Tag Archives: dinner

Egg in the Hole

4 Jul

This was one of the first things I ever learned to make. Fried bread and egg, yes. Good breakfast (if a little ott). But cut a square (or circle) out of the bread, and drop the egg into it, and you suddenly have magic. Children love this (I know I did) – they are fascinated by it and love to dip the bread into the golden yolk. I remember making this on seaside trips, for parents’ birthdays, and just because I could!

Its wonderful as breakfast, but its also awesome for a light supper (with a salad of tomato and onion perhaps), or even a late snack whilst watching the World Cup! Its very satisfying because there is something playful about this meal – but its also really really tasty.

If you can, please try and make this with an organic egg. Because the ingredients are so simple: bread, egg, butter and seasoning, it is imperative that you use the best quality ingredients. An organic free range egg is a thing of beauty. Its yolk is a golden orange, and the taste is completely totally eggy. The white is bright and tastes clean and clear. These may cost more, but they are so worth it. The creature that gave you her egg is living a good life, rather than battery raised chickens, and you can taste that lack of stress and sadness in the egg. When I do eat animal products (egg, milk, cheese, etc) I do try to get the organic, free range variety. Not only are there stronger protections in place for the animals to ensure that they lead happy lives, but quite simply, the taste cannot compare. It is just so much better. I would rather have one egg in the hole every two weeks, and have it taste 20 times better. Its about the choice, but its also about my sensual pleasure.

For each egg in the hole you will need:

  • 1 strong slice white or brown bread, preferably home made
  • 1 tsp (or more) softened butter
  • 1 egg
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Take the bread, and cut a hole in the centre. I usually make a square, but you could cut a circle, or even use a cookie cutter to make an interesting pattern.

Butter the bread on both sides, as well as the cut out square.

Sprinkle a tiny bit of salt and pepper over the bread.

Place bread on a non stick pan, over low heat. Let the bread fry/toast in the butter on both sides, until browned to your liking.

As soon as both sides of the bread are brown and toasted (dont forget to flip the cut out square!), crack the egg into a pouring cup measure. Salt and pepper the egg.

Take a small amount of butter and drop it into the open hole in the bread. With your spatula, lift one side of the slice of bread, and pour the egg white through the hole. The lifting will allow the white to flow around the edges of the bread. Try and pour as much of the white  out as possible, creating a layer of egg white on the bottom side of the bread. Once all the egg white has been poured through, gently pour the egg yolk straight into the hole. Let the yolk cook for as long as is your preference. I personally like it a little liquid, but also slightly squidgy.

Salt and pepper just before serving.

Enjoy!

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Mushrooms and Couscous

3 Jul

I first had this dish in a “wymyn friendly” cafe in Observatory, Cape Town. The place was a little intimidating (identifying as I do as a woman 😉 ) but the cooking was outstanding. Unfortunately, it closed down because the chef and the front of house manager were partners, and when they ended, the cafe ended. But while it was operational, I ate here on a regular basis to have this meal. Its charm is in its simplicity and clarity, and yet its attention to colour, texture and taste. Its an easy meal to make, but incredibly satisfying for a vegetarian, and a vegan too if you substitute olive oil for butter, and leave out the parmesan.

I made this for MZ one evening when everyone was exhausted and tired. It was so comforting, you could feel the mood around the table change. It was good.

The other thing I love about this is that is so easy to adapt – you can make it for yourself, or you can serve it on a platter, with the golden fluffy couscous, and the beautiful steaming mushrooms arranged in generous synchronicity. Such pleasure.

I usually make this for 4 – 6 people but feel free to double or halve or even quarter!

Couscous

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 white onion, minced
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1/2 tsp dried basil or 1 tbsp fresh basil, minced
  • 500 g box of couscous
  • 1 1/4 cups of boiling salted water or vegetable stock (see note)
  • Couple tablespoons of butter or olive oil
  • Salt

First, pour out your couscous and measure the number of cups. Most boxes of couscous can vary by up to half a cup of couscous, though you should get about 2 1/2 cups of couscous in a 500 g box. You will want exactly half the amount of couscous, for your boiling water or stock. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, over medium heat, soften the onion and garlic in the olive oil. When soft and glossy, add basil and a little salt and mix well. Take off heat, and add the couscous. Mix well so that the onion is completely combined with the couscous.

