Seductive Summer Dinner for commuting and stressed out husband. 15 July 2011:
Starter: Fried corgette flowers stuffed with ricotta cheese, mint and chili served on a bed of chives
Fish Course: Scallops with peas, broad beans and pancetta
Main Course: Poussins served with a lemon sauce, lavender and recurrant stuffing balls, baby carrots, green beans and roasted new potatoes
Dessert: Summer Pudding trifle
Petit Fours: lavender shortbread sandwiches filled with lavender and raspberry jam, and dipped in dark chocolate
We've been on holiday in Cornwall for the past week. It was magical; a truly enchanting place. I love getting seafood when we're down there. I was lucky enough to get to go out to dinner twice while we were there. The first night I had crab-stuffed ravioli and seabass with mussels. The second night I had a fish feast: scallops with bacon, Thai crab chili cake, sardines, seafood chowder, and for my main course a lobster, which I haven't had in years. I came home with fresh crab from Porthleven, clotted cream, and saffron cake. There is a fish shop in Porthleven called Quayside fish, which is nothing short of inspirational. I demanded a visit the place before we left, and I took all five of my girls into the shop to educate them on the concept of a truly worthwhile food merchant. Nearly all the fish are caught locally, and there they were, uncut and on display, for all to see: monkfish, squid, john dory, lemon sole, and so many more which I cannot remember.
Sunday 31 July 2011
Monday 11 July 2011
I took the plunge this weekend and tried making peach jam, with my own recipe. I followed the principles of jam making from the French apricot jam recipe which I wrote about a few weeks ago, which are: soak the fruit with lemon juice, water and a vanilla pod for a few hours to let the flavors meld together; cook the fruit in this mixture until the fruit gets soft-ish, before adding the sugar; fruit to sugar ratio is almost two to one, as opposed to one to one as in most recipes; and a soft set.
Well, it was a success, and glorious, too. I love fresh peaches; to me, that is the taste of summer time, especially when the peaches are topped with cream and sugar. Since I used significantly less sugar than in other jams, some of the peach pieces still retained just a bite of freshness, rather than being smothered in sweetness.
What I did:
1 kg peaches (stoned weight)
650 grams sugar
1 sachet pectin
Juice of one lemon
300 mls water
1 vanilla pod
Scalde, peel, pit and chop the peaches into small-ish chunks. Put in a jam pot with the lemon juice, water, and vanilla pod, which should be cut up into four pieces. Leave to infuse for a few hours. Then, simmer for about 30 min., or until the fruit is soft - but not too soft, as you want some of the pieces to retain their shape. Add the sugar and pectin, and then boil away until setting point is reached.
It always seems like a gamble, determining when exactly the setting point has been reached.
Well, it was a success, and glorious, too. I love fresh peaches; to me, that is the taste of summer time, especially when the peaches are topped with cream and sugar. Since I used significantly less sugar than in other jams, some of the peach pieces still retained just a bite of freshness, rather than being smothered in sweetness.
What I did:
1 kg peaches (stoned weight)
650 grams sugar
1 sachet pectin
Juice of one lemon
300 mls water
1 vanilla pod
Scalde, peel, pit and chop the peaches into small-ish chunks. Put in a jam pot with the lemon juice, water, and vanilla pod, which should be cut up into four pieces. Leave to infuse for a few hours. Then, simmer for about 30 min., or until the fruit is soft - but not too soft, as you want some of the pieces to retain their shape. Add the sugar and pectin, and then boil away until setting point is reached.
It always seems like a gamble, determining when exactly the setting point has been reached.
Wednesday 6 July 2011
Consider the gooseberry. It is one of those fruits about which I get obsessed when it's season is upon us. Which is now. High summer. Whenever I see them at the market or in the store, I feel compelled to buy them, no matter how many I may already have at home. I've made a gooseberry and elderflower trifle this season, which wasn't a huge success, but now that I've got that failure under my belt I have a much better idea of how to do a gooseberry trifle next time, which I hope will be rather soon. I've also made a gooseberry and elderflower cheesecake, a gooseberry crumble, and a Beatrix Potter recipe for gooseberry sauce to go with trout, none of which were particularly fantastic but at least I'm getting gooseberries out of my system. Or, into my system, I suppose.
However, today, finally, was a success story with gooseberries. I made gooseberry chutney, and it is truly a wonderous creation. I found a very simple recipe, and when it comes to chutney, I think the more simple, the better. The last thing you want is onions and courgettes and sultanas and apples all competing for your attention in a gooseberry chutney. So, the recipe I followed was something like
700 grams gooseberries
150 grams onions
300 mls cider vinegar
275 grams light brown sugar
9 grams salt
2 teaspoons ginger
I threw it all in a pot and let it simmer for about and hour and a half, until it was reduced to something quite thick. It has a lovely tanginess as well as a sweetness which comes through despite the strong taste of vinegar which you have in any chutney. I think it's important to use light vinegar and light brown sugar with something like gooseberries, because you don't want a dark sticky chutney made with this fruit - what would be the point? It would just mask the delicate tanginess, which is what makes this chutney so special.
After it was all packed, sealed away in jars, and cooled, I made the ultimate English snack: gooseberry chutney with lavender cheese on an oatcake. Even my thirteen year old liked it, although she did ask for a drink afterwards. (Her verdict on the cheese was: 'I don't like it as much as the lavender jelly we had at Easter or the lavender and raspberry jam we made last year'. To which I responded: 'Or the lavender shortbread we made last year.').
However, today, finally, was a success story with gooseberries. I made gooseberry chutney, and it is truly a wonderous creation. I found a very simple recipe, and when it comes to chutney, I think the more simple, the better. The last thing you want is onions and courgettes and sultanas and apples all competing for your attention in a gooseberry chutney. So, the recipe I followed was something like
700 grams gooseberries
150 grams onions
300 mls cider vinegar
275 grams light brown sugar
9 grams salt
2 teaspoons ginger
I threw it all in a pot and let it simmer for about and hour and a half, until it was reduced to something quite thick. It has a lovely tanginess as well as a sweetness which comes through despite the strong taste of vinegar which you have in any chutney. I think it's important to use light vinegar and light brown sugar with something like gooseberries, because you don't want a dark sticky chutney made with this fruit - what would be the point? It would just mask the delicate tanginess, which is what makes this chutney so special.
After it was all packed, sealed away in jars, and cooled, I made the ultimate English snack: gooseberry chutney with lavender cheese on an oatcake. Even my thirteen year old liked it, although she did ask for a drink afterwards. (Her verdict on the cheese was: 'I don't like it as much as the lavender jelly we had at Easter or the lavender and raspberry jam we made last year'. To which I responded: 'Or the lavender shortbread we made last year.').
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