, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 parsnip, diced
1 leek, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1 pint of boiling water
Seasoning to taste


Heat the oil in a large heavy based pan. Put all of the vegetables into the pan and clamp the lid on. Stir occasionally but leave them to steam in the oil for about 15 minutes. Add the spices and stir well. Add the boiling water. Bring to the boil and then leave to simmer for about 20 minutes. Blend until smooth. Season to taste.

Hearty, warming and healthy. Perfect lunch option for this cold season.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Day 1 of the New Year. Vegetables needed. Slight problem of too cold/can't be bothered to go to the supermarket. This is based on a soup that we had in Jerusalum and what I could find in the kitchen. Hit the spot.

Ingredients:
1 Butternet Squash
1 red onion
Few cloves of garlic
Few small tomatoes
1/2 pint of vegetable stock
Dash of sherry
Pinch of mixed spice and ground cinniman

Method:
Pre heat oven to 200. Cut and roast all the vegetables for about 50 minutes. Leave the skin on the squash.

Transfer all to a big heavy based pan. Add the hot stock and sherry and spices. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes. Whizz and season well.

Nice.

Christmas Cake 2009 - Icing

So. The cake has been made, fed and marzipanned. Now it was time to move onto icing. I followed the Delia royal icing guidance, which takes about 10 minutes with an electric whisk to get your egg whites and icing sugar looking like this:

I used 4 egg whites and about 550g of icing sugar for my 8 inch diameter cake.

Now it is time for the fun bit. Getting the cake to look snowy Christmassy white. ALWAYS start with the top. It is much harder to blend the sides to the top. Start by dolluping in the centre and then work out towards the edges:

I then used a large plastic pastry brush to cover the sides. And end up with this:

Delia recommends 2 or 3 coats. I have just done my second and it now looks like this:

One more coat and then it will be put away and the final decorations added next weekend. This should make a good centrepiece for the table next weekend when the family arrive. I have to find some use for it. After all. as I have said before, people don't like Christmas cake much. I will be having a slice at some point though and enjoy the weeks of nurturing this cake has had.

Mince Pies

I used my home alone morning today to catch up on some TV, read the papers, go for a long walk in the park and to do some Christmas baking. It was mince pies this morning. They aren't for us. My Mum is making those for our family Christmas lunch next weekend. These are for the carol service. So, they needed to be quite good, or at least look presentable.

Lots of people tend to be fearful of pastry. Believe you me I have tried out a few recipes myself that haven't worked. These days I have one pastry recipe that never fails. So be it a savory or a sweet dish, this the pastry I use. If you have a magi mix it is even easier.

Ingredients:

300g Self raising flour
150g butter / margarine
Pinch of maldon salt
Cold water

Without Magi Mix: You will get your fingers dirty. Using clean hands mix/crumble the fat into the flour to get breadcrumbs. add the salt. Just lift it up lots to get lots of air. Make a well in the centre of your bowl. Drizzle in a couple of tablespoons of water and mix with a metal spoon until the mixture starts to bind. Then use your hand to kneed. If it is too sticky, add more water, and if too crumbly add a little more cold water.

With a Magi Mix. Put the flour, fat and salt into the mixer. Use the large blade to whizz to make breadcrumbs. Switch to the large paddle/dough maker blade. Add a little cold water. Whizz to make dough.

On a good flat clean surface kneed your dough a little more and then roll out to make pastry. For mince pies this needs to be about half a centimetre thick.

For the mince pies you need to grease the linings of a 12 hole cake tin. You also need a large and a smaller cutter. Use the large cutter to cut the bottom linings. Place gently in the tray and then add about 2 spoonfuls of good quality mincemeat to each pie. Take care not to over fill. Then using the smaller cutter, cut the lids. Place on top of each individual pie, using a little water to stick.

Stab each pie a couple of times with a sharp knife. Brush with some milk and sprinkle with some brown sugar. I think brown sugar makes them even more seasonal.

Place in oven for just over 25 minutes, until golden brown. Then transfer to a cooling rack.

These freeze well. That's exactly where mine will be going before being dropped off at church later in the week. I took a picture of them first though:

Sprout watch and Krispy Creme donuts

So. As I sit here supping yet another "sprout smoothie" I have a slight smugness that I have achieved my aim this week - to eat the entire large bowl of Brussel Sprouts.

On Wednesday I tried roasted sprouts.

Ingredients:

1 pumpkin - peeled and diced
1 red pepper - deseeded and sliced
Few chopped shallots
Few pumpkin seeds
Few walnuts
Several brussel sprouts - peeled, washed and halved
Large glug of Olive Oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 190. Put all the vegetables and nuts a baking tray. Drizzle with the oil and season well. Place in oven and roast for approx. 45 minutes, turning about half way through.

Serve on green leaves with a large dollup of hummus.

I sound like a health freak. BUT I have also recently made another discovery. Krispy Creme donuts. For years I thought these had cream in them so had no interest. But it turns out they don't and boy do they taste good. I shared a couple of these with my friends earlier in the week. I hope the sprout effort have negated any badness from my sugar consumption.