Pour over boiling salted water or vegetable stock, and immediately cover for 5 – 1o minutes, until the water is completely absorbed into the couscous.

Using a fork, fluff the couscous, adding small slithers of butter or a glug of olive oil and tasting for salt. Set aside, covered until ready to serve.

Mushrooms

  • 3 -4 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 white onion, minced
  • 2 – 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 – 3 cups mixed mushrooms (portobello, white, Swiss brown), peeled and roughly chopped (you want large pieces)
  • 1 – 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 2 – 3 tbsp dijon mustard
  • 1/4 cup red wine
  • 1/4 cup water or veegetable stock
  • 1/4 cup half and half (very optional)
  • Salt and pepper
  • Handful of baby spinach + handful of fresh basil

In a large frying pan, over medium heat, soften onion and garlic, and season with a little bit of salt and pepper. When the onions are glassy, turn heat up to high, and add mushrooms in batches of 1 cup each. You want them to sear a bit, and burn a bit before releasing their juices. Stir well, and continue moving the mushrooms about the pan.

When all the mushrooms have been added to the pan, add the balsamic and soy sauce all at once. This will quickly steam in the pan, caramelising some bits of the mushrooms, but also encouraging them to release their juices. As the liquids begin to come out of the mushrooms, do not stir. Add a few slivers of butter over the mushrooms and allow the heat and steam to melt the butter into the mushrooms. This will do two things: it will flavour the mushrooms, and bring out their incredibly rich and meaty taste, but it will also thicken and encourage the sauce that is being created from their juices. The alchemy of heat and ingredients!

Add the dijon, wine, water and half and half (if using) and mix extremely well. Taste for seasoning and adjust. Allow to boil down by about half, but ensure you still have some liquid at the bottom of the pan. Set aside until ready to serve, or serve immediately.

Just before serving, reheat gently, and add a handful of baby spinach, and a handful of fresh basil to the pan, stirring to wilt.

Assembly

To serve this dish you will need:

  • Couscous
  • Mushrooms
  • About half a cup of toasted pine nuts
  • Another handful of fresh basil or Italian parsley, chopped roughly
  • Thin slices / shards of old parmesan (optional)

On a beautiful serving platter, arrange the couscous so there is a small well or dip in the middle. Mound the mushroom mixture into the well, and pour sauce over the sides, so you soak the couscous, but still allow its fluffy goldenness to shine through. Sprinkle the pine nuts over, and then the basil or parsley. Finally top with shards of parmesan if using.

Delicious!

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Glamorgan Sausages – My Favourite!

30 Jun

Glamorgan sausages are a simple, easy Welsh specialty. These vegetarian sausages were born out of poverty — a way to make readily available ingredients stand in for more expensive meat. Amazingly, I have had non-vegetarians try this, and they swear I have given them meat sausages! They are filling and rich, and incredibly forgiving. You can add or subtract ingredients as available. Though the base of breadcrumbs, eggs, cheese and onions should stay, if you have some lovely sautéed mushrooms, or a few shreds of ruby red sun dried tomato, or some deep green sautéed spinach or kale — by all means add!

I try and use leeks (for their Welsh-ness, and for their soft nuttiness when braised in butter) instead of an onion, but if I don’t find any leeks in the shops, an onion – red, white, yellow, or even spring – will do. I use cheddar here, but if you want, substitute it with Caerphilly or another kind of melting cheese. Parmesan gives it a sharp richness, feta makes a thicker smoother mouth feel. Try changing the breadcrumbs – from white to sourdough to nutty brown, and see how the taste (and texture) changes. White bread adds lightness, while brown makes these sausages much more dense and thick.

These sausages are amazingly flexible as they can take on the identity of many different ethnic cooking — feta and olives or spinach with the basic recipe makes them Greek; sun dried tomatoes and parmesan delivers a sunny taste of Italy; sesame seeds and oil, a teaspoon of miso paste, some soy and seaweed elevate these to an Asian favorite.

I serve these almost exclusively for dinner, but they would be fantastic as a Sunday brunch, with fried or scrambled eggs, mushrooms, and some home-made baked beans. A Sunday fry-up beyond compare!

