The Beauty of the Pancake.

This evening I made pancakes and they were great. That's pretty much all I have to say on the matter, but I felt so passionately about my pancakes, that I decided to add a photo and a little writing to my blog- an 'Ode to the Pancake' if you like.

Pancakes are the cheapest of sweet treats to make, and so easy, with the ingredients usually to be found in any cook's store cupboard (flour, eggs, milk, butter, oil). I'm not going to tell you how to make a pancake, because the chances are if you're reading this you're a keen foodie/cook and have made hundreds of pancakes before, and if you're not, then just google a recipe (a pancakes a pancake to be honest). But what I will say is that the next time you find yourself wondering what dessert to make for a dinner party, go down the hot pancake route. They're not particularly glamorous and are pretty humble, but they are so more-ish and comforting, that they will always go down a storm with everyone. They are also the perfect pudding to follow a Sunday roast, as you can make it as light or heavy as you want through different toppings, and they are still fairly traditional.

I like my pancakes really thin and crispy, fried in butter and piping hot, served with vanilla ice cream and maple syrup (got to be maple...none of this golden syrup, it's too claggy). That combination of hot buttery pancake and cold ice cream is just what life is all about. Serious comfort food!

Super Easy Sweetcorn Fritters with Avocado Salsa

Sweetcorn fritters have been a passion of mine ever since I was little. My Granny (an amazing cook) used to make them and serve them with roast chicken and all the trimmings- not something many people would do now, but to me as a greedy little 7-year-old it was a fantastic combo, and I would demand they be a part of every Sunday roast (it was clear from an early age I was a true foodie..).

Whilst acting as assistant food stylist on a UKTV food shoot recently, we made Bill Granger's Sweetcorn fritters with avocado salsa. My goodness they were delicious, and they totally re-ignited my sweetcorn fritter passion. Everyone was falling over themselves to grab one once we had got the shot we needed- they really were the recipe of the day. Ever since I've been absolutely craving them. They are so more-ish, stodgy (in a good way), and totally satisfying, and the avocado salsa works a treat to cut through the heaviness of the fritter.You can find Bill Granger's recipe, along with the photograph from the shoot I was assisting on, here: http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/581526 

My recipe below is a slight variant on Bill's, as he uses a food processor and I didn't see the need for this- lazy me didn't want to have to wash it up really! Instead I added a small tin of creamed corn, which you can buy from pretty much any big super market. You can make a whole batch of these as and when you're eating them, or you can make them in advance, store in the fridge and then just re-heat them in the oven till they're hot through (about 5-10 minutes). 

These make the perfect brunch, especially if you layer them up with some crispy bacon in between each layer, perhaps some halloumi too if you're going all out. I can't promise it's healthy but I can tell you it's delicious!

For the sweetcorn fritter

1 small tin of sweetcorn

1 small tin of creamed sweetcorn

1 small red onion, chopped

2 eggs

Small bunch of coriander leaves, chopped

125 g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

Vegetable oil, for frying

For the avocado salsa

2 ripe medium avocado, stones removed, flesh diced

15 g coriander leaves

2 tbsp lime or lemon juice

2 tbsp finely chopped spring onions

1 tomato, quartered, seeded and finely sliced (optional)

Dash tabasco, optional

Preheat the oven to 120C/gas 1. 

1. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the fritter until really well combined. Add some salt and pepper. If the mixture seems too thin, add a drop of milk, and if it seems too thick, add a touch more flour.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, drop 2 heaped tablespoons of mixture per sweetcorn cake into the pan and cook in batches of 3 for 1 minute on each side. Drain on paper towels and keep warm in the oven while you are making the rest of the cakes. 

3. To make the avocado salsa,  put all the ingredients in a bowl, with a pinch of salt and pepper, and stir very gently to combine. Serve with the warm sweetcorn cakes.

Superfood Salad

This salad will make you feel on top of the world- it's THE thing to eat if you've let yourself go a bit recently (me, all the time...), as it's packed full of things that are good for you. Admittedly it's a bit of a faff, as it involves roasting the veggies and toasting seeds, but if you do this in one big batch at the start of the week, then you can just store all the ingredients in the fridge and that's all the hard work done- all you have to do is put it all together each day.

The real winner of this salad for me is the dressing- it's really zingy with all the citrus flavours, and really wakes you up- perfect for a grey old autumn day. I wanted to add avocado as well, but unfortunately mine wasn't ripe (first world problems hey?). The feta is optional, but I adore the combination of beetroot and feta. Halloumi would also work beautifully.

