green clementine

Still alive

2010-06-05T13:41:00.002+01:00

I'm still here but have been very busy in the last year. We have a beautiful baby girl who is not 13 months old. I love preparing many delicious meals for the three of us and she loves her food :-)

I have also recently started a new job which is extremely demanding, so writing recipes is not top of my agenda right now.

I haven't found (taken) time to write all the new recipes we have tried... shame on me. But I regularly consult this blog for inspiration. I hope others do too!

I hope to return to recipe writing soon.

Purple sprouting broccoli

2009-04-21T17:31:00.004+01:00

Finally, our purple sprouting broccoli is ready to be consumed! We sowed it in March last year and were getting pretty desperate to:

1) eat it
2) get the space ready to prepare the vegetable patch for this year's crop

One thing is sure is that the taste is DIVINE. It is unbelievable how tasty and good it is. For a start, I ecould smell the broccoli whilst picking and cooking it. Then the cooking water was bright green, as if grass juice, which probably means that there are millions more nutrients and goodness in these than the ones we buy from the greengrocer.

I really recommend growing purple sprouting broccoli. It sure takes a lot of space (over 1 m2 per plant) and it does take up your space for at least a year, but it is well worth it if you have the space. We will be growing them again this year for sure!

Touch of spring

2009-03-11T17:54:00.004Z

Seeing these crocuses in the morning make me feel really happy :)

Menu week 2009-09

2009-02-21T16:19:00.003Z

Chickpea & vegetable korma (NEW!),
with basmati rice

Creamy pasta bake (NEW!)

Beansprouts and vegetables enchilladas

Cheesy vegetable chowder

First snowdrop

2009-02-16T19:52:00.003Z

Last year the daffodils and crocuses came en masse right at the beginning of February, and this year, with all the cold and snow we have had, even the snowdrops haven't come out properly. I captured the first one in our garden on Saturday morning:

Menu week 2009-08

2009-02-16T19:39:00.005Z

I don't know what exactly but something went wrong and only half of last week's planned menu was actually cooked. Something to do with both of us being out and coming back late and then we had no time to cook a full meal. Usually it ends up with grilling some Cauldron organic veggie sausages, making some mashed potatoes, and boiling some peas: not very healthy :-(

So, here is our attempt for this week. We will try to stick to it this time! Although I will probably have to fly to Belfast for a couple of days, not sure yet if and when it will happen though...

Stuffed mushrooms,
served with broccoli and mashed potatoes

Carrot and parsnip bake

Tofu & noodle stir-fry

Lentil paté (NEW!)

Menu week 2009-07

2009-02-08T16:10:00.003Z

Stuffed mushrooms,
served with broccoli and mashed potatoes

Carrot and parsnip bake

Spinach and lentil curry, with basmati rice
based on creamy spinach curry

Cauliflower and broccoli soup

Light lunch

2009-02-05T19:44:00.004Z

This light lunch was simply delicious. This is the great thing about working from home: even with only 30 minutes break for lunch, you have time to make yourself something tasty, even if there aren't any leftovers from the previous night's dinner.

These toasted ciabatta with halloumi, sundried tomatoes and a baby spinach and rocket salad proved to be a real treat!

Serves 1:

1 small ciabatta bred, sliced in half
50g low-fat halloumi (Cypriote cheese), sliced
4 sundried tomatoes preserved in olive oil, sliced
2 handfuls of baby spinach and rocket salad, washed and dried (or it will taste watery)
1/2 portion of mustard salad dressing (see below)
Freshly cracked black pepper to sprinkle

1. Arrange the halloumi onto the ciabatta halves and place under the grill until it starts getting golden brown.

2. Place onto a plate with the dressed salad and sprinkle with the sliced sundried tomatoes and black pepper.

For 1 portion of mustard salad dressing (serves 2):
1 TBSP dijon mustard
3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil (ideally mechanically cold pressed)
1 TBSP Xeres vinegar

Blend all ingredients well with a mini-whisk into a bowl and mix with the spinach and rocket.

Healthy snack

2009-02-05T19:31:00.003Z

I am most of the time quite good at not eating 'bad' snacks. I guess it's kind of easy since there aren't any biscuits or sweets in the house. The closest thing to sweet treats that we have in a cookie jar are cereal bars.

But everyone needs a snack every now and then, and with the little one growing inside me, it is quite important to eat when I feel hungry. So as an alternative to the yoghurt and fruit salad, here is the 'classic' hummus and crudités snack:

- 2 or 3 TBSP of ready-made low-fat hummus (well, I'm working full time after all, you can't make everything yourself!)
- 1 carrot, peeled and cut into sticks
- 1/3 cucumber, cut into sticks
- 2 celery branches, cut into sticks

Vegetable enchilladas with red kidney beans

2009-02-01T16:22:00.005Z

These make a very quick and healthy lunch, quite filling too, and very little washing up: what else can you ask?

Serves 4:

4 wholemeal flour tortillas
1 can red kidney beans, rinced and drained
1 can chopped tomatoes
6 sticks of celery, sliced
1 courgette, cut into small chunks
1 green pepper, chopped
2 TBSP millet seeds
2 tsp hot chili powder
1 TBSP parsley
black pepper

topping:
6 slices of mozzarella
1 TBSP pine kernels or sunflower seeds

1. Mix all but tortillas and topping ingredients into a large bowl.

2. Place a layer of the mixed vegetables at the bottom of an oven-proof dish.

3. Fill each tortilla with the vegetable mixture and place in the dish.

4. Cover with mozzarella and pine kernels.

5. Cook for 25 minutes in a 180C preheated oven. Serve immediately.

Menu week 2009-06

2009-02-01T16:01:00.005Z

No time to published this past week's menu as we had my friend K coming over from Germany, so we had little time for planning for food.

This is the plan for this coming week:

Vegetable enchilladas with red kidney beans (NEW!)

Lentil and chick pea patties,
with broccoli and mashed potatoes

Spicy vegetable soup

Vegetarian paella

Sprouting seeds with bulghur and quinoa

Vegetable lasagne

Spring is approaching...slowly

2009-02-01T15:29:00.006Z

The bulbs we planted back in October are growing very well, and I am looking forward to seeing some flower buds. We did not do much in the border at the front of the house last year, but hopefully we should have various types of flowers blooming from the end of February till the middle of summer.

So, to complement the yellow rosebush, lupin, grassbush and heathers that we planted last year, we have planted:

- snowdrops
- crocuses
- tulips
- irises
- anemones
- mixed aliums (nigrum, purple sensation, sphaerocephalon, chrisophii, bulgaricum)

And this is how it looked two days later:

And on Thursday 5th Feb:
Ironically, the only bulbs which haven't sprung yet are the snowdrops!

Best rubber duck ever!

2009-01-23T16:16:00.002Z

This was a Christmas present from my parents. All the 'children' (all above 20) got one. Mine is yellow, my sister's is blue and my brother's is green. I am pretty sure they do get annoying if what you want is a relaxing bath... but they are fun!

Sweetcorn and spinach soup

2009-01-20T19:21:00.002Z

Serves 4

350 g canned sweetcorn
1 TBSP butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 leek, thinly sliced
1 carrot finely chopped
1 large potato, diced
1 litre water
125 ml milk
125 ml double cream
salt & pepper
pinch of nutmeg
200g spinach leaves, chopped

1. Heat the butter in a non-stick saucepan and fry the onion and leek. Cover and cook for 3-4 min. Add the carrot, potato and water and bring to the boil. Add the sweetcorn and simmer for 20 minutes, until the carrots and potatoes are well cooked.

2. Blend half of the soup then return to the saucepan. Add the milk and cream and mix well, adding a little more milk to adjust the thickness of the soup. Season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Simmer over low heat. Do not boil.

3. Add the spinach and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Serve hot into warm bowl with wholemeal bread.

Vegetable toad-in-the-hole

2009-01-20T18:45:00.003Z

First toad-in-the-hole for me and if you don't mind the name of the dish (why on earth does it have this unapetizing name???) it tastes really good.

Serves 4

Batter:
100g plain flour
2 eggs, beaten
200ml milk
2 TBSP wholegrain mustard
2 TBSP vegetable oil (NOT olive oil)

Filling:
25g butter
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 parsnip, cut into strips
3 carrots, cut into strips
1 small broccoli, cut into small florets
100g mangetouts
50g canned sweetcorn
2 tomatoes, deseeded and cut into chunks
1 TBSP wholegrain mustard
1 TBSP mixed herbs

1. To make the batter, sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Beat in the eggs and milk. Stir in the muster and leave to stand.

2. Pour the oil into a shallow ovenproof dish and heat in a 200C preheated oven for 10 min. Do not leave the oven/room unsupervised as the oil may catch fire (as it almost happened to us).

3. To make the filling, boil the parsnip, carrot and broccoli for 10 min.

4. Melt the butter in a deep frying pan and fry the garlic for 1 min. Add the mangetouts, sweetcorn, mustard and herbs. Season well and add the parsnip, carrots and broccoli. Mix well.

5. Remove the heated dish from the oven and pour in the batter. Spoon the vegetables into the centre and return to the oven for 30 minutes until the bater has risen and set. Serve immediately.

Potato-topped lentil bake

2009-01-20T18:28:00.003Z

A protein-packed dish!

Serves 4

Topping:
800g potatoes, diced
25g butter/margarine
1 TBSP milk
50g mixed nuts, chopped
1 TBSP thyme

Filling:
250g red lentils
60g butter/margarine
1 leek, sliced
1 celery stick, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 medium broccoli, cut into florets
250g tofu, cubed
2 tsp tomato purée
salt & pepper

1. To make the topping, boil the potatoes for 15 min, drain well and mash with the butter and milk. Stir in the nuts and thyme. Set aside.

2. Cook the lentils for 20 minutes in boiling water, until tender. Drain and set aside.

3. Melt the butter in a frying pan. Add the leek, garlic celery and broccoli and fry for 5 min. Add the tofu cubes. Stir in the lentils and the tomato purée. Season to taste and place the mixture into a shallow oven-proof dish.