These are the version of Glamorgan sausages that I make all the time. I add portobello mushrooms for a meaty texture and taste. They don’t really stand out, but the sausages taste better for them. I make the base ahead of time, a day or so, and store it in my very hardworking fridge! This enables the flavors to meld. I also make my own breadcrumbs – ridiculously easy, and store them in the freezer, or an airtight container.

I know it seems like a lot of work, but if you do things in stages, and a few things ahead of time, its a simple matter of assembling all the ingredients and frying the sausages up. I cannot tell you how delicious these are – the cheese melts through the sausages, making them stick to the pan and burn a little. Oh the joys of burnt cheese! And their hearty, meaty texture is a filling and fulfilling meal.

This recipe feeds about 12 people +/- so feel free to halve it if you are not dealing with hoards. It doubles well too!  Makes approximately 48 sausages.

Base

  • 2 cups leeks, white tips only, quartered, sliced, and washed in salted water
  • 2 cups portobello mushrooms, peeled, and roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 tablespoon or so of aged syrupy balsamic vinegar, if you have it – if not, you could use a glugg of wine
  • Approximately 1/2 cup heavy cream

Prepare the leeks and mushrooms. Wash the leeks well in salted water, and let them stand for a minute while you peel the mushrooms and chop the mushrooms. I always chop and stem the mushrooms. My sister once had a terrible reaction to a mushroom dish because they weren’t cleaned well enough – I would rather go through the process of peeling off the top layer then not cleaning them well enough. Good mushrooms always come with dirt!

Over a medium heat, in a medium to large saucepan, melt the butter and olive oil together. Once hot, add the leeks all at once. If you’ve washed them and left them standing, they will still have water clinging to them. This is good! The leeks will almost braise in the pan, the water mixing with the butter and oil. Cook until the leeks are glossy and shining. Add the mushrooms, and continue to cook, mixing well, until the mushrooms let go of their liquid. Add the garlic and stir well.

You don’t want everything to cook down to a mush as you will be cooking again when you fry the sausages, so this is a very quick process.

Once everything is combined well, add salt and pepper, and a bit of balsamic vinegar if you have it. The balsamic will deepen the taste of both the leeks and the mushrooms without insisting that you acknowledge it – very loving and supportive. Its addition gives the other flavors an added dimension.

Combine everything well, and add a couple big glugs of heavy cream (or if you don’t have any, add milk). Incorporate well, and let it bubble and thicken for a minute or so, melding the juices of the leeks and mushrooms with the cream., and then take off the heat. If you are making the sausages the next day, let cool, and then store in the fridge, covered.

By the by, this makes a phenomenal base for a leek and mushroom soup or pie. If you are making soup, blitz in blender with milk and/or vegetable stock, and reheat, adding herbs to taste. If you are making a pie, use bigger cuts of both the leeks and mushrooms. Yummy either way!

Breadcrumbs

  • 2 loaves of bread – at least 2 days old. I usually use a mix of brown and white. I used a Swiss egg bread and a German brown sourdough for this recipe, but you can use whatever you want!
  • 2 croissants (for richness – very optional!)

Tear the bread in to large pieces, and toast, for about ten minutes, in a low (100 C) oven. You want it to be crisp, not colored or burnt. This deepens the flavor of the bread, and makes sure its very dry. Dry bread sucks up the flavors of the leeks, cheese and mushrooms really well. Allow the bread to cool once it has been toasted.

Pulse in food processor until bread has become breadcrumbs. Store in an airtight container, or the freezer until needed.

This makes much more than you will need, but breadcrumbs are a wonderful resource to have. You can use them for a stuffing, for a cake in lieu of flour if you don’t have any, to thicken sauces, as a coating when frying. The possibilities are endless.

Also, obviously, you can make this with storebought breadcrumbs – I have used a mix of breadcrumbs and panko and its been superb!

Assembly

  • 6 – 7 eggs,  beaten
  • Base of leeks & mushrooms
  • 6 – 8 cups of breadcrumbs
  • 2 cups of grated cheddar
  • 1 cup of grated parmesan
  • ½ cup washed chopped Italian parsley

In a large bowl, whip the eggs together. Add all the leek & mushroom base, and beat together well. Take off all your rings! Add 6 cups of breadcrumbs and mix well with your hands. Taste for salt.