Krispy Creme donuts V brussel sprouts? No contest.

Sprout Smoothie

Not as bad as it sounds. And I know it sounds bad.

Ingredients:

4 carrots
2 apples
6 brussel sprouts
Squeeze of lime juice

Whack all this through the juicer. Stir and down in one.

Brussel Sprout fix for the day.

Done.

Brussel Sprouts with toasted walnuts, lime juice and olive oil

The first Jo made up brussel sprout recipe didn't taste bad at all. In fact quite nice. I went for a combination of brussel sprouts and walnuts to cross two seasonal superfoods off the list in one dish.

Ingredients:

• Brussel Sprouts
• Walnut halved, chopped
• Dash of lime juice
• Dash of extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Peel, halve and the boil the brussels for about 5 minutes. In the meantime, toast the walnuts by heating them in a pan. Keep an eye on them and turn of the heat as soon as they start to crisp. Drain the sprouts and return to their saucepan. Add the walnuts, a squeeze of lemon juice and a good glug of olive oil. Season to taste.

The lime juice took the edge off the sprouts and cut through the after taste. Olive oil also makes the smoother texture. If all else fails, I will be having this as a side dish all week.

Cranberry Sauce Recipe

I'm hosting the Christmas lunch for the my side of the family next weekend. We are celebrating as a family the weekend before Christmas, as some of us will be away. I have started planning. And I have started cooking. I am making as much as possible myself. Any excuse to cook. Although I love to cook, I am also a very big fan of doing ahead so decided to start putting a few things in the freezer ready. First up was cranberry sauce.

I have seen some recipes suggesting adding orange peel, but I had satsumas and decided to put in the juice too, as an alternative to additional water and to make it even more Christmassy tasting.

Ingredients:

300g Cranberries
4 Satsumas and their juice
Splash of water from the kettle
Splash of brandy (shhh...)
3 tablespoons of sugar/sugar alternative

Put all of the ingredients except for the sugar in a heavy based pan. Boil up for about 5 minutes until the cranberries start to pop. Push down with a wooden spoon to make a sauce consistency. I don't overdo the squashing as I want this to look like I made it. Add sugar to taste. This is to take of the sharpness of the stewed cranberries. Leave to cool. Whack in freezer and then defrost and warm through when needed.

This is clearly not for those who don't agree with fruit and savory combinations, like the other JC. But personally I like a large spoonful of cranberry sauce with my Christmas lunch and am looking forward to this one already.

Super Healthly Green Vegetable Soup

Anyone would think I have some scan or something looming, given this was the most obvious thing I could think to make for my tea. And I continue on sugar strike. Maybe there is. Maybe there isn't. But anyway I got more excited the more green vegetables I put in this soup. It also probably had something to do with it being dinner for one tonight, hence no moaning about the lack of bacon or cheese or pasta in this, had someone else been home. Which are apparently on the alternative list of superfoods.

Ingredients:

Good glug of olive oil (anti inflammatory properties, good for healthy cells)
1 Leek, chopped, Sliced shallots, Crushed garlic cloves (all high in anti nasty qualities)
1 fennel bulb (detoxing for liver)
I small head of broccoli, including the stalk, sliced and half a cauliflower. (Crucifous vegetables are the king of superfoods.)
1 pint of hot vegetable stock
Large splash of white wine (well this has grapes in it and adds to the flavour)
Lots of ground black pepper
Generous amount of chopped parsley.

Put a large heavy based pan on the hob. Heat the oil and then add the ingredients in the order listed. Softening as you go. Add the hot stock and wine. Bring to the boil. Turn down to simmer and leave for approx. 20 minutes.

After the 20 minutes has passed, use a handheld blender to blend until smooth, leaving some chunky veg in it. Add the parsley and stir well. Add lots of freshly ground black pepper and serve.

Now. Give this recipe a chance. It may make Gillian McKeith proud but it actually tasted really good. The cauliflower gives it a creaminess. The leeks and fennel a depth of flavour. And the stock and wine give good consistency.

Ok. So this tasted good. But Jonny is at Nobu on some work dinner this evening and I think his tea probably tasted marginally better than mine. And I know fish is good for you too, but think I win the superfood prize this evening. Although if I had been offered the chance to go to Nobu tonight I would be there too. Loving the Miranda show on BBC 2 though. Not that I am biased about the cast or anything.

Cauliflower Cheese recipe

Can't really take the credit for this one. Asked my sister how to make it - but it came out well and was great with the beef pasties for a quick and easy Friday night supper.

Ingredients:

1 Cauliflower
1 Broccoli
Approx 50g butter
Approx 75g flour
Approx 200ml milk
approx 100g Cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 180

Boil the cauliflower and broccoli in some salted water for about 10 minutes until softened. Drain and set aside in your over dish.