4. Spoon the mashed potato on top of the lentil/tofu mixture.

5. Cook in a 180C preheated oven for 30 minutes and serve hot.

Menu week 2009-04

2009-01-18T13:50:00.003Z

Winter stew

Cabbage and potato bake
(based on cabbage gratin)

Broccoli enchilladas

Curry with noodles,
based on vegetable curry

Only half a week as we had a guest and ate out quite often.

vegetable curry

2009-01-18T12:29:00.004Z

This was a perfect side dish to the spicy and spinach wheels, yum yum... But it would be just as nice served with a plain basmati rice.

Serves 4:

1 small cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 small broccoli, cut into small florets
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
3 carrots, sliced
400g tomatoes, roughly chopped
4 TBSP double cream (or soya cream)
3 TBSP groundnut oil
1 TBSP cumin seeds
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1 TBSP chopped coriander, for sprinkling

1. Parboil the cauliflower, broccoli and carrots for 5-10 minutes.

2. Heat the oil in a big non-stick saucepan/wok and fry the cumin and mustard seeds for 1-2 minutes. Add the other spices.

3. Add all the vegetables and cook for 5 minutes until tender. Add the cream and mix well.

Serve warm as a side dish and sprinkle with the chopped coriander.

Spiced potato and spinach wheels

2009-01-18T11:56:00.006Z

Another great recipe from our Vegan Taste of India cookbook.

This is quite time-consuming: it took us 3.5 hours from getting the ingredients to eating our dinner, but it was well worth it I tell you!
Serves 4-6: (makes 12 wheels)

900 g potatoes, diced
100g wholemeal self-raising flour
25g margarine
1/2 tsp turmeric
black pepper

filling:
225g fresh spinach, washed, patted dry and finely shredded
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 TBSP groundnut oil
1 TBSP (soya) plain yoghurt
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp yellow mustard seed (original recipe with black mustard seeds, but I don't have any)
Black pepper

1. Boil the potatoes until well done, drain thoroughly and dry off over a very low heat. Mash the potatoes with the margarine and add the sifted flour and turmeric. Season black pepper and mix well. Chill for 1 hour.

2. Heat the groundnut oil in a large saucepan/wok and fry the onion and garlic until soft. Add the mustard seeds and garam masala and fry for another minute. Add the spinach and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the yoghurt. Season with the pepper. Allow to cool.

3. Turn the potato mixture out onto a floured piece of cling film and shap into a 30 x 23 cm rectangle. Spread the spinach mixture evenly over the base, leaving 2 cm gap along one of the long edges for sealing.

4. Starting from the other long edge roll up like a Swiss roll (using the cling film to pull the roll up makes this easier) and squeeze the edges together to join.

5. Cut the roll into 2.5 cm portions with a sharp knife.

6. Shallow fry the wheels for a few minutes until golden brown on both sides.

Serve hot with a vegetable curry.

Winter stew

2009-01-18T11:38:00.004Z

As the name indicates, this is great to warm you up on a cold wintery evening. It is very simple too in many ways: simple to prepare (you could have it ready within 30 min), with simple, basic ingredients.

Serves 2+:

2 TBSP olive oil
500g leeks, sliced
3-4 carrots, sliced
3-4 potatoes, diced
250g smoked tofu, diced
Herbs of your choice (thyme, marjoram, basil, parsley,...)
Salt and pepper

1. Heat the oil in a non-stick saucepan. Add the leeks and fry for 5 min. Don't let them go brown!

2. Add 2 glasses of water and the carrots, potatoes and tofu. Bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes.

3. Season with the herbs, salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Potato and spinach korma

2009-01-18T11:23:00.003Z

Serves 4:

2 TBSP groundnut oil
500g potatoes, diced
1 big bunch of spinach, shredded
2 carrots, sliced
4 tomatoes, roughly chopped
200g korma sauce
1 TBSP chopped coriander

300g basmati rice

1. Parboil the potatoes and carrots for 10 minutes. Drain thoroughly.

2. Fry the potatoes and carrots in the groundnut oil for 4 min.

3. Add the spinach and tomatoes. Cook for another 3 minutes.

4. Stir in the sauce and coat well until heated through.

5. Meanwhile, cook the rice according to the package instructions (10-12 minutes). Drain well.

6. Serve rice and vegetables onto warm plates and sprinkle with coriander.

Pasta with veg and creamy tomato sauce

2009-01-18T11:13:00.004Z

Serves 2

250g dried pasta shape

2 TBSP olive-oil margarine
1 bunch fresh spinach, shredded
250g mushrooms, sliced
1 courgette, sliced
4 tomatoes, chopped
4 TBSP double cream
Parmesan and black pepper to garnish

1. Fry the mushrooms in the margarine in a non-stick saucepan for 3-4 minutes. Add the courgettes and fry for a further 3 minutes.

2. Add the spinach and tomatoes and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Stir in the cream and season to taste.

3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta 'al dente'.

4. Serve into warm bowls and sprinkle with Parmesan and pepper.

Celeriac, mushroom and walnut risotto

2009-01-18T10:59:00.002Z

Serves 4 people:

1 onion, chopped
1 celeriac, diced
250g mushrooms, sliced
25g butter
10 cl vodka
400g arborio rice
1 litre vegetable stock
50g Parmesan, grated
2 handfuls coarsely chopped walnuts
Olive oil, pepper, herbs

1. Parboil the celeriac for 10 min then set aside.

2. Fry the mushrooms in some of the butter in a saucepan until golden brown. Set aside.

3. Melt the butter in a big non-stick saucepan, and fry the onion for 4 min. Pour the rice and coat with the melted butter until transculent. Add the vodka at once while stiring.

4. Gradually add the veg stock until the rice is cooked.

5. Add the celeriac, most of the Parmesan (reserve some to sprinkle), and freshly cracked black pepper.

Serve in warm bowls and sprinkle with the walnuts and the rest of the Parmesan.

Lentil tagine with couscous

2009-01-18T10:32:00.004Z

A tagine is a cooking earthware typical of Morocco, usually used to describe the container as well as the contents. It is often a spicy meat or vegetable dish served with couscous.

This recipe is very satisfying and will make a great main course in winter. It is deliciously spicy and an unusual way to use sweet potatoes. It was for me at least.

You do not need the special tagine dish to make this recipe! I used standard saucepans.

Serves 6:

Ingredients

500g red lentils
1 litre Vegetable Stock
1 garlic clove, crushed
700g Sweet Potatoes, peeled diced
550g tomatoes, chopped
1 red, 1 yellow, 1 green peppers, diced
1 Onion, chopped
1 TBSP freshly grated Ginger
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper / hot chilli powder
1 tsp Ground Cumin
Freshly chopped Coriander to garnish

1 cup wholegrain couscous

Instructions

1. Place the lentils, stock and garlic in a large saucepan, bring to boil stirring, reduce the heat cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

2. Add the sweet potatoes, tomato, peppers, onion, ginger, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt. Bring back to simmering point and continue to cook, uncovered, for a further 30 minutes or until the sweet potato is soft.

3. Cook the couscous according to package instructions.

Serve immediately

Chatouille

2009-01-16T17:29:00.003Z

Chatouille has been helping me hanging up clothes as you can see. I don't mind her trying to help, but it does not make the process any more efficient, sadly.

Chatouille has been tormented by a little black cat for the past few days: they fought 3 times today alone!!! During my lunchbreak I witnessed the other cat biting her on the scruff of her neck: poor Chatouille... She does not take refuge inside, but hides in corners or behind the wheelie bins.

The little black uses our back garden as a gateway to the other side of the neighbourhood, and it seems that Chatouille (rightly) disapproves. Except she does not seem to really get the message across as he is the one who seems to be attacking. When she comes back inside the house, she seems very jumpy and paranoid.

I hope she never comes back injured.

Healthy snack

2009-01-10T16:48:00.006Z

What you need in the middle of winter is a good intake of vitamins through fresh fruit. As I need to take some extra calcium too for the strength of the baby's bones, I have been eating regularly this delicious fruit salad on a bed of plain stirred yoghurt.

A feel-good snack much necessary after all the rich Christmas food. I have swallowed more butter in 5 days during our stay in France than I have at home in the past year...

Makes 1 bowl:

3 TBSP plain stirred yoghurt (or any other yoghurt you like)

+ a combination of the following or any other fruit you like:

1 kiwi, peeled and sliced
1 handful of blueberries, thoroughly washed
1 clementine, peeled and divided in segments
1/2 grapefruit, divided in segments
1 slice of pineapple, cut into chunks
2 dried apricots, chopped

You can use tinned fruit if you fancy some out-of-season fruit, like summer berries or peaches. For extra sweetness, why not add a dash of honey, maple or guava syrup?

Menu week 2009-03

2009-01-10T16:38:00.007Z

We now have to plan our meals in such a way that we just have to reheat leftovers twice a week, as Trave has to do 2 evenings of overtime per week until the end of February, while I am out at yoga classes and Russian classes.

Sweetcorn and spinach soup (NEW!)

Mediterranean quiche

Smoked tofu stir-fry with egg noodles (NEW!)

Spinach and ricotta pie (NEW!)

Spiced vegetables and almond casserole (NEW!)

Menu week 2009-02

2009-01-10T16:21:00.009Z

Wow, it has been a while I haven't posted anything here... Yes, we've had a nice Christmas and made it to 2009. Happy New Year everyone!

We entered the new year with the following dishes:

Rice and lentil casserole

Vegetable toad-in-the-hole (NEW!)

Potato-topped lentil bake (NEW!)

Spiced potato and spinach wheels (NEW!)
served with vegetable curry

Fennel and celery risotto

Aubergine and sweet potato rolls

2008-12-14T15:44:00.003Z

This is absolutely gorgeous! Shame I no longer have the photos (serves me right for having stored them on a work laptop). This will make an elegant-looking, yet easy to make side dish, particularly suitable with a nutroast or something with a smoky flavour.

Serves 4-6

500g sweet potatoes
180g Gruyere cheese, diced (it has to be Gruyere!)
1 red pepper, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 large aubergines
1 tsp thyme
50g plain flour
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp flavoured salt
3 TBSP groundnut oil

1. Boil the sweet potatoes for 20-25 min until well cooked. Drain, peel and mash into a bowl until smooth. Add the diced Gruyere, red pepper, garlic and thyme. Season to taste.

2. Place the flour on a plate and stir in the paprika, curry powder and salt with the back of a fork.

2. a) Sprinkle the aubergine slices with the spicy flour (or dip the slices in the spicy flour).