Wash your hands well, and grate the cheeses over this mixture. Then, using your hands again, mix thoroughly. Taste. You may need more breadcrumbs if its too cheesy. You can also add a little cream or milk to make the mixture come together. Mix in the chopped parsley.

Refrigerate for at least half an hour.

Heat your oven at its lowest possible temperature. Take a baking tin, and put a cookie rack on top of the tin. You will put your sausages here as you fry them to keep them warm.

Take another baking tin and line it with baking paper.  Take the sausage mixture out of the fridge, and with wet hands, form sausages. You can make round ones, though I prefer the traditional sausage shape. Probably about 4 inches x 2 inches wide. Line the sausages up on the baking tin lined with paper. As the tin fills up, cover the layer of sausages with more baking paper, and continue.

Frying

  • About ¼ cup olive oil
  • A non stick pan
  • A few teaspoons of Fleur de sel or Maldon salt to finish

Up to 2 hours before serving, start frying your sausages.  Ensure that your olive oil is in a pouring measuring cup and use it very sparingly.  A little drizzle is all you need, and a medium hot flame. If you have a large pan, you should be able to get 9 sausages at once. I try and flip each sausage three times, so I usually get a sausage chain going, concentrating on 3 sausages at a time, letting the other 6 brown up.

You will see the sausages brown on the outside, and cook firm inside. The cheese will melt out and  brown. The scent is superlative!

As the sausages are cooked, blot the oil off on paper towels, and transfer to the baking tin cookie rack in the oven. Sprinkle over some Fleur de sel if you have it, or Maldon salt.  Remember to keep sprinkling sausages with a tiny bit of salt as you add them to the oven.

The frying process should take 40 minutes to an hour for approximately 48 – 50 sausages.

Photo copyright U-En Ng

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Mushroom and Chili Pasta

27 Jun

Angel Kitten asked if we could have some chili in the food (I think I might make a veg curry soon…) It made me think about why I havent made a lot of spicy chili dishes. I think its because when I was quite small, I was in the kitchen with my Kak Gee. She was preparing a meal for an embassy function, and she had some sesame seeds next to the chopping board where she was preparing the chili. I was sneaking finger-fulls of the sesame seeds, and of course accidentally consumed some chili seeds as well. Oh my good goddess, they were so bloody hot! I cried my 5 year old eyes out! I think I have been nervous about cooking with chili ever since! But I decided today I was going to face my fears (unlike the England team), so AngelKitten and I had a chat and dreamed up a pasta we wanted.

We thought up a mushroom, chili and blue cheese pasta, because we were so enamoured with the blue cheese bread pudding from the other night. However, once we started cooking, the blue cheese just didnt go with the chili and mushrooms, so we left it out. This is an example of cooking on the fly 😉 If we had stuck with our initial daydream pasta, it would have tasted totally crap (kind of like England’s play) so we adjusted, and it was yummilicious.

This follows a basic pasta outline that I have used before. Infused oils, seared mushrooms, sauce, and quick mixing with angel hair. Mainly its what you do with your similar ingredients which changes the taste, flavour and texture.

For 6 people you will need:

  • 1/4 cup olive oil + 2 tbsp for cooking
  • 4 red chilis (NOT chili api)
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 10 – 12 portobello mushrooms
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Butter
  • Red wine
  • 1 packet or less angel hair pasta

Put olive oil in a clean small bowl. Clean your chilis, and cut off tops, and (depending on the heat you prefer) clean inside – split chili in half and clean out chili seeds and stringy bits with the tip of a butter knife. Be careful here because the chili seeds are the most hot part of the chili and you could do harm to yourself if you rub your eyes or mouth while doing this job. The more chili seeds you leave, the hotter the finished dish will be. Dice the chili finely and put into the olive oil to infuse.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add minced garlic. Let it soften. Clean and chop the mushrooms roughly. Add about half to the hot oil (the garlic should be sizzling) and sear it – mixing it well in the oil and making sure that it burns a bit. Add the sugar to encourage caramelisation. As the mushrooms burn slightly, add the rest. This will encourage the mushrooms to let go of their juices. Add a few splashes of red wine and a couple small slices of butter to the top of this mushroom mixture, and a wonderful rich sauce will start pooling at the bottom of the pan. Add all the chili and olive oil and mix through for richness and heat. Season with salt and pepper and taste to adjust seasoning.