Ingredients:

2 sweet potatoes
Handful of tender stem broccoli
Handful of pumpkin seeds
Smoked paprika
Olive oil
Coconut oil (optional)
Couple of bulbs fresh beetroot
Handful of fresh spinach
Lettuce (I used a few baby gem leaves)
Handful of pomegranate seeds
Avocado, sliced
Small block of feta (optional)

For the dressing:

Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Juice and zest of 1 orange
1 tbsp Dijion mustard
1 tbsp white wine or balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

1. Peel and chop the sweet potato into chunks. Place on a baking tray, add a drizzle of olive oil or a teaspoon of coconut oil (this will give it a nice flavour). Season well with salt and pepper and sprinkle over a light dusting of smoked paprika powder. Roast at 200°C for approx. half an hour (giving it a shake around every 10 mins or so), until the sweet potato is soft and starting to caramelize. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

2. Put the pumpkin seeds in a baking tray, add a tiny bit of olive oil, and dust with some smoked paprika and salt. Roast for approx 20 mins, shaking every 5 mins. Keep an eye on these because they can catch and burn very quickly.

3. Wash the beetroot and cut into chunks. Add to a baking tray with some olive olive, salt and pepper and roast for about 20 mins. Then add a splash of water to the tray and cover with tinfoil. Continue to roast for another 20 mins or until the beetroot is soft. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

5. Whilst the veggies are all roasting, wash and blanch the tender stem broccoli for approximately 5 mins, or until it is cooked. Careful not to over cook it- you want it to retain a bit of crunch. Drain and leave to cool.

4. Once the beetroot is cooled, the skin of it will easily peel off- probably best to wear gloves for this as it can stain your hands purple.

5. For the dressing, mix all the ingredients together, season with salt and pepper and have a taste- alter the quantities according to how sharp you like it.

6. Add the spinach, lettuce, cooled sweet potato, broccoli, cooled beetroot, avocado and half the pomegranate seeds to a bowl, and pour over half the dressing (keep some back so that people can add more to their salad at the table) and toss it all together.

7. Once you've plated up, finish with the toasted pumpkin seeds and the rest of the pomegranate seeds scattered on the top, and the feta crumbled over if your using it.

Big Belgian Road Trip 2014

Great line up- Belgian beer!

I recently spent a great few days in Belgium, with some wonderful family and friends. We visited the city of Brussels, then drove down to Antwerp. where my lovely Godmother and her husband live. We spent the entire time eating and drinking our way around (why can't every day be like that?), having far too much fun, sampling some great local delicacies, including a lot of different beers...when in Rome! We've all returned with our waistbands a little tighter, but our spirits a little brighter, having thoroughly enjoyed immersing ourselves (perhaps a bit too much..) in Belgian culture.

Mopping up some of that beer with bar snacks at 'Monk' 

On our first night in Brussels, we were staying with some family friends, who made us the most delicious and comforting vat of beef in beer, with amazing Ghent mustard (seriously strong mustard from Ghent, Belgium) and cheese toasted croutons floating on the top- something I will definitely be recreating at home. It was so homely and delicious, not too fancy. and exactly what we needed after a fair old journey being cooped up on the Eurostar. Suffice it to say, I didn't take a picture of this, partly because I had left my camera in the van, and partly because there's a huge groan around the table these days whenever I start snapping away at the food...so I toned it down on this occasion!

The next morning we set off into the centre of Brussels, and spent the day wandering the streets, stopping here and there for a beer or bar snack. Of course no visit to Belgium is complete without a cone of triple-fried chips, in my case smothered in both mayo and ketchup. The salty, crispy goodness of triple fried Belgian chips is just the trick to nurse a Belgian beer hangover.

Triple-fried....the start of a catastrophic weekend for the diet.....

Beers all round in the sunshine

One of the culinary highlights of the trip had to be our moules lunch in Antwerp. My Uncle Jeremy, who's also a huge foodie and knows Antwerp like the back of his hand, booked us a late lunch at 'Maritime' in the heart of Antwerp, where all of us enjoyed huge pots of steaming mussels, cooked with white wine and cream and garlic, served with frites and washed down with cold, crisp white wine. Heaven! It was the start of the mussel season, so obviously we had to make the most of it (it would be rude not to).

Best mussels in Antwerp

Fantastic Moules frites

Yet another memorable meal during our visit, was the 3 course extravaganza that we were treated to on arrival in Antwerp, cooked by my Uncle Jeremy. He'd made a Belgian feast for us, starting off with avocado stuffed with dressed brown shrimp served with a frozen gazpacho-filled tomato, followed by stuffed veal escalopes served with a kind of cheesy, mashed potato bake which I believe is called 'Stoemp'. The meal was rounded off with a light, refreshing orange sorbet, served in the orange, followed by some beautiful cheese and crackers. It was a real occasion, and it is one of the nicest thing in the world when someone goes to the effort of preparing such a special meal for you- it felt like Christmas!

What a night...

Lovely retro dessert 

Everything a cheese board should be.

Unfortunately, we had to head back to the UK at some point, and we did so with full stomachs, probably still a bit merry, and of course a van full of Belgian wine, cheese, ham and salami (we went totally overboard...absolutely no self control). All in all, it was a magical weekend, full of laughter, surrounded by the two best things in life- family and food. We've decided to make it an annual occurrence, so here's to next year!

The Gang with our moules- so many smiling red faces!