3. Heat 1 TBSP of oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan. Add the aubergine slices in batches, and cook until just golden brown. Add more oil if necessary. Place the cooked aubergine slices onto a plate.

4. Place a spoonful of sweet potato mixture into each aubergine slice and roll, pressing to seal closed. Place the rolls into an ovenproof dish and reheat in the oven until required. (~15-20 min @ 180C)

Alternative cooking method: for a BBQ, you can brush each roll with a little oil and place 3 or 4 rolls onto a square of alu foil. Seal the foil and cook on a medium-hot barbecue, turning occasionally, for 15-20 min.

Menu week 51

2008-12-14T15:27:00.007Z

After a week of eating out 3 times a day, and although the food was delicious everywhere I went (except for the lunch sandwiches I have to admit), it is time to go back to some healthy home-made delicacies.

Winter stew

Potato and spinach korma

Pasta with veg and creamy tomato sauce (NEW!)

Celeriac, mushroom and walnut risotto (NEW!)

Lentil tagine (NEW!)

Unfortunately, we have not taken the time to take photos every meal that week...

My big belly

2008-12-07T11:50:00.004Z

This is me at 18 weeks into pregnancy.

I have to face the truth: I cannot fit in any 'normal' trousers any longer, apart from this old pair of jeans which are super low-cut and which I stopped wearing 2 years ago because I could put them on and off without undoing the zip and button. These days are long gone and I don't think I'll be able to wear these for much longer now.

I had to purchase 2 pairs of 'maternity wear' trousers, one matches a suit jacket that I already owned so I can be smart for work, and the other is a smart casual pair of trousers. Both are very comfortable.

We went to a birthday party yesterday: game of bowling first (I just watched) and then a dinner party where we went with friends. I am quite tired this morning and need to get some sleep because I need to get up at 4am tomorrow to get to Belfast for 8am for my new job. *yawn*

New job!

2008-12-05T17:29:00.003Z

I am starting a new job on Monday... in Northern Ireland!

Well, the role is home-based, but I will initially have to travel to Belfast regularly until I am fully trained with the product. Once I am confident I can do the job, I will work from home (ideal, being pregnant!) with some travel in Europe to sell the products.

I am really looking forward to going back to work, although I could have done with a week's holiday!

I hope the job meets my expectations and that I enjoy it as well as being good at it. I cannot really afford to change job again half-way through pregnancy, so let's hope everything goes well!

Menu week 49

2008-11-29T17:47:00.004Z

Paneer and spinach curry

Mediterranean quiche with Gruyere cubes

Pasta with mixed vegetables

Lentil and rice casserole, (a favourite winter dish)

Falafels with broccoli and potatoes

Green lentils with mixed vegetables

You know what I think I will miss the most during pregnancy?
Sprinkling my pasta with (vegetarian) Parmesan, as I should avoid eating unpasteurised cheeses (and eggs for that matter) , unless thoroughly cooked at very hot temperatures. And having Cheddar on a bowl of pasta is just not the same... Oh well, it's for a good cause!

Menu week 48

2008-11-23T12:22:00.002Z

Lentil and tomato soup

Vegetable enchilladas

Potato and mushroom hash (NEW!)

Three-cheese macaroni (NEW!)

Cereal galettes,
served with carrots and broccoli

Menu week 47

2008-11-23T12:17:00.002Z

Lentil & rice casserole

Cheese-topped risotto tart (NEW!)

Ratatouille and quinoa crumble (NEW!)

Creamy carrot and parsnip gratin

Green vegetables and pasta (NEW!)

Latest news, good and bad

2008-11-22T11:04:00.006Z

yes, it has been a while since I posted anything here. I've had friends contacting me asking if I was OK, which I am but things have been a bit hectic to say the least and a lot has happened in the last few weeks!

The good news:
Our family will welcome a new member in May 2009 as I am now 4 months pregnant! We went for the first scan at the hospital on 30th October, and Baby K was 6cm long and seemed very active in there, I think (s)he has already taken on cycling!
I have been suffering from morning sickness a bit, and been a bit tired, which is very frustrating for me as I am quite active and like doing stuff all the time, and I find it difficult to rest.
So, back when we found out we were pregnant I was told to avoid stress, which leads me to the other piece of news.

The bad news:
I received a letter on 24th October telling me I was going to be made redundant. Great timing to find a new job when you're pregnant! So I have been extremely busy sending CVs, letters, having phone interviews, and attending face-to-face interviews, sometimes over 100miles away from home! This has been quite tiring and stressful, but I must say in all modesty that I have been doing very well at interviews.

The good news:
So well indeed that a company made the decision to give me the job within 48h of interviewing me! This company was also the only one whom I had told I was pregnant, so it is really positive. I have not accepted their offer yet as another company seems very interested in hiring me too, so I will try to obtain some more information on both and see which one would work better for me. Both know I am pregnant. Job A would involve me working from home + travelling, job B would involve me walking 10min to the office + travelling, so they would both be very convenient. I have a slight preference and so does Trave, but I am keeping this for myself until I have a signed contract in my hand. And possibly something even better will turn up by then, who knows? I have another 4 interviews next week.

So, let's hope I have a job very soon...

Menu week 43

2008-10-18T10:22:00.003+01:00

Pasta
with vegetables and creamy tomato sauce

Falafels
with aubergine and sweet potato rolls (NEW!)

Potato and cabbage bake

Quiche
(broccoli, mushrooms, and peppers)

Celery and cheddar cheese soup

Royal vegetarian breakfast

2008-10-14T18:55:00.002+01:00

We had a royal brunch meal last weekend which was totally satisfying and very tasty! So, what was in it?

- Boiled new potatoes
- Fried egg
- Fried mushrooms
+ grilled in the grilling machine:
- Halloumi, chilli and aduki bean burger (from Cauldron), plum tomatoes, and baby sweetcorn cobs

Gardening

2008-10-14T18:38:00.003+01:00

The weather has been very kind to us in the past few weeks and it has been perfect for clearing out the garden before winter. Trave has removed a big tree and a bush which were at the far left corner at the bottom of the lawn, which we will convert to an additional vegetable patch. He has also mowed the lawn probably for the last time this year, and trimmed the hedges.

The only things left growing in the garden are the raspberries, the apple, and the purple sprouting broccoli which should be ready to harvest in March.

For my part, I have weeded the front border and planted various bulbs which should flower at different times between February and August: snowdrops, crocuses, tulips, irises, anemones, and alliums. They should be sprouting amongst a grassy type plant, a yellow rose bush, a lupin, and two heathers. Let's hope it looks pretty and colourful!

Menu week 42

2008-10-14T18:32:00.003+01:00

Brown rice and pearl barley stew
(sprouted seeds, leeks, mushrooms, Russian kale, tomatoes)

Sweet potato curry with basmati rice (NEW!)

Cauliflower gratin (NEW)
(also with tomatoes and potatoes)

Split pea and parsnip soup

Cereal galettes
with mashed potatoes and broccoli

Menu week 41

2008-10-05T18:40:00.003+01:00

Winter Stew

Pizza
with creme fraiche, pepper, mushrooms, courgettes, and mozzarella

Cauliflower and Broccoli soup

Rice and lentil casserole
with carrots and potatoes

Menu week 40

2008-10-05T18:29:00.004+01:00

I had dinner with overseas visitors a few times that week so did not cook very much.

Vegetarian breakf(e)ast (Saturday, for brunch)

Midweek Medley Curry (NEW!)

Stuffed mushrooms,
served with potatoes and broccoli

Kidney bean risotto

Cooking for guests

2008-10-05T18:18:00.006+01:00

We have friends and their two young children coming for lunch last Sunday, and this is what we ate:

Tomato and lentil soup

Home-made sausages,
served with broccoli, potatoes and carrot mousseline

Tarte tatin (NEW!)

It was a success, and even the children ate their food! (and became a bit hyper-active after the caramel-topped tarte tatin...)

Menu week 39

2008-10-05T18:04:00.004+01:00

Falafels with broccoli (no photo)

Omelette with mushrooms and spinach, served with quinoa

Layered vegetable gratin

Kidney bean risotto (NEW!)

Moscow

2008-10-05T17:37:00.004+01:00

I went to Moscow for work a few weeks back. Only for a few days, I did not have much time to visit as I had several meetings outside of the city during a trade fair, but I managed to spend a couple of hours down town and see Red Square and the outside walls of the Kremlin. Both very impressive.

I was also impressed with the Metro, which is sparkling clean and has trains running every 2 minutes.

Being in a car was a bit of an experience: if I had paid attention I could have learned a few swear words that the taxi drivers was constantly shouting at other road users. Being a pedestrian and trying to cross the road is not an easy task either...

Shame I did not have more time to see more and be able to get a feeling for the place. I would love to go again.

I have also enrolled in a Russian evening class, where I go every Thursday night. I almost took on Russian as an optional extra at university, but decided for Spanish instead. As I may need this language for work, I have decided to give it a try!

Brick wall surrounding the Kremlin and separating the Kremlin from Red Square, with the Lenin mausoleum on the left-hand side of the tower in the middle

State Historical Museum, on Red Square

St Basil Cathedral, Red Square

Department Store, Red Square

Hummus sandwich

2008-09-14T11:06:00.003+01:00

Before going rambling on Saturday, we had a hummus-filled sandwich which was really nice. You can find very good quality ready-made hummus these days and as I did not feel like making it, and we wanted a quick lunch, this was perfect! With fresh tomatoes and basil, yum yum! And it gave us the energy for our 4-hour walk through the fields. (photos to come)

Spinach, potato and tomato curry with basmati rice

2008-09-11T18:41:00.004+01:00

I am getting quite good at curries. (I think!) I have only recently started to cook Indian dishes and I really enjoy it. This one is based on another recipe found in A vegan taste of India, as mentioned recently in my potato madras recipe. But I have added some single cream I had left from the linguine sauce cooked the night before. And changed half of the recommended spices which I do not have on my spice racks! So, it's nothing like it should have been, but we enjoyed it all the more!

Serves 4:

By the way, it's only 2 of us, but I always cook for 4, then we have yummy home-made food to take to work for lunch the following day ;-)

1 TBSP groundnut oil
1 onion, chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 TBSP cumin seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1 bunch of spinach, shredded
4 tomatoes, roughly chopped
500g new potatoes, diced and boiled for 10 minutes
80ml single cream

300g basmati rice

1. Heat the oil and fry the onion and chilli for 4 minutes. Add the spices and cook for a further 1 min, making sure the spices do not burn.

