Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts

Wednesday, 8 August 2012

Finding Time

What. A. Week.

Or more accurately, few weeks. take one parent in hospital (who's fine - it's a long story but the ending is happy), one rushed trip to Glasgow (to visit said parent, despite their protests that they were ok) and two mentally busy weeks, add one very anaemic Gluten Free[k] and a day in hospital getting iron topped up and you've got very little time to breathe!

When life gets hectic, I find my refuge in the kitchen. I make stock; lovely fragrant, clear, consommé style stock that requires lots of attention and skimming. Then I make pho or risotto (there's real therapy to be found in the standing and stirring of the rice as the dish swells and comes to life). If I'm really stressed, I make curry; roasting and grinding spices, marinating the meat then gently cooking until the whole thing is tender and aromatic is surprisingly calming. Now, I have a new zen-in-the-kitchen item, soufflé...


No, I'm not going mad! Whipping egg whites, folding in creme patisserie, working quickly, but gently requires my attention. I don't have time or space to think about anything else and that is the ultimate distraction from the whirlwind that my life has become. It has taken a few trials to come up with a good soufflé, I'm sure there's more work to be done. There's no recipe for you, yet, I need to tidy up some of the quantities and test the recipe before I share it, this is just a teaser! In the meantime, why not head over to my Domestic Sluttery column and make the most of the fantastic berries that are in season just now.





Thursday, 19 January 2012

Lavender Sugar Cookies

Growing up, I spent many happy summers on my Grandparents' farm in Norfolk.  There are many smells that can instantly whisk me 20 years back in time to those carefree days: ripe tomatoes, buddleja, and lavender flowers.  Norfolk and lavender are synonymous in my book, and (possibly due to the many day trips to the lavender farm in King's Lynn) their sweet fragrance pervades every memory of my holidays there.

On a whim late last year, I decided to make lavender sugar.  Perhaps it was a fit of nostalgia, maybe just a subconscious attempt to remember my Grandparents at a time of year when I miss their presence most. Whatever it was, I added a heaped teaspoon of dried lavender flowers and a recently deseeded vanilla pod into 500g (ish) of caster sugar, put the whole thing into a container, sealed it and left it in the cupboard for later.  Apart from the occasional shake, I haven't given it much thought since.  Until this week, when I was researching sugar cookie recipes and a spark of inspiration suggested that this might be a good use for the lavender sugar.

Well done to that spark!  As the name suggests, sugar plays a significant role in a sugar cookie, so it was a brilliant way to showcase the deliciously scented sugar.  In a nod to my Grandpa's prized buddleja (sometimes called a butterfly bush), I decided to dig out my prettiest cookie cutter.


Lavender Sugar Cookies

150g lavender sugar, sieved to remove the flowers (see above)
150g butter, softened
1 egg
150g white rice flour, plus a little extra for dusting
100g brown rice flour
  • Whisk together the egg and sugar until frothy and no grainy bits are left.
  • Sift in the flour and add the butter, combine well then turn out on to a floured surface and knead well until you have a smooth dough.
  • Wrap with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for about an hour.
  • Once the dough is chilled, roll out on a floured surface (about the thickness of a pound coin) and cut out your shapes.
  • Place cookies on a greased baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes at 170 degrees Celsius, until lightly golden.
  • Allow to cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack (if you move them sooner, they'll be too soft and you'll break them).


I iced my cookies with plain water icing.  Sift icing sugar into a bowl and add a couple of drops of food colouring.  Mix in hot water, a teaspoon at a time to make a thick paste.  Put a couple of spoonfuls into a piping bag with a thin nozzle and pipe the outline around your cookie.  Thin the remaining icing with a little more water and spoon it in to fill the rest of the cookie.  Use a cocktail stick to push the icing to the edges.  Then decorate with edible glitter, chocolate beans, or whatever you fancy!




Sunday, 28 August 2011

A Figgy Chutney with Lavender

I have not had the best week.  I 've been told that I will need surgery to refashion my stoma, just as I thought Crohn's related operations were behind me.  I doubt it will be as major a surgery as my resection, or colostomy formation, but I'm not exactly looking forward to it either. This is the kind of thing that reminds me how far from my family I am.  Fortunately, stoicism is as much of a genetic trait as autoimmune disease, and I will cope. My Husband will be his usual, supportive, self, my Parents with come down from Glasgow, my Brother will call more often, my friends will bitch about how rubbish Crohn's Disease really is.  People will ask, "is there anything I can do?"  And mean it.  I will survive.

Gino D'Acampo, in his book, Fantastico!, says that people should cook alone.  "Cooking should be a selfish and relaxing experience; selfish because it is probably the only time that you should think about what YOU like and how to satisfy yourself."

