Dinner made deliciously easy…

Here’s what cooking in Savvy Cook’s kitchen week commencing 3rd of May….

Not quite BBQ weather yet, so we’ll play safe and rely on the oven. As the weather warms up and becomes more reliably sunny, we’ll include some dishes that can be prepared outside.

Want to be involved in developing Savvy Cook’s summer menu? Suggestions + ideas welcome! We’ll have a big cook-off and tasting session towards the end of May.

 

Monday

Baked chermoula salmon with sweet roast pepper, lemon & mint couscous

Tuesday 

Greek style chicken fillets with a zesty Feta topping, rice and green beans

Wednesday

Plaice fillets with tapenade & tomatoes, wilted spinach and new potatoes

Thursday

Polenta and Parmesan cakes, roast cherry tomatoes and fresh pesto

Friday

Baked trout on rosemary roast potatoes, horseradish-walnut creme fraiche, beetroot salad

If I may say so myself: yum – yum -yummy!

Monique

Next week’s dinner menu…

Monday

Crab cakes with red pepper dressing, Charlotte potatoes and watercress salad

Tuesday

Sticky lemon and ginger chicken, basmati rice and green beans

Wednesday

Oven baked chestnut mushroom and asparagus risotto, poached egg and Parmesan

Thursday

Chilli tofu, sweet potato and soba noodles in a coconut coriander broth

Friday

Baked lamb koftas, balsamic roast tomatoes, tzatziki and rice

Favourite lunch this week: smashed peas, dill and Feta

I made this for Tuesday’s Women’s Food & Farming Union London’s meeting and it was very well received.

If you like fresh, zesty and texture this is for you!

Really quick and easy to make and works a treat with frozen peas until fresh peas are in season (June).

You could try substituting the dill with mint (but use less because mint easily overpowers everything else) or do half -and-half.

Blobbed onto toasted sourdough or Ryvita pumpkin seed crackers or scooped up with individual little gem lettuce leaves…

No picture I am afraid: I was in too much of  a hurry to take one when preparing for the WFU meeting and so greedy to eat the left-overs the next day I forgot…

I can tell you it looks beautiful: pea-green (obviously) with flecks of dark green + bright white.

Waitrose sell bags of ready washed pea shoot which would make a lovely garnish, but why not grow your own? A lot cheaper and fun.

Serves 4 as a starter

You will need:

150g peas (podded weight if using fresh)

1 garlic clove, green shoot removed and chopped very finely or use a garlic press or pestle & mortar

4 tbsp finely snipped fresh dill

100g Feta, crumbled

25g freshly grated Parmesan

2 tbsp lemon juice

2.5 tbsp olive oil (I have just opened a bottle of 2009 oil from the Fattoria La Vialla estate in Italy – very grassy + peppery, delish!)

This is what you do:

1. blitz the peas in a food processor: pulse for short burst, you want the peas to retain some shape. If using frozen, don’t bother defrosting the peas first.

2. tip into a bowl

3. add all the other ingredients and mix lightly until paste-like

4. check the seasoning: you’ll probably want to add some freshly ground black pepper but won’t need to add salt because the Feta and Parmesan add enough

5. now you are ready to tuck in but have a good sniff (or lung full) first: Spring on a plate!

Bon appetit!

Monique

Chase family “North Dakota” rhubarb cake: part 2

I tried to make this cake, a very old family recipe that originated in New England and then brought across the US in about 1860 when part of the Chase family headed West to the “badlands” of Noth Dakota.

Those of you who read Savvy Cook’s blog regularly may have seen my less than successful first attempt at baking this cake: the result was a dark brown cake, which tasted good, but with oozing centre of raw batter.

.... but still tasty

I probably did not “translate” the American measurements very well into metric, so below I give you the original recipe and my conversion.

Along with the addition of some cinnamon + vanilla (a dash of nutmeg or mixed spice could work well too) I also suggest that you put the rhubarb in the bottom of the tin instead of mixing it into the batter. Reason for this is that the rhubarb sinks to the bottom anyway, and this way you avoid the sides of the cake being punctuated with holes caused by softened chunks of rhubarb.

Do give it a go, whilst rhubarb is around.

It works well as a coffee cake, but could equally be served lukewarm as a pudding perhaps with a ball of good quality vanilla ice cream and/or some rhubarb compote.

