NEW RECIPE!! Rhubarb & Ginger Nut Ice-Cream

Ice-cream. Not my usual recipe post I know, but I've been hanging out with Gingers' Comfort Emporium over the last year or two, and obviously Miss Kelsey's ice cream genius has been rubbing off on me!  If you've not seen her book Melt, you're missing a trick there.

I'm a super fan of rhubarb. It's easy to grow, it's so very northern and I do love a bit of tanginess in my puddings.  So here it is, rhubarb and ginger nut ice cream. Using Claire's no churn technique, and you can cheat by using ginger nuts from a packet, but you won't get the full hit of ginger that you get from making your own.

Ingredients

To make the rhubarb compote:
500g rhubarb
3-4 tbsp caster sugar
1-2 tsp cinnamon powder

To make the ginger nuts:
340g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2-3 heaped teaspoons ginger powder
40g stem ginger, chopped (optional)
100g butter

160g brown sugar
1 large free range egg
4 tbsp golden syrup

To make the rest:
2 large egg whites
75g icing sugar
350ml double cream



Method

1. To prepare the rhubarb, trim the ends, wash throughly and cut into1" pieces. Scatter on baking tray and place in a low oven, about 120C, for 10-15 mins. You want the rhubarb to be just soft and not too mushy. 
2. When the fruit is softened, tip into a bowl and gently mix together with the caster sugar and cinnamon powder. Taste the mixture and add more sugar if required. There should be a good balance between sour and sweet. Set aside to cool completely.
3. To make the ginger nut biscuits, heat the oven to 180C, then grease and line two large baking trays.
4. Add the flour, bicarb, ginger powder and butter to a large bowl. Rub together to make a breadcrumb like texture. Then add the sugar, stem ginger (if using), egg and syrup. Mix well to form a soft dough. Wrap in cling film and chill the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge.
5. Roll out the dough on a well floured surface, and cut out rounds using a cookie cutter. Lay onto the baking trays, then bake for 10-15 minutes. This mixture will make about 35 biscuits, but you only need about half of them for your ice cream. Once they are fully cooled, break up about 18 biscuits into pieces. Try to ensure the chunks are about 1-2cm in size, with none too small or large.
6. Next, whisk the egg whites in a clean dry bowl, to make firm peaks (meringue), than add the icing sugar and whisk until the meringue mixture is thick and glossy.
7. In another bowl, whip the double cream until just whipped into soft peaks (be careful not to over whip). Then fold in the meringue, then the rhubarb compote, and finally the ginger nut pieces. Tip into a large tub and freeze overnight. Prior to serving, leave in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to soften.

From one friend to another... Lisa's Lentil Quiche

Lisa is one of my oldest friends.  We met back in college, where we bonded over our shared passion for animal rights, environmentalism and confusion over physics.  We've shared many family days together as our children have grown from bouncing on the trampoline to tracking down our teens at parties they're not supposed to be at.  This quiche has appeared at many of our get togethers and the kids all love it.  Her addition of brown lentils adds some real substance to this recipe, and is a little healthy twist on a tea time favourite.  I said to my daughter the other day 'I'm going to make a quiche' and she immediately piped up "Lisa's lentil quiche?"  So here you go, from one friend to another...   

Lisa's Deep Dish Lentil Quiche

Shortcrust pastry:
340g plain flour
120g cold butter, roughly chop
1 free range egg
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp cold milk
Or you can use ready made pastry

Filling:
250g cooked brown lentils
1 red onion
Balsamic vinegar
Brown sugar
1 small head of broccoli, cut into small florets
3 medium vine tomatoes
6 free range eggs
400g cream cheese
150g grated mature cheddar cheese
2 tbsp fresh or dried thyme
salt & pepper