Baked duck eggs with asparagus, prosciutto and Gruyère

Having received some fresh duck eggs as a gift, I decided to bake them 'en cocotte' (in pots) for Sunday morning brunch. This is something I've never actually made before, but I tasted a similar recipe whilst interning at Good Food magazine, and they were so delicious I've been craving them ever since. So having got these beautiful eggs, I decided to now was the time to try it.

One great thing about baked eggs is you can make up the pots the night before, cover them and store in the fridge overnight, so all you have to do in the morning is roll out of bed, stick the oven on and pop them in. There are so many varieties of eggs en cocotte- you can add leeks, crème fraiche, mushrooms, smoked salmon- whatever you fancy. I decided to go with asparagus for a bit of freshness, prosciutto for some saltiness, and Gruyère for some gooey-ness!


Ingredients:

Butter (for greasing the ramekins)
4 eggs (duck or hen)
4 slices of prosciutto ham
Small bunch of asparagus, washed
Fresh herbs (I used chives and parsley), washed and finely chopped.
Double cream
Small block Gruyère cheese
Salt
Pepper
Good quality bread (I used sourdough) for serving.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C

2. Boil or steam the asparagus for approx. 2 mins depending on the size of the asparagus. You want it to be very much al dente as it will continue cooking in the oven later on. Remove and drain, then roughly chop so it's a nice size to fit into your ramekins.

3. Butter 4 oven-proof ramekin dishes.

4. Cut the prosciutto into strips and add to your prepared ramekins.

5. Crack one egg into each ramekin.

6. Divide the asparagus equally between your ramekins, pushing it down to fit it all in (careful not to break the yolks).

7. Sprinkle some of your chopped herbs into eat pot, reserving some to sprinkle on before serving.

8. Grate a generous amount of gruyère onto each ramekin.

7. Season well with salt and pepper.

8. Place the pots in a baking tray, and pour in some lukewarm water, so that it comes up to about half way up the sides of your pots.

9. Place in the oven and cook for around 15 mins, for runny eggs. Bear in mind that they will keep cooking a bit when you take them out the oven, so to under-do them slightly is probably the way to go.

10. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with a bit more salt and pepper and the remainder of your fresh herbs, Place your pots on plates, and serve with some buttered sourdough soldiers!

Before

After. Delicious baked duck eggs with asparagus, prosciutto and gruyère.

Sunday Roast (on a Saturday...)

So we roasted a chicken last Saturday, and it looked so great that I had to take a few pictures. Chicken is such an underestimated meat in my opinion; people tend to think of it as a bit of a safe and boring option. To me, roast chicken with the trimmings and bread sauce (essential), is once of the best things in life, and the possibilities with the left overs are endless. Crispy, salty chicken skin, is without doubt, one of the best things going. My family will tell you I have a habit of literally eating all the skin (much to their annoyance)- it's my favourite part.

We added a halved lemon and a bunch of thyme into the cavity of our chicken, and scattered some around the outside too, poured on a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, rubbed it all in, and then just roasted it for around an hour and a half, letting it rest for a good 20/30 mins.  I would describe this recipe as a bit of a lazy boys roast, because there's no real faffing around with it, it's just really simple and fail-safe.We had ours with roasted veg and peas (we were being a bit lazy), and of course bread sauce and gravy. Yum!

   

Crab, asparagus and pistachio salad with lemon and basil dressing

I made this lovely light salad for lunch on the bank holiday weekend just gone, and it was so delicious that I thought I'd add the recipe to my blog. I like using pistachios for this, as they are my favourite nut, and they give the salad a bit of crunch. You could swap them for other nuts or seeds if you prefer- toasted almonds would work well. This recipe is packed full of healthy things (asparagus, pistachios, crab) so it's good for you too! It would also make a nice starter for a meal too, as it's not too heavy.

Serves 4:

1 bunch of asparagus
7 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
6 basil leaves
1 finely chopped shallot or small onion
small bunch of parsley
bag of salad leaves (baby leaf will work, or pea shoots)
handful of pistachio nuts
1 pound crab meat (approx 2 crabs)
2 avocados, sliced.
salt and pepper

Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil. Fill a separate bowl with ice water. Blanch the asparagus for about 5 mins. Keep an eye on it, because it's easy to overcook- you want it to still have a bit of a bite to it. As soon as the asparagus it down scoop it out and plunge it straight into the prepared ice water. Once it's cooled, drain and put to one side in a bowl.

Blend the olive oil, lemon juice, basil, shallot and half the parsley in a blender if you have one. If not, you can chop the herbs and shallots as finely as possible and mix it all together- use a pestle and mortar if you have one to really mash it all together. Season it, and see how it tastes- you can alter the recipe to your own taste (e.g add more basil if you like).

Add the salad leaves, pistachios and the left over parsley to the asparagus. Add half of the dressing and toss together. Then add the crab (reserving the claws) and the sliced avocado. Pour over the remaining dressing, season well with salt and pepper, and toss together again. Serve in plates or bowls, and top each serving with a crab claw. I like to serve mine with some nice crusty warm bread and butter, and perhaps a bit of mayonnaise on the side too.

Ideally, enjoy outside, with a glass of chilled, crisp white wine!