Makes 2 x 1 kg loaf cake tins or 2 x 30cm spring forms, greased and lined with baking parchment

North Dakota rhubarb cakes ready to go into the oven

You will need:

4 eggs

2 cups (500ml) of buttermilk

3 cups (600g) of caster sugar

2 tsp of baking powder

4 cups (480g) of plain flour

4 cups (500g) of rhubarb, cut into 1cm slices

1 tsp of cinnamon

1 tsp of vanilla essence

25g of light brown muscovado sugar to sprinkle

Fresh from the oven!

This is what you do:

1. pre-heat the oven to 180C

2. using a handheld mixer, mix the eggs with the sugar until pale + creamy

3. add the buttermilk (or a mixture of 400ml of semi-skimmed milk + 100ml of plain yoghurt) + vanilla essence

4. sift in the flour + baking powder + cinnamon

5. carefully mix with a spatula until all the ingredients are combined

6. divide the rhubarb over the 2 loaftins

7. pour the cake batter over the rhubarb and bake for 50 minutes or until the cake feels firm to the touch

Let the cake cool in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack.

Let them eat cake...

Happy baking!

Monique

Look what’s cooking next week

Monday

Italian baked haddock, new potatoes and olives, served with green beans

Tuesday

Aromatic chicken with sticky apricots, bulghur wheat and courgettes

Wednesday

Baked lamb meatballs with oregano roast vegetables, soft Parmesan polenta

Thursday

Butternut squash and spinach curry, wholegrain rice and toasted almonds

Friday

Tom som pla salmon

Girly lunch: tom som pla salmon

This is a wonderfully fragrant salmon and ginger soup – quick & easy to make and perfect for lunch.

Tom som pla salmon ingredients

Serves 2

 

 

This is what you need: 

2 skinless salmon fillets, cut across the grain into 1cm thin slices

2 bunches of soba noodles, prepared according packet instructions

600ml fresh chicken, or fish, stock (a cube won’t do here)

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

4 shallots, chopped

1/2 tsp shrimp paste

2 fresh coriander roots and stems

handful of coriander leaves

2 tbsp tamarind paste

2 tsp palm sugar

2 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)

4cm fresh ginger, cut into matchsticks

1 tbsp lime juice

2 spring onions, sliced

 

This is what you do:

 

1. blitz the black pepper, shallots, shrimp paste and coriander roots + stems to make a paste

2. in a large saucepan, bring the stock to the boil

3. add the paste and simmer

4. add the tamarind, sugar, fish sauce and ginger

5. remove from the heat and add the fish, lime juice and spring onions

6. divide the noodles + soup between 2 bowls, sprinkle with coriander leaves and serve

Tom som pla salmon

 Bon appetit!

Monique

Next week’s delicous & easy menu

Monday

Lime and mint pollack fillets with cucumber basmati rice, edamame beans and sesame seeds

Tuesday

Baked buttermilk chicken fillets with a herb crust, creamy mustard & honey sauce, green beans and Anya potatoes

Wednesday

Spiced lamb fillets baked with couscous, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers and black olives

Thursday

Roast sea trout fillets with herby Puy lentils, baby beetroots and a yoghurt dressing

Friday

Veal, spinach and lemon cannelloni, chunky tomato sauce, carrot & parsley salad

Tiger tomatoes

Came across these amazing tomatoes at Cowdray Park Farmshop http://www.cowdrayfarmshop.co.uk/ the other day.

I was really excited to hear that a new farm, worked on traditional farming principles and open to schools and the public, will be created within the boundary of Cowdray Park. The farm is being developed in partnership with Natural England and will be operated by Cowdray Home Farms, for the benefit of children and adults, as a working example of farming techniques, countryside stewardship and environmental management.

Back to the tomatoes!

The pics don’t really do them justice, but the small round ones on the vine have very distinctive stripes: green on a red background.

I call them “tiger tomatoes” but I am sure that is not their proper name.

San Manzano midi pepper plum + tiger tomatoes

Orange San Manzano midi pepper plum + tiger tomatoes

The other ones are called “orange San Manzano midi pepper plum”.

Both have a mild, sweet flavour, ideal for adding “wow” to salads and the San Manzanos for roasting as well.

The vine ones turn a kind of overall black when exposed to heat, so really are best eaten raw to maximise the impact of their unusual colouring.