2. Add the spinach, stir well and cook for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, potatoes and cream, stir well and cook for another 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, cook the basmati rice according to packet instructions (usually 10-12 minutes).

4. Spoon the vegetable curry into serving plates and top with basmati rice. Serve hot!

Linguine with spinach, broccoli, mushrooms and tomatoes

2008-09-11T18:29:00.004+01:00

This was really, really nice! Linguine is one of my favourite pasta shape and the vegetable sauce was delicious!

Serves 4:

500g linguine (or any other pasta shape)

300g mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 bunch spinach, shredded
1 broccoli, cut into florets and parboiled for 4 min
4 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
100ml single cream
1 TBSP butter
2 TBSP parmesan, grated, for sprinkling
salt & pepper

1. Heat the butter and fry the mushrooms on high heat so they get golden brown. Lower the heat and add the spinach. Cook until the spinach is half wilted and add the broccoli and tomatoes. When the tomatoes start to cook, add the cream and stir well. Season to taste.

2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta 'al dente'. Drain well.

3. Serve the pasta into warm serving plates and top with the creamy vegetable sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan.

Menu week 37

2008-09-07T17:53:00.005+01:00

Linguine,

with spinach, broccoli, mushrooms and tomatoes (NEW!)

Spinach, potato and tomato curry, (NEW!)
with basmati rice

Feta and potato cakes,
with lentils

Tomato and olive quiche,
with green salad

Courgette and pepper risotto

Bratislava

2008-09-07T16:33:00.009+01:00

Here is a short photographic summary of our day spent in Bratislava.

Our first impression of the Bratislava was at night. The city was brightly lit up and it felt really warm. Bratislava has some fantastic buildings. I am not expert in architecture but the style was reminiscent of what can be seen in Bavaria, Germany. That is, for the old town, which has been thoroughly renovated. Once you cross the Danube, there is a magnificent, huge park. But also dozens (if not hundreds) of soviet-style tower blocks, which unfortunately is the view you get if you climb up the castle.

During our full day in Bratislava, we walked through town in the morning. Here are a few photos:

The photo below is of either the National Theater or the Opera House:

Then it started to rain to we had our sandwiches on a bench under the New Bridge, from which we had a nice view of the castle.

The park is very impressive, mostly by its size. The two memorable things that we saw there were a red squirrel (see photos) and a very self-conscious guy doing tai-chi exercises (no photos, although tempting!).

Finally, we walked to the top of the castle, which was very pleasant, if it wasn't for the view over the tower blocks. But I suppose they cannot move the castle across the Danube so that the tourists get a nice view, can they? ;)

Then it started to seriously rain so we took shelter on a covered café terrace, where Trave had a Czech beer and I had a cocktail. From there and in a period of a few hours' time, we witnessed three, possibly four weddings! Well, people going to and coming out of wedding ceremonies. Highly entertaining.

Creamy bake

2008-09-07T12:29:00.001+01:00

Based on my previous cabbage gratin/bake, I have made this creamy vegetable bake which was delicious.

Serves 4:

1 hispy cabbage, shredded
1 courgette, sliced
400g potatoes, sliced
1 green pepper, diced
4 tomatoes, sliced
herbs of your choice
black pepper

For the sauce:
100g cheddar, grated
40g butter
40g flour
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP mustard
600ml milk
1 tsp Italian herbs
black pepper

+ dried breadcrumbs to sprinkle on top.

1. Parboil together the cabbage and potatoes for 5-10 minutes.

2. Place half of the cabbage/potatoes at the bottom of a big ovenproof dish. Add the courgette slices, green pepper, then the tomatoes, herbs and black pepper. Add the remainder of the cabbage/potatoes.

3. To make the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the flour and whisk until well combined. Cook for 1 minute. Gradually add the milk whilst stirring. Bring to the boil until it thickens (you may need to add some flour to speed up the process). Once thickened, add the mustard, black pepper, herbs and half of the cheese. Mix well.

4. Pour the sauce over the vegetables. Sprinkle with the remaining cheddar and then with breadcrumbs.

5. Place in a 180C pre-heated oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with a slice of wholemeal bread.

Pizza 3 (broccoli, tomatoes, red pepper)

2008-09-07T12:15:00.003+01:00

Using our basic pizza dough recipe, Trave made these pizzas (pizzi?) with the following toppings, in order of putting them onto the base:

- Tomato paste
- 1 handful of cheddar cheese
- Slices of fresh tomatoes
- Slices of courgettes
- Chopped red pepper
- Mixed Italian herbs, salt and black pepper
- Tiny broccoli florets
- Slices of mozzarella
- More black pepper

Place in a 200C pre-heated oven for 15 minutes or until the dough is cooked and the cheese is golden brown. Serve with a green salad.

Basic pizza base recipe

2008-09-07T11:49:00.004+01:00

I have just realised that there are several pizza 'recipes' on this blog, but with no mention of how to make the dough!!! It was high time for me to post it.

Here is the basic recipe to make two x 30cm diameter pizzas:

225g bread flour (I usually mix half white with half wholemeal flours)
7g/1 sachet dried fast-action yeast
2 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
100ml luke-warm water (not boiling, or you'll kill the yeast)

1. In a big bowl, sieve the flour. Add the salt and make a well. Place the oil, then the yeast in the well.

2. Add the warm water, stirring with a wooden spoon. When it becomes difficult to stir, use you hands to knead the dough until it forms a soft and stretchy ball, and the dought is no longer sticky. You may need to add a little more water or flour, as required.

3. Divide into two balls of equal size and place them into lightly oiled bowls. Cover with a damp clean cloth. Place in a warm spot and leave to rise for at least 1 hour, until doubled in size.

4. Roll out the balls onto a lighlty floured surface to the required size and place onto pizza trays.

5. Garnish with your favourite toppings and place into a 200C pre-heated oven for 15 minutes.

Mushroom and nut crumble

2008-08-31T18:06:00.003+01:00

If you like mushrooms and crumbles, this recipe is for you!

Makes 6 big ramequins or 8 small ramequins

750g chestnut mushrooms, sliced (you can use a mixture of mushrooms, for a stronger flavour)
400ml vegetable stock
60g butter
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped/crushed
60g plain flour
100ml double cream
2 TBSP chopped parsley

for the crumble topping:
90g porridge oats
90g wholemeal flour
50g mixed chopped nuts
60g chopped pistachios (unsalted)
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and black pepper
90g butter
1 TBSP fennel seeds, to sprinkle

1. Put the sliced mushrooms and stock in a large sauce pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain, reserving the stock.

2. In a non-stick saucepan, melt the butter and fry the onion and garlic gently until softened. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Gradually mix in the reserved stock, stirring well. Bring to the boil and cook until thickened. Add the mushrooms, seasoning, cream and parsley. Stir well and spoon into ramequins. Alternatively, you can use one single shallow ovenproof dish.

3. To make the crumble, mix all the ingredients but the fennel seeds with the tips of your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs. Spoon on top of the mushroom mixture in the ramequins. Sprinkle with fennel seeds.

4. Cook in a 180C pre-heated oven for 25 minutes.

Serve hot as a starter or as a main course with side vegetables.

Grilled courgettes and halloumi with fried eggs

2008-08-31T17:50:00.003+01:00

We LOVE halloumi! We discovered this Cypriot cheese at Manoli's, a London café, during a weekend spent at Longcat's. It is perfect for grilling. And really, this would be a perfect vegetarian breakfast. We ate twice the quantity shown above, but in two rounds, as the grill is not quite big enough to cook everthing at once.

Serves 2:

4 eggs
1 medium-sized courgette, sliced in 2 cm thick slices
250g halloumi, sliced in 1 cm thick sliced
1 handful cherry tomatoes
2 rosemary sprigs
2 slices of bread
salt and pepper, to season

Grill the vegetables, rosemary and halloumi (barbecue or electric grill). Fry the eggs and toast the bread. Serve immediately.

Pasta with white wine sauce

2008-08-31T17:18:00.003+01:00

We wanted a quick and easy meal when we came back from our long weekend in Slovakia so pasta seemed good, especially as there were a few courgettes to pick and use up.

Serves 4:

800g dried pasta shapes
150ml single cream
200 ml dry white wine
2 TBSP plain flour
1 TBSP olive oil
1 courgette, sliced
1 small broccoli, cut into florets
50g Cheddar, grated
2 tsp mixed Italian herbs
black pepper

1. To make the sauce, heat the oil in a non-stick saucepan. Add the sliced courgette and fry on high heat for 3-5 minutes until the slices start to brown. Add the wine and herbs and stir well. Add half of the cream, 2/3 of the cheese, and all the broccoli. Heat through. Depending on how thick you want the sauce, add none, 1 or 2 tablespoon of flour, stirring constantly until well mixed and the sauce thickens. You can then add some more cream to adjust the required thickness.

2. In the meantime, cook the pasta 'al dente'. Drain.

3. Serve the pasta into warm bowls and spoon the sauce over. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and black pepper.

Potato, carrot and lentil madras

2008-08-31T16:37:00.005+01:00

I recently purchased a book entitled A vegan taste of India. I am not vegan but it is nice to have such a book on the shelf. This is my first vegan and my first Indian cooking book. And this recipe is the first I tried.

I really like this Indian dish, because despite the spices, you can really taste the vegetables. When they are from the garden, you don't want to miss out the taste!

Serves 4

500g new potatoes, diced
500g carrots, sliced
100g red lentils
400g tin crushed tomatoes
1 onion, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 TBSP groundnut oil
1 TBSP tomato purée
2 tsp curry powder (the book specifies Madras curry powder, but I don't have any, so I used normal curry powder)
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cumin seed
1/2 tsp paprika
black pepper
chopped coriander, to sprinkle

+ 1 cup basmati rice, steamed or boiled.

1. In a very large saucepan, boil together the lentils, carrots and potatoes for 5 min. Drain, keeping the cooking water.

2. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan and fry the onion and chilli for 3-5 minutes. Add the spices and fry for another 30 secs.

3. Add the mixture to the vegetables & lentils, then add the canned tomatoes, tomato purée, and 250ml of the cooking water. Season with pepper and stir well. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 25 min, stirring from time to time to prevent sticking. Add more cooking water if necessary.