If you want it creamy, feel free to add milk or cream, but it really doesnt need it.

Prepare 3/4 packet or so of angel hair pasta. Drain. Add pasta to pan with tongs and mix well. Enjoy your comfort food even if your team does crap 😛

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Spinach + Blue Cheese Bread Pudding (Unplanned)

25 Jun

AngelKitten + N came over tonight to watch the Brasilians and the Portuguese play a very boring final match of their group stage, and I had promised them beans on toast! One of my favourite easy dishes that you dont really have to think about. I thought of jazzing it up with a poached egg on top. Going all out! Well, when I checked my cupboard, all those cans sitting so certainly in the cupboard were soup – no beans! Oh no! What to do?! From this moment of panic, delicious dishes are born. I did a quick once over of what I had in the fridge and freezer, and decided to make a savoury bread pudding. I had eggs, milk, cream, blue cheese, onions, garlic, old good bread, and a packet of flash frozen spinach. It took about 10 minutes to assemble, 30 minutes to bake, and it was REALLY good. Much better then the second half that we watched!

This dish can serve about 6 greedy or 8 polite people. I baked it in a cake tin, so you could cut it like a quiche (or cake!) and it was perfection.

  • 1/2 cup half and half (or 1/4 cup milk + 1/4 cup cream, which is what I used)
  • 5 eggs
  • 12 – 16 slices days old bread
  • Blue Cheese (I used that Irish classic Cashel Blue – rich, creamy and sublter than most blues)
  • Packet of frozen spinach
  • Tiny bit of butter + small glugg of olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
  • 1 white onion, finely diced
  • Oregano
  • Salt + pepper
  • Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 180C.

In a shallow bowl or container, beat half and half with eggs, and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Toast your bread, if you can. I didnt and it made a very unctuous bread pudding, but if you like the deeper flavours of toasted bread, and if you have the time (I was trying to get it done quick quick), then by all means toast away!

Make some blue cheese sandwiches: divide your bread in half, and lay one set on your working surface. Finely slice the blue cheese (I tried to get the creamier bits as I didnt want to be overwhelmed with the blue flavour, but do as you like best) and layer sparingly over one set of bread. Cover with second set, and trim off the crusts. Poke fine holes in the sandwiches with the tip of your knife, and lay them in the cream and egg mixture. Set aside to soak up.

Defrost your spinach. I dont believe in microwave ovens, so I dont have one, and obviously, if you can get fresh spinach, this would be best, but hey, I was working on instinct here! I used a large frying pan, and about 1/2 cup of water, and slowly defrosted over medium heat. When the spinach is fully defrosted, drain, saving the water. It will be spinach-y and delicious.

Use a little bit of butter and olive oil in the same pan, and over low heat slowly soften the onions and garlic. Season with oregano and salt and pepper. Once the onions and garlic are glossy, add the spinach, just to heat through.

Butter or spray olive oil in a large cake tin. Using your hands, take the eggy sandwiches, and tear about half of them into smaller chunks, lining the bottom of the tin. Layer about half of the spinach mixture on top, and repeat, ending with spinach. Pour about 1/4 cup of the spinach water into the remainder of the egg and half and half mixture, and pour all over the top of your bread pudding. Grate a bit of cheddar cheese (or other browning/melting cheese like parmesan) over the top, and pop in the oven for about half an hour. The bread pudding should puff up and get brown and golden on top.

Serve immediately, though Ezril tells me its delicious cold too!

Enjoy!

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Asparagus Pesto

23 Jun

Astonishing, divine, food of the Goddesses. Bright green and tasting like spring. You can eat this right out of the bowl (my sister, M’s preferred consumption method), or spoon it over toast rounds for bruschetta, in a sandwich, or over pasta or couscous. Its so extremely good, it needs no accessories. This is one of my favourite meals because who knew that asparagus could be made into pesto – and who knew that this taste combination existed and was soooooooo goood?!