1. Put all the pastry ingredients in a food processor and pulse gently until mixture comes together. Wrap in cling film and leave in fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
2. Fine slice one large red onion and fry in pan with a little oil and pinch of salt. Cook for 6-7 mins until softened, then add 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar and 1 tbsp of brown sugar. Cook gently until onions are fully softened and caramelised.
3. Place broccoli florets in boiling water and cook for 3-4 mins, then drain and plunge in cold water. Set aside.
4. Whisk eggs, cream cheese, thyme, 1/2 tsp each of salt & pepper.  Remove cores of tomatoes and slice each half into 3-4 pieces.
5. If using dried lentils, boil for about 20 mins until soft but not falling apart. Rinse and set aside.
6. Grease a 25cm deep flan tin, and line the bottom with a disc of greaseproof paper.  Roll out pastry to 4-5mm thickness and line tin, leaving edges overhanging. Line the pastry with sheet of greaseproof and fill with baking beans. Bake in oven for 20 mins at 190 C.  Remove paper and beans and bake for another 5 mins. Remove from oven and turn down temperature to 165 C.
7. Spread red onion marmalade across bottom of flan dish, then sprinkle layer of cooked brown lentils, then add a layer of the broccoli florets and another layer of lentils. Pour over cheese mixture, and agitate to ensure liquid is evenly dispersed across veg. Layer top with pieces of tomato, then pour over remaining liquid. Sprinkle grated cheese across the top and bake for 30-35 mins in oven at 170 C.  
8. Remove from oven and using sharp serrated knife, shave off excess pastry around edge of tin.  Scatter remaining fresh thyme over top.  Serve warm with a big salad.

Love your leftovers!

When you like to cook, it can sometimes seem like the fridge is permanently full of leftovers.  Come christmas, and everyone is in the same boat.  I have a few favourite leftover recipes, and after facing the fridge still half full of leftovers this morning, I decided to share some on my blog. I've included easy recipes for nasi goreng, Cornish style pasties with leftovers, leftover Christmas cheese pie and biryani rice with leftover curry.

First up, it has to be nasi goreng (or maybe mee goreng if you're more noodle inclined).  I love this dish for lots of reasons.  It's the first street food dish in Indonesia I fell in love with.  I think it takes the universally popular egg fried rice and gives it kick and substance, turning it into a proper supper.  It can be served with egg scrambled through the rice, or an omelette (you can make fancy strips and layer them on the top), but the favourite in our house (and most traditional) is a perfectly cooked gooey fried egg.  You can pretty much use any leftovers, veg or otherwise, just chop them up into bite sized pieces.  The key to great nasi is left over rice that has been cooked and fully cooled, preferably after a night in the fridge

One of my favourite Christmas leftover recipes is leftover cheese pie.  We always have excessive amounts of cheese over the festive season, and we end up with odds and ends of all kinds of cheese from different places.  One year I made a pie from the leftovers, and so the tradition was born, leftover cheese pie.  This year, inspired by Cornish blue and yarg from my new Cornish brother in law, I also made some Cornish style pasties.  The recipe below uses a traditional dough recipe for Cornish pasties, with the requisite knob of butter and black pepper seasoning.  But the rest of the filling is a hotch potch of what was kicking around the fridge.  I made them with leek & potato dauphinoise (WINNER!), rocket mash & stilton (kind of ended up a bit hollow, but scored big on the taste board), and leftover xmas veg with carrot & swede mash, roast potatoes, red cabbage and veggie roast (which was really yummy with cranberry compote).  I'm making the leftover cheese pie for NYE, so recipe below reflects this years particular cheese fest, but you could use pretty much any cheese I reckon.

The last recipe is just a few tips on making biryani rice from leftover curry.  Again, this is totally adaptable to whatever curry you've been cooking and have leftover, whether vegetable, meat, seafood or chickpeas (I make this with Sunil's dal and it's delicious).  You could also use any leftover vegetables or whatever you have, and knock up a masala sauce to layer with the leftovers and rice.

Nasi Goreng

Ingredients - serves 2-3
2 cups of basmati (or long grain) rice, steamed or boiled, al dente

4 free range eggs

Leftover veg, such as carrots, peas, onions, green beans, I've even used roast potatoes before

2 tbsp garlic paste
3 tbsp finely chopped onions or shallots
1 large red chilli
1-2 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp of chilli sambal (I use sriracha)

1 tbsp of fish free worcester sauce (or fish sauce)

1 tbsp soy sauce

sesame oil for frying
sliced spring onions, fresh coriander and few red chilli slices to garnish (all optional)

1. If making omelette, beat eggs together with little salt, and ¼ of the mixture in small pan to make thin omelette. Repeat until have 4.  Them roll up together and slices into long strips. Set aside.
2. If having fried eggs, start cooking them at step 5.