Monique

Gourmet gems & expert tuition

Savvy Cook’s “Learn to Love your Kitchen” workshops got a mention in the March issue of Living Magazine!

Review of Savvy Cook's "Learn to Love your Kitchen"

Check out the website for more “gourmet gems” from Sudi Pigott

www.sw.greatbritishlife.co.uk

Although workshops have a central theme (that, with a little knowledge, imagination and planning, eating well can be easy+  delicious), classes are bespoke and as much about instilling confidence as spending an enjoyable couple of hours with friends whilst learning something new.

Get in touch to find out more

info@savvycook.co.uk

Best,

Monique

Easter musings

Spring blossom

It’s Easter Monday as I write this and I am looking back on an unexpectedly sunny + relaxing break.

We kicked off the 4 day break on Thursday evening with dinner at our friends’ house in Fulham, followed by a spot of househunting in East Sussex + walk in Petworth Park with the hounds + shopping at Cowdray Park farmshop on Friday, then a long and relaxed brunch with friends on Saturday. Yesterday was about catching up on the weekend papers, a visit to the gym then a night in front of the fire.

Not bad!

The bruch menu read as follows:

champagne

***

orange juice or vegetable juice

coffee

***

eggs Benedict, Florentine or Royal (I let every choose their favourite and then prepared to order which worked fine)

ricotta hot cakes with spiced plum compote or lemon + sugar

Easter muffins

poached rhubarb,  fromage frais + homemade granola pots

I planned to take a picture of the table which looked really fab (if I say so myself) with a white linen tablecloth, purple napkins, bunch of daffodils in a purple vase, coloured glassware + mini Smarties eggs strewn over the table.  And then promptly forgot!

Italian Easter sweetmeats from Salvino

Friends arrived at 11am and left at 4pm; although none of the guests had met before, conversation flowed and we discussed music festivals, (luxury) camping, town v country living amongst other things. I still can’t get over the fact that a wellknown (British) chef and a wellknown (American) filmstar, who I thought were both straighter than straight, apparently are not.

My Mum will be disappointed!

One of our friends brought along some delicious pistachio biscuits (baked that morning) which were a beautiful tender green and had the most amazing, intense taste of pistachio and (if I rember correctly) rosewater. Must remember to ask for the recipe: they would work really well with ice cream or served after dinner with a strong espresso.

I also received a bottle of olive oil from Fattoria La Vialla, an organic and biodynamically managed estate in Tuscany along with a bar of Original Beans single origin chocolate, more chocolates and champagne!

Here’s the recipe for the Easter muffins. As with all muffin recipes, don’t overmix or the muffins will be heavy. A light hand is what’s needed!

Easter muffins with dried fruit & marzipan

Makes 12

You will need:

250g marzipan

150g unsalted butter, melted

300ml milk

100g Fairtrade golden caster sugar

4 large eggs

350g plain flour

2 tbsp baking powder

2 tbsp mixed spice

100g dried cranberries

100g golden raisins

demerara sugar for sprinkling

+

2 x 6 hole muffin tins lined with paper muffin cases

This is what you do:

1. pre-heat the oven to 200C, gasmark 6.

2. chop 150g of the marzipan into small pieces

3. chop the remaining marzipan into 24 strips, each about 5cm long; you may find you can cut neat slices from the block of marzipan, which you then cut into narrow strips. Alternatively, roll out the marzipan with a rolling pin and cut into thin strips.

4. melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat or in the microwave.

5. in a large mixing bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, milk and melted butter until combined

6. sift the flour, baking powder, mixed spice and pinch of salt on to the mixture

7. with a large plastic spatula or metal spoon, strir the flour into the butter mixture along with the dried fruit + marzipan – until just combined!

8. divide the mixture over the 12 muffin cases (I use a sauce ladle for this)

9. lie two strips of marzipan over each muffin to make a cross and sprinkle over a little demerara sugar

10. bake in the centre of the oven for 18-20 mins or until the muffins are well risen and firm to the touch

11. leave in the tin for 5 mins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool

I realise I should have posted this recipe a week ago but you may still want to have a go at making these delicious muffins, which I think will go down well at any time of year – not just at Easter.

Let me know if you do make them and what you think of the recipe.

Best,

Monique