You will need (for about 3 – 4 cups):

  • 1 1/2 pounds (about 600 – 700 gms) asparagus
  • 1 cup pine nuts
  • 5 – 7 cloves of garlic
  • 1 cup grated parmesan
  • 1/2 cup (or more) extra virgin olive oil
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • Salt

First prepare your asparagus. Ensure that the tough woody bits have been snapped off – the asparagus will do the work for you if you just hold it and snap it near the bottom end. It will naturally break where the tough bit is – discard this. Chop the asparagus very roughly – 2 – 3 sections per asparagus. In a large pot of boiling, lightly salted water, blanch the asparagus till bright green. They need to be cooked, but not soft. Probably about 5 minutes or less. Just before you drain the asparagus, put a coffee mug in the boiling water, and remove a mugful, and keep aside. Drain, and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a shallow frying pan, toast the pine nuts (no oil or anything added) until golden and slightly browned. Use a spatula and keep stirring the nuts. Keep a watch – these go from light golden to toasted to burnt in a blink of an eye and you cant really save them when they burn. Set aside to cool.

Put all the asparagus and garlic into your food processor, and pulsing gently, start the machine. Add about half the olive oil in a steady stream. Add all the pine nuts, and pulse again, adding the rest of the olive oil. Add the parmesan and lemon and pulse again. If at any point the mixture gets too thick, add a little of the water you kept from the asparagus. Taste and adjust seasoning. You might need more oil or salt, or even parmesan.

I usually keep aside a few asparagus tips and serve this combined with angel hair pasta, with the tips for prettiness. Its delicious. And very good for you!!!

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Caramelised Onion Jam + Truffled Garlic Mash + Sauteed Mushrooms

21 Jun

When everyone else is eating meat, this is an incredibly rich, delicious, celebratory addition to the meal which you can share (if you really love them) with the carnivores.

Caramelised Onion Jam

(adapted from Softly Simmered Onions from the Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook)

These are so delicious. They can be added to so many things – mixed with a bit of cream in a pasta sauce, whizzed with vegetable broth for an amazing onion soup, on toast rounds with feta for an astounding bruschetta, or mixed with savoury custard in a brilliant tart / quiche. I like them as they are, tumbled over some creamy dreamy mash, with a few sauteed mushrooms for extra “meatiness”

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
  • 8 cups sliced white and yellow onions
  • 1 cup dry red wine
  • 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
Melt the butter in a heavy large saucepan over low heat. While the butter is melting, prepare the onions: peel, cut in half lengthwise, and slice in thin half-rings. It helps if you keep the root intact, as an anchor.
Add the onions to the melted butter and stir well. Add all the wine, vinegar, sugar, pepper, and salt and mix to combine. Cover and cook slowly over low heat, stirring every 10 minutes or so, about 1 hour.
Remove the cover and cook 2 hours longer, stirring occasionally. You can decide how long you want to cook it – the onions will become thicker and jammier as you go. Just make sure you stir well through the bottom of the pan because it can burn. Makes about 4 cups, which will keep for at least 1 week, covered in the fridge.

Truffled Garlic Mash

Serves 8, though you can adjust as needed. The garlic will soften and sweeten when boiled with the potatoes and will add a whisp of fragrance and scent to this amazing creamy mix.
  • 9 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into eighths
  • 8 cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup cream
  • Teaspoon or so jarred, canned or fresh truffles (you could use truffle oil in a pinch)
  • Salt and pepper

In a large saucepan, over high heat, boil enough water to just cover the potatoes. Once the water is at a roiling boil, add all the potatoes and garlic at once. They should take about 10 – 15 minutes to cook through. You want to be able to put the tip of a cutting knife through a slice of potato without any resistance.

While the potatoes are boiling, combine butter, milk, cream, truffles, and salt and pepper in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil and set aside to enable the truffle to infuse the butter and milk mixture with its heady scent.

When the potatoes have been cooked through, drain thoroughly, and place in serving bowl. Using a handheld masher, mash the potatoes, while adding the butter-milk-cream-truffle mixture. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust accordingly.