Serve with basmati rice and sprinkle with the chopped coriander.

Menu week 36

2008-08-30T17:13:00.005+01:00

Stuffed courgettes

Creamy potato and Carrot quiche

Pizza (Broccoli, tomatoes, peppers)

Creamy bake
(cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes, pepper)

Chatouille

2008-08-28T19:37:00.004+01:00

Since we came back from Slovakia, our cat Chatouille has not forgiven us for going away.

Worse: our new neighbours have been feeding her for a few days, as they believe that the cat was from another house which has a reputation for not taking care of their cats. We paid them a visit yesterday evening and asked them to stop feeding Chatouille. And they have. Except that she has now taken the nasty habbit of going next door :(

Chatouille is now much less cuddly and does not stay on our lap for as long as before. I hope this does not last long as I am very sad that she spends a lot of time next door.

I know she may have felt abandoned (we had someone checking on her and feeding her once a day, no need to call the RSPA), but still, I hope her mood will return to how it was before.

;(

PS - Sunday 31st August:
Chatouille is now back to normal, coming on our laps, purring and eating properly :D
I am happy!

Stuffed courgettes

2008-08-28T18:46:00.006+01:00

I am very proud of this recipe.

Although I rarely strictly stick to recipes from books, I am most of the time using a recipe book as a basis. Not this time. I started with a blank sheet. Or rather, with a courgette weighing 1 kilogramme (!!!) which we picked on our return from Slovakia.

I think it tastes great and if you happen to have oversized courgettes (you may want to use marrows), this recipe is perfect.

Serves 4:

1 very big courgette (~1kg) or 2 medium marrow or 2 medium to big courgettes
1 sprig fresh rosemary
250g chestnut mushrooms, minced
1 TBSP tomato purée
4-5 TBSP millet seeds
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 handful sundried tomatoes, chopped
100g cheddar, grated
2 eggs
salt & pepper to season

1. Remove both ends of the courgette. Cut the courgette, once in the length, once in diameter.

2. Blanche the courgettes with the rosemary sprig for 5 min in boiling water. (Like I did you can reserve the water to boil the side dishes later on, whether peas, potatoes, etc... they will have a subtle rosemary flavour.)

3. Scoop out the flesh of the courgette with a spoon or knife, taking care to leave a nice shell to put the filling in. You can discard the seeds if you are not too keen on the large seeds found in bigger courgettes.

4. Dice the courgette flesh you have scooped out and place into a bowl. Add the minced mushroom, garlic and the rosemary sprig (retrieved from the water).

5. Heat up a non-stick saucepan and fry the diced courgette flesh + mushroom + garlic + rosemary in olive oil until all the juice has evaporated. Add 2/3 cheese, millet seeds, tomato purée, sundried tomatoes and eggs. Season to taste.

6. Spoon into the courgette shells. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

7. Bake into a 180C pre-heated oven for 30 minutes, or until hot and golden brown.

Serve with fresh vegetables of your choice.

Menu week 35

2008-08-28T18:34:00.007+01:00

I has been a while I have not posted any menu, but we have been eating, don't worry. Here are the delicacies we have prepared/will prepare this week:

Pasta, with courgette, broccoli and a creamy white wine sauce (NEW!)

Stuffed courgettes (NEW!)

Potato, carrot and lentil Madras (NEW!)

Grilled courgettes and halloumi with fried eggs (NEW!)

Mushroom and nut crumble (NEW!)

Time to catch up

2008-08-26T20:39:00.004+01:00

I have neglected this blog lately, but not the cooking! So I'm back with a few new recipes, some totally improvised which turned out to be truly delicious.

We came back from Slovakia on Sunday afternoon. We spent 5 days there and had a lovely time.

We arrived just over an hour before departure at the airport (our train to the airport was late) and there was a big queue at the check-in desk. We had hand luggage only and could have checked-in at home, if only they did not charge £5 more per person for the privilege to do so. It surely should be the other way round: if people check-in at home, they don't need to employ many desk people, they save cost and we should therefore pay less. Or did I miss something here? As we checked in the boards were showing "Final Call" for our flight, AAAGGGHHH!

No time to lose, we ran all the way, jumped all the queues right to the front (even if they were going to wait for us, we did not want to delay the flight, and decided that jumping the queue was the best option). We assumed that everyone on our flight would do the same. There were many of us who would be late at the gate.
And then, crawling at the front of the security check, after apologising for ignoring the queuing system, someone shouted: "hey, you've just jumped the queue by at least 5 people!" (we jumped the queue by at least 300 people...) We said our plane was taking off in 10 minutes. To which the guy replied that so did his. We said that in which case he should obviously jump the queue too! He did not look happy.

We caught our plane. It was delayed by 30 minutes.

Arriving at Bratislava Airport, it took us some time to find out how to buy a bus ticket into town. There was a sign pointing towards a machine, but there was a price against a specified time (10min, 30min, 1 hour, 1 day, 3 days) so I assumed this was for the car park. NO! It was for the bus. In Slovakia, they seem to love measuring and weighing things. You pay public transport according to how long it takes to get from A to B. And in restaurants the weight of each dish on offer is written on the menu, before the price. So we finally got onto an empty bus, took a seat, and after a while, the bus was quite crowded and there was not much room to move around, with all seats taken and many people standing so we could not move. The bus had been going for 10-15 minutes when we heard in English: "Hey, Mr. Amnesty, are you not going to leave your seat to a woman carry a baby?" This was Mr. Grumpy from the airport! In a perfect sarcastic tone, he indicated that his wife/partner (who seemed very embarrassed by his intervention) needed a rest. Now, I am all for leaving my seat to older people/pregnant women, etc... BUT here were the circumstances:
1. the woman was quite large and had an enormous back-pack type thing in which there was a child big enough to walk, taking so much room it would have been impossible to reach the closest seat.
2. even if the bus had not been so crowded and she could have reached a seat, she could not have possibly sat on it because of the enormous backpack thing.
3. the guy who tried to make us feel guilty of not letting our seat to his partner was not even carrying the tiniest purse while she had this shell on her back!!! and he was clearly stong enough to support it.

So we did not feel too guilty and left him to his grumpiness. They left the bus a few stations before us. He called Trave "Mr. Amnesty" because of the Amnesty International T-Shirt he was wearing.

This was for our travel to Bratislava. We walked into the centre in the evening and had dinner there. The following day, we took a train to Piestany where we stayed a couple of days. We had a very interesting wine serving experience, and enjoyed cycling through the Slovakian countryside, particularly maize fields. We returned to Bratislava early on the fourth day to visit the capital city, as we had to fly back the following day.

I will try to post photos from this beautiful country soon!

Cycling to WOMAD

2008-08-06T21:04:00.007+01:00

So, going to WOMAD festival and back, we did 150 miles through the English countryside, which was lovely. We travelled light this time, which was very pleasant. The drawback is that we had to buy everything we ate instead of cooking on a little gas burner, so it turned out to be quite an expensive weekend.

First stop to eat a well deserved cereal bar:

Off we went:

This field was striking blue with some kind of flower. No idea what it was, but very pretty:

We passed the four-shire-stone, which marks the corner where 4 different English counties meet: Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and Worcestershire.

This is where we stopped to eat the sandwiches we had prepared the previous evening. It was a very nice spot. On top of a hill in The Cotswolds so we had a beautiful view whilst enjoying our lunch.
This part of England is lovely with its small stone-house villages and cottage gardens.

We also passed a deer park:

And here is my sporty husband!

Oh, during that weekend, I passed the 5,000 miles milestone on my bicycle-mileometer. I have had it since January 2006. So, that's 2,000 miles a year, not bad, eh?

And finally...

not cycling related but this is quite a good photo. I started reading this book and stopped because I was a bit tired and had the sun in my eyes. Dave took a photo and finds it very funny because of the title of the book.

Strawberry and blueberry milkshake

2008-08-06T20:53:00.003+01:00

When I made this delicious strawberry and raspbery tart, Trave had bought some blueberries too, and I also had some strawberries left which I did not use for the tart topping, so I decided to make a fruity milkshake.

Makes 800ml (4 glasses)

1/2 punnet strawberries, washed and diced
1 punnet blueberries, washed
200ml milk
1 scoop raspberry/vanilla icecream

Mix it all in the blender, and enjoy!

Feta and potato cakes

2008-08-06T20:37:00.002+01:00

These little cakes are very tasty and simple to make. Before making them, take into account that you need to let the mixture to chill for 1 hour, it will hold its shape better.

Makes 8 to 10 cakes:

500g potatoes
200g feta cheese, crumbled
1 egg
black pepper
1 tsp mixed Italian herbs

+ 3 TBSP plain flour
2 tsp chilli powder
Olive oil, for frying

1. Boil the potatoes until very well done, drain and mash well. Mix in the feta, egg, pepper and herbs and leave to cool down then chill for an hour.

2. Shape the mixture into walnut-size balls.

3. Mix the flour and chilli powder into a plate and roll the balls into the flour mixture.

4. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan and place a few balls onto the pan and flatten them with a spatula. Repeat by batches until all the balls are fried. Serve hot with green vegetables of your choice.

Menu week 32

2008-08-06T20:23:00.006+01:00

Here is the menu for this week, including last weekend:

Feta & potato cakes with French beans (NEW!)

Stuffed peppers with wild rocket (NEW!)

Mixed sprouted seeds with bulghur and quinoa,
and broccoli (NEW!)
Summer taglietalle

100% home-grown veg meal

2008-08-05T21:22:00.006+01:00

I was very proud of producing this meal as ALL the vegetables and herbs came from the garden. If we had chickens then we would have our own eggs too, but I don't think that a chicken would be a good friend for Chatouille, the mischieveous cat of ours.

What did we have in the garden then? Courgettes, French beans, potatoes.
+ a variety of herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano, parsley, sage, chives, lemon balm).

So, using a recipe recommended by my friend from Bonn, Germany, I made some courgette patties/fritters served with boiled potatoes and beans. Very easy and extremely lean and healthy!

Serves 4:

2-3 medium size courgettes, grated
3 eggs
200g feta cheese, diced in small cubes
60g bread crumbs
2 tsp thyme, chopped
black pepper

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl.

2. Make golf-ball size balls in the palm of your hands and place onto a baking sheet.

3. Flatten the balls with a spatula and place into a 200C pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with side-dish vegetables. Here, new potatoes and French beans from the garden.