3. Mix together sugar, soy, chilli sauce and set aside.

4. Heat sesame oil in wok, add onions and soften, then add garlic and vegetables. Cook for 2 mins then add chilli and cook for further minute.

5. Add cooked rice, mix well and cook until fully heated.

6. Turn off heat and add sauce mixture.  Mix well.  Mix through half egg strips, if using.

7. Serve portions with remaining egg strips or fried eggs over top of rice, and scatter with fresh spring onions, coriander and fresh chillies (if using).

 Cornish Style Pasties with Leftovers

Ingredients - makes 4 large or 6 medium sized pasties
Dough: 500g strong plain flour

120g vegetable suet

25g butter or margarine

1/2 tsp salt

175ml cold water

Fillings:

Leftovers 

Butter & black pepper for seasoning

Free range egg & 1 tsp salt, for glazing
Veg oil for frying

1. Mix all dough ingredients together, except water, to make a breadcrumb texture.  Then add water and knead well until dough is soft and pliable. Leave to rest in fridge for at least an hour.
2. Chop any leftovers into 1-2cm pieces.
3. Divide dough into 4 or 6 equal sized pieces, on floured surface roll out into circle. Egg wash edges.

4. Fill half of the circle with filling, add a knob of butter & pinch of black pepper over top, then fold over dough. Then crimp edges (you can check out the technique here, step 11. It takes a bit of practice).
5. Brush generously with salted egg wash.
6. Bake at 170 for 30-40 mins until golden brown.

Leftover Christmas Cheese Pie

Ingredients - serves 6
Pastry:
225g plain flour
100g butter
salt
1 free range egg
80g pecans, crushed (optional)

Filling:
400g assorted cheese ( I'll be using odds & sods of cornish blue, stilton, red leicester, mature cheddar, wensleydale, lancashire & brie)
400g potatoes, cut into slices and boiled until just soft
1 red onion, chopped
salt & black pepper
1 free range egg, beaten, for glazing

1. Heat oven to 190C
2. Place all ingredients for pastry in food processor, pulse until combined. Wrap in cling film and chill in fridge for at least an hour.
3. Roughly chop up the leftover cheeses, and mix together with red onion.
4. Grease pie dish with butter, and layer with sliced potatoes and cheese mixture, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go.  Pour a little milk or cream over top of filling to ensure it stays moist, especially if not using any soft cheeses in the mixture.
5. Roll out pastry on floured surface, to cover top of pie dish with nice thick pastry top.
6. Brush pastry top with egg wash & bake pie in oven for 30-40 mins until pastry is golden brown and crisp.
7. Serve with fresh green salad leaves and a heap of cranberry compote of pickles.

Biryani Rice with Leftover Curry

Ingredients - serves 4
3 cups leftover curry
3-4 cups of cooked basmati rice (al dente)
1 large onions sliced
Fresh coriander & saffron (optional)
Toasted cashews, chopped

1. Grease the bottom of deep ovenproof dish, preferably with a lid, but you could use foil.
2. Place a good pinch of saffron in jug of hot water. Leave to soak for 5 mins.
3. Fry onion with a little salt and butter, until well caramelised and brown (not burnt). Set aside.
4. Cover bottom of dish with layer of leftover curry (or masala sauce and leftovers). then cover with approx 4-5cm of cooked rice. Scatter 1/3 onion mixture across top and drizzle with saffron water.  Repeat at least one more time. Finish with layer of rice, onions and remaining saffron.
5. Cover dish and bake at 190 for 40-50 mins.
6. Scatter with fresh coriander and chopped cashews before serving.

RECIPE TIME.... Sunday dinner for veggies!

My household may consist of a bunch a vegetarians, but I don't mind saying, we do love a family Sunday dinner as much as anyone.  With all the usual trimmings. Crispy roast potatoes with rosemary, creamy mash (I like to mix it up with spinach, but recently I've taken to making carrot and potato mash since my teen daughter decided she doesn't like cooked carrots anymore), peas (with a little garden mint) and a home made onion gravy.  