Sauteed Mushrooms

For each person, use 1 – 2 very large portobello mushrooms, depending on what else you are serving

  • 2 portobello mushrooms, peeled and sliced thickly
  • 1/2 tbsp butter
  • 1/2 tbsp olive oil or truffle oil
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (or port wine or red wine)
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • Salt and pepper to taste

You want to ensure the mushrooms are seared and not soggy. To do this, heat butter and olive oil in a large frying pan until quite hot, on high heat. Add the mushrooms, and stir to coat with butter. As the mushrooms start to let off some juice, add vinegar and then soy sauce. This will encourage some caramelisation and cause the mushrooms to sear against the heat of the pan. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Serve each lucky vegetarian a large scoop of mash, topped with the caramelised onion jam, and sauteed mushrooms. Yum.

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Another World Cup Sandwich + Strawberries

21 Jun

Tonight we watched and ate and laughed and played with cats. A good night was had by all. We needed simple, delicious, easy to make food, and I didnt really feel like cooking anything complex.

Grilled Tortilla Sandwiches

These grilled cheese and salsa soft tortilla sandwiches are really yummy, and can adapt to what you have in the house

For each sandwich you need:

  • 2 soft flat tacos/wraps
  • Salsa (bottled is fine)
  • Cheese (jack, cheddar, parmesan – whatever you feel like)
  • Soft butter
  • Mushrooms/avocado/tomatoes/sliced raw onions (one or a mix of all three)

Butter one side of a soft tortilla and place on a medium large frying pan, butter down. Place pan over medium heat, and spoon about 2 tablespoons of salsa over the tortilla. Grate cheese over the entire tortilla, and watch it melt . Add the additional filling – I used some quickly sauteed mushrooms – and butter the second tortilla. Place the tortilla over the sandwich fillings, butter side up, and flip it when you feel the bottom side has browned sufficiently. Fry for a minute or two on the second side, and slide onto a large plate. Cut into fourths. Give it a minute to cool down before demolishing.

Strawberries with balsamic

Unbelievably delicious. The acid in the balsamic breaks down the tender strawberry flesh, and creates a phenomenal sauce. More strawberry than the strawberriest strawberry – and so damn simple. Makes more than enough for four people.

  • Strawberries, hulled and sliced (about 2 – 3 cups)
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (the older the better)

In a non reactive (glass preferably) bowl, slice strawberries. Pour over the balsamic, and using a spoon, stir well to ensure the vinegar completely coats the strawberries. Leave for at least half an hour in the fridge. A strawberry liquor will form – its so damn good, I cant tell you.

Serve strawberries spooned over vanilla ice cream or cold vanilla custard, with a little of the sauce drizzled over each serving.

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Quick Hot Family Dinner in 5 minutes (honestly)

20 Jun

It will take you longer to read this recipe than it will to cook it. This is for when you wake up at 4am and cant believe how starving you are. When your tummy needs filling, and you just don’t want to do any work at all. You come home from work, or you’ve been chasing the kids all day, and all you want is sustenance. Or you come home after a night on the tiles (where does that phrase come from?!) and you need something starchy and yummy and simple to soak up all that booze. You can make it for more than 1 person, but its basic. Totally delicious, but basic. Once you have this little trick up your sleeve though, you will be making up excuses to eat it. Don’t try to dress it up. There really is no need.

  • 1 large bowl that you will eat out of
  • ½ cup couscous
  • ½ cup boiling water
  • Butter
  • Salt
  • Cheese (Cheddar + Parmesan may be? Whatever you have both that combo is superb)
  • Some frozen peas for colour (and veg) or some tomatoes

Boil some water. As it comes to the boil, put ½ cup of couscous per person in the bowl that youre going to eat out of. Remember that couscous swells, so make it double the size of the amount of couscous youre using.

Put a pinch of salt in with the couscous and mix it all up with a fork. Add some butter to the couscous (may be about 1/2 teaspoon per person or more as you wish, and as your arteries can handle!)

Pour the ½ cup of boiling water over the couscous and cover (I use a sideplate). Leave for 3 -4 minutes.

While the couscous is absorbing the water, and plumping up, get your cheese out the fridge and find a grater. Uncover your bowl, and fluff the couscous up with a fork. Taste and adjust for saltiness. Grate some cheese over this mixture (not a lot, but enough to flavour it) and mix well. Pop in some peas or a few sliced tomatoes to make yourself feel better, and for the “veg” component.

Eat thankfully.

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