While I think that Gino is a fabulous chef and his recipes are great, I don't subscribe to this concept.  I believe that cooking with others can be an enjoyable and bonding experience.  As for satisfying yourself?  Some of my best dishes have been created with other people in mind, to share with family or friends.  Until dishes pass the Husband-taste-test, they are not complete!  I agree that cooking alone can be incredibly peaceful and therapeutic, however, I enjoy the sociable side of cooking with others.


As a child I'd to watch my Mum and Auntie cook with their mother.  Grandma would say, "get the thingumyjig out of the whatsit, will you?" Then, I would stare open-mouthed as one of her daughters fetched her the exact item she required!! That kind of synchronicity inspired me and I longed to have the same one day.  Now that  I'm grown up, I have that relationship with my Mum.  Cooking with her is one of the most relaxing activities I know, I learned from her so we work well together in the kitchen.  I only wish I lived closer to her so we could do it more often.  Back in April, during a visit to Glasgow, Mum and I cooked risotto and trifle (using my cardamon banana bread in place of the sponge base.)  She had recently been to a class at The Cook School and the risotto was one dish she made. As we chopped and sauteed and stirred, I was completely at ease, this was mother-daughter quality time at it's best.  Then the family - Mum, Dad, Brother, Sister-in-Law, Niece, Husband, and Me - sat around the dining table and shared a meal.  Perfect.  Family, food, laughter and sharing.  That is what cooking is for me.

(I'm hoping to go to The Cook School with Mum sometime, along with my Godmother -the one who sends me a gluten free hamper for Christmas, and the inspiration for my auction item for the #fundforjennie- and one of her daughters.  I saw a demonstration at the World Pipe Band Championships at Glasgow Green a fortnight ago and I am looking forward immensely to the experience.)

Just writing about sharing a meal with my family is making me feel quite homesick.  Don't get me wrong, I love Kent, (it is the Garden of England after all) but it's not Glasgow.  I will go wherever my Husband goes, he is home for me, and right now his job is in Kent  The weather is better here, granted, and I do love the great produce you can get in the area.  Last week, I found myself at Brogdale Farm in Faversham and I was delighted by the abundance of fruit and vegetables that grew in this fine county.  I left, arms full, with damsons, new season Bramley apples, pears and plums.


When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, or so the saying goes.  I didn't have any lemons, so I made this instead.


Pear and Apple Chutney with Dried Figs and Lavender

600g Bramley apples, peeled, cored and chopped
400g pears, peeled cored and chopped
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp ginger root, grated
2 fat garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp lavender 
500ml cider vinegar
150g light muscovado sugar
250g granulated sugar
250g dried figs, each cut into quarters

  • In a heavy based saucepan, toast the coriander seeds for a couple of minutes, then tip them into a mortar and grind.  Add the lavender and just bruise it with the pestle.
  • Heat the oil in the pan, and gently saute the onion, ginger and garlic, soften it, but don't brown it.
  • Add the chopped apples, pears, and figs and mix together.  Add the vinegar and sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
  • Stir in the coriander seeds and lavender.  Bring to a simmer and leave for around 2 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom.   
  • When the mixture has reduced by half, and the fruit is soft it is ready to be poured into sterilised jars.  (You should have enough to fill around 5 1lb jars.)

Pear and Apple Chutney with Figs on Punk Domestics

This chutney is especially great with pork, try it instead of the usual apple sauce.

Tweet

Sunday, 21 August 2011

With Fronds Like These...

Well, I am now officially in my thirties.  I survived the festivities relatively unscathed, thanks to my wonderful Husband, and Mum and Dad (and helped along the way by an exceptional strawberry and basil pavlova at the Ubiquitous Chip in Glasgow.)    So, that's it.  The moment I have been dreading since I turned 29 has passed and I am older, wiser(?), and healthier than I have ever been.  Except for the massive anaemia.  I currently have two default settings: at work, and sleeping.  Occasionally I have mustered up enough energy to indulge in something I love - playing in the kitchen.  Inspired by my Riverford Organics vegetable box, I came up with this.

Fennel Frond Pesto
I have used sunflower seeds, but you can just as easily use pine nuts. (the Husband has a nut allergy and although pine nuts aren't technically nuts, they make him nervous, so I substituted them.)

50g fennel fronds, thickest stems removed
1 fat garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped
25g fennel bulb
juice from half a lemon
10g sunflower seeds
50-100ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil
pinch of salt

  • In a mini food processor, or with a mortar and pestle, finely chop the fennel fronds (you might need to add them in a few at a time to fit them in).
  • Add the garlic, fennel bulb, lemon juice, and sunflower seeds and grind to a rough paste.
  • A little at a time, mix in the oil until you have a consistency that you are pleased with. I like a loose paste. 
  • Taste, and season as necessary.