(sorry to go on and on about the vegetables from the garden, but this is extremely satisfying!)

Merci Annie, pour m'avoir recommendé cette délicieuse recette !

Rice-stuffed peppers

2008-08-05T21:06:00.005+01:00

This is one of the several stuffed peppers recipes I have tried, and quite a nice one too. It makes a very good starter (1/2 pepper per person) or main course (two halves per person with a side dish).

Serves 8 (starter) or 4 (mains):

4 large peppers (choose various colours for visual effect)
200g brown/wholemeal rice
1 TBSP olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
200g goat's cheese
100g mushrooms, roughly chopped
4 tomatoes, roughly chopped
Italian herbs
Parmesan, grated
Black pepper

1. Cut the peppers in half and remove stalk and seeds. Blanch them in boiling water for 5 min. Drain well and place onto a greased oven-proof dish.

2. Boil the rice until cooked. Then drain well.

3. Heat the olive oil and fry the onion for 5 min. Add the mushrooms, herbs and tomatoes. Mix to the rice together with the goat's cheese.

4. Arrange the rice mixture into the peppers. Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and black pepper.

5. Place in a 180C pre-heated oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Serve with side dish vegetable or a green salad. (here, home-grown wild rocket with Parmesan shavings)

Must-try raspberry and strawberry tart

2008-08-05T20:29:00.004+01:00

I am very proud of this dessert I made on Sunday: the pastry was crunch, the filling creamy and thick, and the fruit at the right ripeness. It was my first 'creme patissiere' and it was very successful. I made the tart half with raspberries, the other half with strawberries, it was like having made 2 cakes! Both were delicious, but the strawberry side had something extra to it as the cream tasted of strawberry the following day.

I do not advise to make this tart the day before though: despite the irresistible strawberry taste of the cream, the pastry will not be as crunchy, and will get somewhat moist/soggy after a few days. I should not worry too much though, the tart is likely to be eaten before then!

For the pastry case:

180g plain flour
80g butter (I use olive-based margerine)
2-3 TBSP caster sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 TBSP maple syrup
2-3 TBSP cold water

1. Mix the butter and flour with your fingertips until it ressembles breadcrumbs.
2. Add the sugar, egg yolk and maple syrup and knead thoroughly. Add the water one spoon at a time and keep kneading until you obtain a very smooth pastry. You may not require all the water.
3. Roll out onto a greased dish, prick with a fork and bake blind for 15 min with baking beans in a 180C pre-heated oven. Remove the beans an bake for another 5-10 minutes until the pastry is completely cooked.
4. Leave to cool down completely.

For the creme patissiere:

4 eggs
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
25g plain flour
25g corn flour
500g milk (I used semi-skimmed)
1 shotglass of dark rum (you can also use Cointreau, Brandy, or a fruit-flavoured schnapps)

1. Using a blender, mix the eggs, sugar and vanilla. Add the flours and milk. Blend well.
2. Pour into a big saucepan and heat on medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk (or a wooden spoon if using a non-stick pan), until the mixture becomes very thick.
3. Mix in the rum and leave to cool down, stirring occasionally.
4. Once the cream is completely cold, spread into the pastry case.

For the fruit topping:

Use the fruit of your choice. I used for this tart 2 punnets of raspberries and half a punnet of strawberries. Wash and don't forget to pat-dry the fruit, or the cream and pastry may become soggy.
Arrange the fruit on the tart.

Garden update!

2008-08-04T19:53:00.008+01:00

Our garden is coming up nicely with plenty of vegetables and even the raspberries are starting to give us some fruit.

Raspberries:

Courgettes and broccolis are over 1m high!We've had several meals of French beans already:

We've had our first cherry tomatoes last week:

Look at these potatoes! AND they taste delicious.

Our first-ever carrot!!!
(Odd shape, I must admit, but the taste was good)

More carrots picked on 6th August:

WOMAD 2008

2008-08-01T17:09:00.004+01:00

This festival is incredible!!!! We had such a good time! Everything was really well organised and enjoyable: the music was great, the food delicious, and it was clean, and people were courteous. And no hassle getting there and leaving the site.

We cycled there, with luggage and tent, but we travelled light this time (10-15 kg on each bike, including cereal bars and full water bottles). It was 75 miles (120km) from home to where we pitched the tent. We left on Thursday 24th at 7.30am and arrived at the camping field at 3.30pm, so we did quite well.

We pitched our tent, locked our bikes and wandered around the site, trying to decide which stand we would buy our dinner from. (That's a hard life!) We had an early night on Thursday.

They had a great recycling system in place, whereby if you brought back 5 or more pint-size papercups to their recycling point, you would get 10p back per cup. So there were loads of kids running around, collecting as many cups as possible, and picking up any cup that may have been left on the floor. This worked really well generally.

The other nice feature of the festival was the "Taste the world" stage, where artists performing at the festival present a traditional dish of their country, perform, and prepare food for the crowd to taste. You can also ask the artists questions, about food, their music, or anything else! As the presenter told, "it is cold 'taste the world', not 'feed the world', so there won't be enough for everybody!" This is a great opportunity to discover new cultures and their approach to food. For instance we had a fantastic report on the importance of coffee in the desert by Bedouin Jerry Can Band on Friday.

Here are the workshops/concerts we went to on Friday:

Cuban Dance (workshop), Cuba
Bedouin Jerry Can Band, (Taste the World), Egypt
Hamid Baroudi, Algeria
Billy Cobham & Asere, USA/Cuba
Toumani Diabaté, Mali
Bedouin Jerry Can Band, Egypt
Rachid Taha, Algeria

Best show of the day: Hamid Baroudi! (Toumani Diabaté and Rachid Taha were very impressive too)

Saturday:

Babylon Circus, France
Mista Savona, Australia/Jamaica
Paprika Balkanicus, Romania/Serbia/Slovenia
Monobloco, Brazil
Mamani Keita & Nicolas Repac, Mali/France
Wasis Diop, Senegal
Roni Size Reprazent, UK (we did not stay long, not our taste! Went to Dengue Fever instead)
Dengue Fever, USA/Cambodia
Lo Cór de la Plana, France
Eddy Grant & The Frontline Orchestra, Guyana/South Africa
Shantel & Bucovina Club Orkestar, Germany
Hotel Palindrone, Austria (may have been too late to enjoy fully)

Amusing fact for those who speak German: they are playing at a gig in Austria on 30th August, in a village called Klein Klein (Little Little), near Großklein (Big Little). I found this amusing. Apologies to my Austrian friends if this isn't!

Best performance of Saturday: hmm, difficult to pick one, but I would vote for Babylon Circus, followed closely by Paprikus Balkanicus and Shantel & Bucovina Club Orkestar.

Sunday:

Djembe Drumming workshop
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, Mali
Squeeze, UK
Babylon Circus (Taste the World), France
Orchestra Baobab, Senegal
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Nigeria
GOCOO + GoRo, Japan
Mônica Vasconcelos Hih, Brazil/UK

My vote for Sunday's best show would go to GOCOO + GoRo, the Japanese drummers. They were incredible.

The weather was perfect during the whole festival and travelling to and from there. On the way back, we stopped at the Lamb Inn, who had given us shelter 2 years ago as torrential rain was falling on us on our way to Cheddar. Cycling back was a bit more of an effort than getting to Malmesbury. I guess we had been festivalling for 3 days, slept in a tent, and were cycling away from the coast, so maybe somewhat hillier, under the baking sun. We could not leave early as our bicycles were stored into the lockers which opened at 9am. We left the festival site at 10:30 on Monday, stopped at a pub in Fairford for a drink (it was really hot on the road!), and at the Lamb Inn in Great Rissington for lunch which we ate in the pub garden. About 10 miles (16km) from home, heavy showers and thunder was welcoming us. Luckily, we were almost home. We arrived at about 6.30pm.

What a (long) weekend!

Lovebox Festival, London

2008-08-01T16:25:00.004+01:00

We had a fantastic weekend in London during the Lovebox Festival on Saturday, and a nice time with Trave's brother Longcat and his Dinah, not to forget their wild cat, Balthazara.

Manu Chao was amazing. The available YouTube videos are not the best quality you can find, but it gives you an idea:

The other bands we saw were very good too. We saw Dengue Fever, and we were a bit surprised by their style, in fact by the singer's voice, but they are good! See for yourself:

We had a great weekend and were ready for our next festival: WOMAD in Malmesbury!

Menu week 29

2008-07-16T20:33:00.002+01:00

Pizza with lettuce
(courgettes, mushrooms, peppers, wild rocket)

Aloo Gobi with French beans

Buckwheat galettes
with creamy mushrooms and broccoli

More photos of Chatouille

2008-07-14T21:41:00.005+01:00

Just to make sure I don't leave her alone I guess:

Trave had to extend his dinner, because Madame Chatouille was so comfy:

"Me? Playing with the pegs? Prove it!"

She loves sleeping in the laundry basket:

A warm afternoon spent in a cool spot.

Upcoming festivals

2008-07-12T19:16:00.003+01:00

No Glastonbury this year, as we decided to try something new, and I really wanted to attend WOMAD. Then I discovered that Manu Chao was playing at Lovebox in London, so we are going there as well, but just for one day. So, down to London next Saturday, and cycling to Malmesbury the weekend after next.

Performances I would like to see at WOMAD:

Bedouin Jerry Can Band
Rumberos de Cuba
Sabar Drumming with Modou Diouf
Toumani Diabaté
Lo Còr De La Plana
Rachid Taha
Babylon Circus
Afro-Cuban Drumming with Jose Ferrera
Hamid Baroudi
Monobloco
Wasis Diop
Hotel Palindrone
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba
Djembe Dance with Landing Mané
Filhos de Angola
Orchestra Baobab (they were brilliant at Warwick Arts Centre last year!)
Son de la Frontera

I hope there are not too many clashes!

Garden update

2008-07-12T18:24:00.006+01:00

With the weather we have been having here, showers and sun spells, the garden has been doing very well. We just need to keep an eye on slugs :(

Our tomatoes are not quite ready yet, but providing we get some decent sunshine soon (I have not given up yet) they should ripen and be perfect with our wild rocket.

Below are our potatoes. We are very tempted to have a look at them, but we are not sure they are ready yet.