To make your cheese sauce first melt the butter over a gentle heat. Add the flour and make a paste. Add the milk, and, whisking continuously, bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and stir in the cheese and salt and pepper.

Pour over your veg and put in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Nice.

Economy Gastronomy: Paul Merrett

I was in the Victoria earlier in the week, and last night actually but anyway, I spoke to Paul about his cook book. I'm not sure he is a celebrity chef in the same sense as say Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsey YET, but he is on the telly and has a couple of cook books out. So that make him kind of a celebrity chef, right?

I told him how I had been trying out his book and writing reviews of the recipes on my blog. He is a really smiley man and was really nice about it. We had a little chat and he said thank you very much.

Nice man. Good pub. Great recipes so far.

He wanted me to try out the other book which is all about growing your own veg on an allotment. Not sure I am quite there yet, and don't think Farmville on Facebook counts, but if the farmers on the family want to take on that challenge then I will let him know.

Meatloaf

Never really been a fan. Of the artist or the dish. So, was a somewhat reluctant choice from the so far very successful Economy Gastronomy cookbook. However, a glance down the ingredients this morning made me think I should open my views somewhat. Aubergine and olives. Nice. Oregano, garlic and onion. Good. Lamb mince. I had some good quality stuff in the freezer. Didn't have a lot of other options for this evening either quite frankly.

So, back from from first day of my course (all good but that's another post) into the magi mix went all the ingredients. This is slightly away from Allegra's guidance but hey, it's my meatloaf so who cares? Fiddly bit was the aubergine but worth it for the nice strips that line your loaf. Other than that, whizz and whack in loaf tin in the oven.

Verdict: Apart from the realisation on eating that I had used whole and not pitted olives... pleasantly surprised. I think this dish proves my theory that if you take good quality fresh ingredients, and complimentary mix of flavours, all should be fine. Can't say this is ever going to be my favourite dish in the world but tasted a-o-k.

As for Mr Meatloaf himself. It will take more than a decent mix of his tunes to change my music tastes I'm afraid. More of a Take That girl.

Roasted venison sausages and butternut squash with mash and buttered leek gravy

This was more of a "what on earth am I going to cook for dinner tonight?" moment. I looked in fridge, freezer and vegetable bowl and this is what I came up with. It tasted really good and would definitely make again. Think the squash would be optional.

As an aside this is sausage and mash that is good for you! My nutritionist told me that venison sausages are good for you as they have a higher proportion of meat in them, and the meat is less intensively reared, therefore better quality too. The squash has vitamin E that is great for the skin, the potatoes potassium and the leeks are high in anti nasty qualities.

Ingredients:

• 6 venison sausages
• 1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped
• 1 red onion, peeled and quartered
• Couple of cloves of garlic, peeled
• 3 white potatoes, peeled and chopped
• Knob of butter and splash of milk for mashing
• 3 leeks, washed and chopped
• Large knob of butter
• 1/2 pint of vegetable stock

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. In large roasting tray put in sausages, squash, onions and garlic. Drizzle with Olive oil. Put in oven for approx 40 minutes. Check occasionally to turn sausages and squash.

Meanwhile make mash. Boil potatoes for about 20 minutes, then mash with butter and milk. Set to one side.

For gravy. Soften leeks in melted butter for about 10 minutes. Add hot stock and bring to the boil and then simmer for about 5 minutes.

In warm bowls place mash, followed by sausages and roasted veg. Spoon over generous amount of leeky gravy. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Done.

Thai Green Curry

This one went down well. I have made Thai Green Curry so many times that I tend to make it up as I go along these days. If we have people for dinner then I make my own paste. Whilst impressive this can be dangerous as chilli's can be different heat and on one occasion I served an unintentionally VERY hot version for a couple of friends, who went bright red and were sweating lots and guzzled their own weight in water. Not my finest culinary moment.

Requests for recipe last night (and this is quick and easy and using shop bought paste!)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 white onion, finely sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• Large dash of flavourless oil - I use ground nut oil
• 2 chicken breasts, skinned and diced. 2 chicken thighs, skinned and diced. I find the mixture of white and brown meat best
• 300g mushrooms, sliced OR bag of frozen char grilled vegetables
• 1 X 400g can coconut milk
• 400g hot vegetable or chicken stock
• Few crushed lime leaves (buy frozen from Waitrose)
• Couple of tablespoons chopped coriander (by frozen from Waitrose)
• 1 tablespoon Thai Fish Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Thai green curry paste (as much or as little as you like, depending how hot you want your curry)
• Pinch of ground ginger, cumin, coriander powder

Method:

Soften onions and garlic over medium heat in oil for about 5 minutes. Add the chicken, and more oil if needed, and stir fry until brown and cooked through. Add mushrooms / vegetables. Stir fry quickly.

Add all the other ingredients. Bring to the boil and then turn down to simmer for about 20 minutes. Add more fresh coriander at the end if you like.

Done. Serve with lots of soft white rice and maybe a nice cool glass of Sauvignon Blanc.