Try this tossed through boiled new potatoes, or as an accompaniment to fish.

Wednesday, 10 August 2011

A Pickling Party!

Social media is under the microscope for the part it has played in the riots that started in London this week and have traveled throughout the UK.  Although Facebook and Twitter have been used to plan the devastating anarchy that Britain has seen unfold, they have also been the platform for movements like #riotcleanup to mobilise armies of broom-wielding helpers to pull together in the aftermath.  It is thanks to Twitter, for example, that the world witnessed the very British act of making tea, where riot shield became tea-tray, that showed that even in the face of adversity, community spirit still reigns.

Community spirit.  In an increasingly insular world it is heartening to know that it still exists.  The really great thing about social media is that it can bring together people from across the world, united by a common interest.  The gluten-free community, the food-blogging community, the Crohn's community, all the bigger, richer, more supportive through Facebook and Twitter.  In July 1500 people made pie together.  It started out as a discussion between a handful of people on Twitter and grew from there.  This month, we're having a pickling party!

I'm fairly new to the word of pickles.  Making them, that is (at university, my friend and I would buy a jar of pickled onions each and eat them in one sitting.)  I had a glut of chillies from my plant last year so I pickled some and realised how easy it actually is to do.  Then I made piccalilli and fell in love.  Last week, I opened my last jar and that meant it was time to make some more...

Piccalilli
I have given the measurements for 1kg of vegetables so that it's easy to scale up or down as needed.

1kg Vegetables (I used cauliflower, cucumber, radishes, baby onions, and a red chilli - use whatever you have)
1/2 cup Salt
650ml Cider vinegar
30g Arrowroot
10g Ground turmeric
15g English mustard powder
5g Ground cumin
5g Ground coriander
5g Ground white pepper
200g Sugar

  • Wash the vegetables and chop them into bite-sized pieces.  Put them in a colander and sit it over a bowl, sprinkle the salt over the vegetables, cover and leave overnight. 
  • Overnight the excess liquid will have come out of the vegetables, rinse the salt off with cold water and drain.
  • In a large pan, bring the vinegar (less 1tbsp) to the boil, reduce to a simmer.
  • Mix the last tbsp of vinegar with the arrowroot powder and add to the simmering vinegar, along with the spices and sugar.  Stir until the sugar has dissolved and there are no lumps of arrowroot.  

  • When the mixture starts to thicken, add the vegetables and stir in. Simmer for a further minute before spooning into sterilised jars.
  • Allow the piccalilli to develop for around 6 weeks before eating.  Unopened, it will keep for about a year.
Tweet

Saturday, 9 May 2009

Summer is here?

Officially, winter is over. Daylight Savings Time is a clue, so is my veg-box provider discontinuing their Winter Box. The part of my brain that is supposed to start craving salad and barbecue food at this time of year does not know. I'm still in the mood for soups and stews. What's wrong? I have on many occasions confessed my love of comfort food, but surely I need to get over this soon? I'm trying, my next veg-box will contain the salad box, and I'm attempting to go down the cold-meat-and-coleslaw route for lunch these days.

Perhaps it's the fact that the house we live in is cold all year round, or that every time the sun fights it's way out it rains, or maybe it just that the extra stressfulness of my life is pushing me to seek solace in warm and starchy comfort food. Whatever it is, I'm still a big fan of chicken. Roasted, poached, grilled, or pan fried, I'm happy. Then there's the stock. Risottos and soups are abundant. My craving for comfort food, at the moment, is constant. I finish one meal and I'm planning my next. I'm always hungry! I suppose it's a good thing, it'll help me put on weight. My dietitian is still concerned for my weight and I'd be happy to gain a kilo, or five. And yet, my weight has stayed the same all month, not an ounce, or gram, have I gained. Rubbish.

Well, I'm hungry and I have some chicken and pasta in the fridge...

Tuesday, 22 May 2007

I don't know what I ate last summer

I've had an epiphany... I'm an incurable comfort eater. Even in the height of summer I'd be delighted to scoff a big bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy. I live for stews and casseroles, pies and pot roasts, soup, baked beans on (gluten free) toast. I am renowned for cooking meat in liquid. I love curling up on the sofa with a warming, comforting meal.

It occurs to me now, as we approach summer, that I don't know what to eat when it gets hot! I was so ill last summer that all I ate was rice crispies and tomato soup - not in the same bowl, I hasten to add. This summer, with obstruction removed, Crohn's under control and, hopefully, Coeliacs improving, I need to find summery dishes to eat.

The Crohn's means that I have problems with lettuce so salads are not an option. I should start grilling my meat, I suppose, the BBQ season should help with that. New potatoes - no skins, Crohn's, seasonal vegetables. What's in season? Oh, is it so strange to crave stodge when the sun shines?