Here is an overview of our vegetable patch, which has become quite crowded! We are quite impressed with the broccoli, which we have grown from seeds.

The French beans are looking great too, which is quite surprising because the day after we planted them out, we had very high winds and strong gales, and most of the leaves had been blown away.
Here is the row of wild rocket, which we seem to be eating in any shape and form at the moment!

This courgette will be ready to be picked very soon now, and there are another 4-5 which should follow in the next few days.

We also have some carrots and leeks. We will have to wait quite a while to eat these.

And against the wall of the shed, we have 6 plants of raspberries, which are starting to show their fruits. They should last us until the autumn, which would be nice!

Simple yoghurt cake

2008-07-12T17:51:00.003+01:00

The beauty of this cakes is that you do not need any scales or measuring jugs. And the only washing up you will have to do is 1 bowl, 1 wooden spoon and a loaf tin: isn't it brilliant?

The basis is to use a yoghurt and then use the yoghurt pot to measure the other ingredients.

Makes 1 loaf

1 yoghurt pot, 125g (plain or flavoured - I like to use a lemon yoghurt)
3 yoghurt pots of plain flour
2 yoghurt pots of sugar (1 x caster, 1 x demarara)
1/2 yoghurt pot of vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
1 tsp flavouring, matching your yoghurt if you chose a flavoured yoghurt
1 tsp brandy/cointreau/calvados (optional)

1. Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl until they are well blend. Pour into a greased loaf tin.

2. Cook for 30-40 minutes in an oven pre-heated at 200C.

3. Cover with a clean kitchen towel to prevent the cake from sinking.

Enjoy warm or cold.

Mushroom and pepper quiche

2008-07-11T17:54:00.005+01:00

We have a lot of wild rocket in the garden. It is nice as a salad, but given the weather we are having, we don't really fancy salads much! For those outside of the UK, it has been raining for days here, occasionally heavily with some sunny spells, and it is very unsettled, so you cannot really plan a nice day out. Temperatures are around 16C, 20C at best. Let's hope this improves soon, because we are planning to cycle to Malmesbury for the WOMAD festival at the end of this month.

Back to my rocket. We have added some to the quiche and it was delicious. The rocket is not as tasty as it is when it is eaten as a salad, but it was nice.

Serves 4:

- For the pastry
180g flour (2/3 plain + 1/3 wholemeal)
80g butter
1 tsp salt
3 TBSP cold water

- For the filling:
1 TBSP basil-infused olive oil
2 red peppers, cut into chunks
1 green pepper, cut into chunks
200g mushrooms, sliced
2 big handfuls of wild rocket, washed, pat dry and cut to a length of about 1 inch
3 eggs, beaten
150ml milk
40g cheddar, grated
salt & pepper

1. To make the pastry, mix together the flours, salt and butter with your fingertips, until it resembles crumbs. Add the water and knead until the dough is nice and soft. Roll out onto a floured surface and place into a greased and floured pastry case dish. Prick with a fork. Cover with baking paper and place baking beans onto the paper. Cook 10 min in a 180C preheated oven. Remove the beans and paper and cook for a further 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, make the filling. Fry the mushrooms in the oil for 3 minutes in a non-stick saucepan on high heat with some black pepper. Add the peppers, cover the pan and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally for 5-7 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for another 2 minutes until any juice from the mushrooms has evaporated.

3. Place the vegetables in the cooked pastry case and cover with the rocket, then the grated cheese.

4. Mix the eggs and milk together and pour over the quiche.

5. Cook for 30 minutes or until set and golden brown.

Enjoy!

Sprouting seeds & broccoli with bulghur & quinoa

2008-07-11T17:22:00.004+01:00

Here is a nice, satisfying meal which takes no time to make. Nothing fancy, but tasty and healthy too.

Serves 4:

250g mixed sprouting seeds
1 broccoli head, cut into florets
2 cans of chopped tomatoes
2 tsp hot chilli powder or 1 chopped red hot chilli pepper
1 tsp ground coriander
1 TBPS chopped parsley
salt & pepper

1 glass of bulghur
1 glass of quinoa

1. Parboil the broccoli florets for 3-5 minutes. Drain.

2. In a large saucepan, place the sprouting seeds, canned tomatoes, broccoli and spices, and heat through. Season to taste. + if like me you have an opened bottle of cheap cooking wine, you can add some of that too!

3. Cook the bulghur and quinoa together in twice their volume of salted boiling water for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Serve the bulghur/quinoa mixture into warm bowls, and spoon the seeds/broccoli on top.

Noodle curry

2008-07-11T16:41:00.003+01:00

I cannot quite remember what exactly went into this curry, but it was really nice. On the first night we had the chard/lentils/sauce separate, but it is nicer with everything mixed.

Here is my attempt to recover the recipe:

Serves 4:

4 packs thin or medium egg noodles
1 TBSP groundnut oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
150ml single cream
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
1 TBSP coriander, chopped
150g green lentils, cooked and drained
500g chard, shredded, parboiled and drained
Salt & pepper
Cashew nuts

1. Heat the groundnut oil in a nonstick saucepan. Add the onion and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for another minute.
2. Add the cream and spices. Mix well. Add the lentils and chard. Season to taste and heat through.
3. Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to packet instructions and roast the cashew nuts under the grill.
4. Serve the noodles into 4 warm bowls, spoon the lentil & chard mixture on top. Sprinkle with the cashews.

Home-grown rocket salad

2008-07-10T19:29:00.003+01:00

We have a vast supply of wild rocket in our garden. To the point that we will have to eat some everyday very soon or it will grow too big! It is very fresh and tasty. Perfect for a mixed salad with feta cheese and tomatoes.

Serves 2:

1 bowl of rocket, washed and pat dried
3-4 tomatoes, cut in eighths
200g feta cheese, cubed
1 TBSP unfiltered extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp basil-infused olive oil
freshly cracked black pepper

Mix all the ingredients well together and serve fresh as a starter.

Healthy dessert

2008-07-10T18:55:00.004+01:00

I was full of cold and quite weak with possibly fever at the weekend, so we ate loads of kiwis. I also had hot chocolates with plenty of honey. To increase my vitamin intake further, I made the following fruit salad which was delicious.

Serves 4:

500g plain stirred yoghurt
200g strawberries, cut in 4
200g raspberries
4 kiwis, peeled and sliced
a dash of maple syrup (optional)

Mix the strawberries and raspberries with the yoghurt into a big bowl. Spoon the mixture into a plate and decorate with the kiwi slices. You can add maple syrup if you have a sweet tooth!

Menu week 28

2008-07-10T18:48:00.005+01:00

Curry with noodles (new!)

Mushroom & pepper quiche with wild rocket

Sprouting seeds & broccoli with bulghur & quinoa (new!)

Cereal galettes
with carrots & French beans from the garden

Goat cheese potato bake

Linguine in tomato sauce

2008-07-05T13:26:00.004+01:00

We had some linguine left after the linguine timbales, so we had a simple improvised pasta meal a few days ago.

Serves 2

200g linguine
1 TBSP olive oil
1 courgette, sliced
100g mushrooms, sliced
3 tomatoes, cut into big chunks
50ml single cream
Grated Parmesan and black pepper for sprinkling

1. Cook the linguine according to cooking instructions, drain well.

2. In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a non-stick saucepan. Add the courgette, mushrooms and 2 of the tomatoes. Fry for 5 minutes on high heat. Add the cream and the remaining tomato and cook for another 5 minutes on medium heat.

3. Serve the drained pasta into warm serving bowls. Spoon the veg and sauce over the linguine and sprinkle with Parmesand and pepper.

Goat cheese pasta bake

2008-07-05T13:02:00.003+01:00

This is very much based on the delicious Goat cheese potato bake, and is equally nice.

Serves 4:

400g penne
150g goat cheese, sliced
4 medium-size tomatoes, sliced
2 handfuls of wild rocket salad (ours came straight from the garden!)
250ml creme fraiche
125ml vegetable stock
30g Parmesan, grated
bread crumbs to sprinkle
Black pepper

1. Cook the pasta according to cooking instructions. Drain well.

2. Place a layer of pasta at the bottom of an oven-proof greased deep dish (souflé type). Cover with slices of tomatoes, then the rocket. Sprinkle with freshly cracked black pepper, then a layer of slices of goat cheese. Cover with the remaining pasta, then the rest of the goat cheese.

3. Mix the creme fraiche and vegetable stock and pour over the pasta. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and bread crums and cook in a medium-hot oven for 25 minutes.

Broad bean risotto

2008-07-05T12:34:00.003+01:00

I was not sure I like broad beans but it turns out I do!

As we did not have quite enough broad beans in our vegbox, we added the few French beans that were ripe in our garden, a jar of asparagus which had been in the back of our cupboard for a while, and a couple of handfuls of frozen peas, and we had a nice green risotto!

Serves 4-5:

2 TBSP butter/olive spread
1 onion, chopped
150ml dry Vermouth
500g arborio/carnoli rice
1 litre vegetable stock
1 bowl of broad beans
+ any other veg you like (optional)
50g Parmesan cheese, grated
Freshly cracked black pepper

1. To prepare the beans, shell and wash them, then boil for 3-4 minutes, drain and let cool down, and finally squeeze them gently to allow the bright green bean to 'pop out' of the light green/white pod.

2. Heat the butter and fry the onion for 2 -3 minutes. Add the rice and stir until coated with butter. Add the Vermouth: it will evaporate almost immediately.

3. Gradually add the vegetable stock until the rice is cooked (will take up to 30 minutes).

4. Add the beans and any other green vegetables you want to add.

5. Stir in 4/5 of the cheese, keeping some for sprinkling. There is not need for salt, the stock and cheese will make the risotto salty enough!

6. Serve into warm bowls. Sprinkle with Parmesand and black pepper.

Chocolate rum cake

2008-07-02T21:08:00.003+01:00

Now this is some chocolate cake!!! It did not raise as much as I thought it would, but it looked amazing nonetheless and tasted delicious.

Serves 8 - 10

For the sponge:
200g plain chocolate
100g butter (I use only olive spread nowadays)
3 eggs, separated
100g dark muscovado sugar
50ml dark rum
75g self-raising flour
50g ground almonds

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 20cm diameter cake tin.

2. Melt the chocolate using the bain-marie technique.

3. Place the 3 egg yolks and the sugar in a bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until pale and creamy. Add the melted chocolate and the rum . Mix well. Fold in the flour and almonds.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until firm, then fold into the chocolate mixture.

5. Pour into the prepared tin and bake fo 45 minutes. Leave to cool down completely on a wire rack and cut the cake in half horizontally.

===============
For the filling and icing:
225g plain chocolate
100g butter, cubed
3 TBSP apricot jam, warmed

1. Melt the chocolate bain-marie, add the cubed butter and the apricot and stir until thickened.
2. Spread half of it on the bottom layer of the sponge. Cover with the top sponge.
3. Pour/Brush the remaining of the icing over the cake.

===============
For decoration:
1/2 apricot, thinly sliced, for decoration
3 TBSP apricot jam, warmed, for the glazing

1. arrange the apricot slices into a flower shape on top of the cake.
2. Brush the warm jam onto the cake to glaze.

================
For the ganache piping:
175g plain chocolate
4 TBSP single cream
50g butter, cubed
2 egg yolks
1 TBSP rum

1. Melt the chocolate bain-marie with the cream. Leave to cool slightly then beat in the butter a little at a time. Beat in the egg yolks and rum and leave to cool until firm.
2. Spoon into a piping bag with star nozzle and pipe little rosettes to decorate.

Menu week 27

2008-07-01T21:37:00.006+01:00

Based on our weekly vegetable box, this is what we will be cooking this week:

Pasta bake
with goat cheese, tomatoes and wild rocket from the garden (NEW!)

Broad bean risotto (NEW!)

Vegetarian sausages with carrots and potatoes

Creamy chard with spiced basmati rice (NEW!)

Cabbage bake
with celery and tomatoes, sprinkled with mixed seeds

Menu for guests

2008-07-01T21:14:00.005+01:00

We had guests coming for lunch on Saturday and more guests coming for coffee and cake in the afternoon. Here is what was on the menu:

Linguine timbales

Summer vegetable gougere

Chocolate Rum cake

Menu week 26

2008-06-25T19:29:00.003+01:00

Buckwheat galettes

with creamy mushroom (day1)
with mediterranean vegetables (day2)

Lentil croquettes
(with mange-tout and baby sweetcorn)

Potato and goat cheese bake

Courgette and carrot muffins

2008-06-22T19:35:00.004+01:00

I tried this for the first time last Sunday as a side dish, and it was very nice. You could also have them as a snack or appetizer.
Makes 12 muffins:

2 medium-sized courgettes, grated
2 medium-sized carrots, grated
250g plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg (powder)
60g mixed chopped nuts
2 eggs
250ml milk
90g butter, melted

1. Pre-heat the oven at 210C. Grease a muffin baking tin.

2. Place the grated courgettes and carrots into a large bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and nuts. Mix well.

3. Blend together the melted butter, eggs and milk.

4. Make a well in the carrot and courgette mixture. Place the egg mixture into the well at once and mix quickly with a fork or wooden spoon.

5. Divide the dough into the muffin cases and bake for 15-20 min until golden brown.

Remove from the cases and leave to cool onto a rack. Serve warm or cold.

Carrot mousseline

2008-06-22T19:27:00.003+01:00

Ok, 'carrot mousseline' is just a posh name for 'mashed carrots', but it is one of my favourite ways of eating carrots, so I'll tell you how I make this.

Serves 4 as a side dishe:

500g carrots, peeled and sliced
1-2 TBSP double cream
1 pinch of ginger
1 pinch of cinnamon
1 pinch of nutmeg
salt & pepper

1. Boil the carrots for much longer than usual until they are very well cooked. Drain.

2. Mash the carrots with a potato masher or a fork. You can also use a food processor for a smooth finish, but I like the visual aspect of the coarse mashing.

3. Return the mashed carrots to the heat. Add the cream and spices, stirring constantly.

Apple & blueberry tart (2)

2008-06-22T19:10:00.004+01:00

Simplicity itself, this recipe literally involves just a pastry case and fruits!

Serves 6-8

For the pastry:

180g plain flour
80g butter
20g caster sugar
3 TBSP water
1-2 TBSP sesame seeds

For the filling:
1 kg cooking apples, peeled, cored and diced
Juice of 1 lemon (to sprinkle on top of apples so they don't get brown)
1 punnet of blueberries
2 TBSP sliced almonds
3-4 TBSP demarara sugar + some more for sprinkling
1 tsp cinnamon

1. To make the pastry, mix the flour and butter with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and knead a little. Add 2 TBSP and knead more to make a soft dough. You may need to add the 3rd tablespoon of water. Roll out onto a floured surface. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and roll a little more. Place the pastry into a greased and floured tart dish.

2. Bake blind with baking beans for 10-15 min, then without the beans for another 5 minutes.

3. Place the apples with a little water into a saucepan and heat up. Add the sugar and cinnamon and cook until the apples are cooked.

4. Place the cooked apples into the baked pastry case. Sprinkle with blueberries and almonds, then with demarara sugar.
5. Return to the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the blueberries have started to 'explode'.

Enjoy!

Tomato & red wine sauce

2008-06-22T18:41:00.001+01:00

- 3 big tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (or 1 can of chopped tomatoes)
- 2 TBSP tomato purée
- 5 TBSP red wine
- 1 TBSP red wine vinegar
- pinch of caster sugar

Bring to the boil and cook until tomatoes have reduced. Blend or press through a sieve.

Mushroom vol-au-vent with creamy port sauce

2008-06-22T18:39:00.004+01:00

These look quite impressive but are actually easy to make (a little time-consuming, but simple!).

Makes 4 vols-au-vent:

500g ready-made puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

750g mushrooms, chopped (you can use mixed wild mushrooms)
25g butter
6 TBSP port
4 TBSP double cream
2 TBSP parsley, chopped

1. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to make a 20cm square. Divide the square into 4 squares.

2. With a sharp knife, mark a square about 2.5cm from the edge, cutting half-way through the pastry. Draw a pattern on the inside square.

3. Place the four squares onto a baking tray and brush with the beaten egg. Be careful not to let egg go in the cut. Bake in a 220C pre-heated oven for 35 minutes.

4. Cut out the central squares. Discard the soft pastry inside the case, without breaking the base. Return to the oven for 5-10 min.

5. To make the filling, melt the butter into a non-stick saucepan. Add the mushrooms and fry on full heat, stirring constantly, for 3-5 min.

6. Add the port and cook for 10 min until the mushrooms have softened. Stir in the cream and chopped parseley and season with salt and pepper.

7. Fill the pastry cased with the filling, place the 'hat' back on and serve warm with fresh vegetables.

Tomato & mozzarella salad

2008-06-22T18:27:00.003+01:00

I like a simple salad as a starter, and the combination of tomatoes and mozarella, with the right dressing, is particularly pleasant in summer. I like it with either balsamic vinegar dressing, or very simply with a good quality olive oil (unfiltered is best I think).

Serves 4-6:

200g buffalo mozzarella, sliced
500g tomatoes on the vines, sliced
300g mixed leaves salad (containing wild rocket and baby spinach if possible)
salt & pepper
unfiltered extra virgin olive oil

Chocolate & Hazelnut Palmiers

2008-06-22T18:06:00.004+01:00

These little chocolate treats are the easiest thing to make AND don't involve much washing up :-)

Makes ~ 20 palmiers:

- 1 ready rolled puff pastry
- approx. 8 TBSP hazelnut & chocolate spread
- 50g roasted chopped hazelnuts (you can also mix roasted chopped hazelnuts with ground almonds)
- 2 TBSP caster sugar

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220C.

2. Roll out the puff pastry and spread with the chocolate paste. Sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts/ground almonds.
3. Tightly roll from both ends and make them meet in the middle. Dampen the inside edge with water to make both ends stick together.

4. Slice thinly and place onto baking sheets. Flatten with a palette knife and sprinkle with sugar.

5. Bake in the oven for 10-15 min until golden brown.

Cooking for guests

2008-06-18T21:45:00.004+01:00

We had some guests at the weekend so I had a little more than usual to do in the kitchen. It was quite fun to prepare. So, this is what was on offer at our place on Sunday:

Tomato & mozzarella salad with mixed leaves
(Secret ingredient: organic unfiltered extra virgin olive oil)
Mushroom vol-au-vent in creamy port sauce
Served with:
Carrot mousseline,
Boiled broccoli florets,
Courgette & carrot muffins
Tomato & red wine sauce

Lemon & thyme creams with Lemon madeleines

And for our afternoon tea, I had made a very simple but tasty apple and blueberry tart, sprinkled with almond flakes.

Apple & blueberry tart

We have also eaten our first strawberries, which are absolutely delicious. Looking forward to being able to eat more than 1 at a time, for there are not many of them ripe yet.

Cinema

2008-06-18T21:40:00.003+01:00

We went to see Caramel yesterday, except the movie was not on because the projection room was used for a "free prostate cancer blood testing" evening. Charming. We did not go for the blood test and went to the pub instead. We shall try again tomorrow Thursday. Caramel is a Lebanese "romantic comedy", set in Beirut.

And on Monday, we will go and watch Persépolis, a French cartoon-type movie about a young girl/woman growing up in Iran after the Islamic revolution.

Let's hope they have not rented out the cinema room tomorrow night!

Catwalk on wobbly fence and killing machine

2008-06-11T19:44:00.005+01:00

Chatouille can now climb onto the fence and jump to the front of the house, where the traffic is :'(
Trave caught her on camera as she was walking on the (weak) fence on Sunday (you can hear the churchbells in the distance). She is much better at this now. We think that she wanders about looking for us when we are at work. Poor Chatouille!

Also, I am sorry to report that she caught her first birds at the weekend. We were still in bed on Saturday morning when we heard a loud bird-type shriek coming from downstairs: eeek! So here is, step by step, what we did:

- closed all the doors so that the bird could not fly anywhere else in the house
- took the cat away from the room
- opened all access to outside (windows & French windows)
- put some gloves on
- found the scared little bird, took it slowly in my hands, and took it outside on the grass
- made sure the cat was not nearby for at least 2 hours

So, we saved the first bird (female blackbird), but unfortunately, we saw Chatouille coming towards the house, towards the catflap, with a tiny little bluetit in her mouth. It was too late for this one.

Now we can see the truth: Chatouille is not a cute little kitten anymore, she is a KILLING MACHINE...