This recipe evolved yesterday as I was making a nut roast.  I wanted to make the main feature protein rich and nutritious, as I've been feeling a bit neglectful of my family's diet (and probably my own).  Nut roasts can often be a little dry, so I've tried to counter that with plenty of succulent vegetables, and replacing half the amount of nuts with chestnut mushrooms, and half of the breadcrumbs with quinoa.  When I tasted the filling, it felt like it needed something sharp to cut through the sweetness of the veg and the earthiness of the nuts and mushrooms.  Hence the Cheshire cheese, but you could use any tangy cheese such as feta or perhaps stilton. Don't be put off by the savoy wrapping.  I simply removed the thick part of the lower stem, and blanched it in the potato water.  Be generous with the overlapping layers to ensure it holds together. 

CASHEW & QUINOA VEGGIE ROAST

Ingredients - serves 6

150g cashews, lightly toasted

100g quinoa (or couscous)

1 red onion, diced, pref 1/2 cm pieces

1/2 courgette, diced 

1 carrot, diced

1 leek, finely sliced

5 chestnut mushrooms, diced

1 thick slice of brown/seeded bread

1 free range egg (or use silken tofu if vegan)

120g Cheshire cheese (or feta, Lancs, blue etc)

Savoy cabbage, 6 outer leaves, trim thick stalk end

Oil or butter for frying & greasing

Salt & white pepper for seasoning

1 tbsp fresh or 1/2 tsp dried herbs, I used fresh thyme & marjoram

To prepare:

1. Grease a loaf tin with butter or oil.  Heat oven to 190 degrees.
2. Add onion, courgette, carrot, leek & mushrooms to pan with a little oil or butter, and cook for 8-10 mins until vegetables are soft.
3. Simmer quinoa for 4-5 mins in veg stock (or hot water with a smidge of marmite).
4. Toast cashews in a pan, then blitz in food processor into small pieces.  Avoid blitzing into a powder or you will lose the texture.

5. Blitz bread into crumbs.
6. Blanche cabbage leaves in hot water for 2 mins and set aside.
7. Mix the vegetables, nuts, breadcrumbs and egg (or tofu if using).  Add fresh or dried herbs and season to taste with salt and white pepper.
8. Line the loaf tin with the cabbage leaves, using five large leaves to cover bottom and saving one leaf to seal the top.
9. Half fill the loaf tin with mixture, firmly pushing down with back of spoon to ensure shape.

10. Crumble the cheese over the filling. Then add remaining filling on top, again pushing down to make a firm shape. If you're vegan, omit this layer and add squeeze of lemon to veg mixture.
11. Fold over edges of cabbage leaves to cover top of roast, and then layer final leaf over top and tuck into sides.
12. Cover loaf tin with foil and place on baking tray.
13. Bake in over for 15 mins, then turn over, foil side down on tray, and continue baking for another 10-15 mins.
14. Remove from oven, turn right way again and remove foil lid.  Turn onto chopping board and remove tin.

Hope you enjoy it!  Here's to family time :0)

Another family favourite recipe from our house…

We love a good vegetarian lasagne in our house.  I don’t think you can better the homemade versions.  I think the dish benefits from being left overnight and baked the following day.  This recipe is what we’re having for dinner tonight.  It can be made without the aubergine, and the puy lentils can be substituted for soya mince or similar product.  I know I often include fresh herbs and you can substitute with dried ones if needed.  But I would encourage you to grow these herbs yourself if you can.  Of course, you can make your own pasta too, but I tend to leave that kind of thing to my MasterChef pal Sara Danesin.

There is nearly always enough to make a second lasagne, which I always freeze.  For busy working families, nothing quite beats homemade ready made food in the freezer!

Recipe for Roasted Aubergine & Puy Lentil Lasagne

Ingredients:

12 large tomatoes

250g puy lentils

2 aubergines

4 cloves of garlic

1 carrot, diced

1/2 stick of celery, diced

1 large onion, diced

1 red pepper

Dark soy sauce, 1-2 tbsp

Vegetable stock, 2 pts, good quality vegetable bouillion works best

Small sprig of fresh thyme

Handful of fresh marjoram

1 bay leaf

Black pepper, white pepper & sea salt

300ml milk

2-3 tbsp plain flour

40g butter

100g grated strong cheese

1 packet of good quality lasagne pasta

Method:

1. Saute ½ onion and one clove of crushed garlic in olive oil until softened.  Add puy lentils, sauté for further minute then add 1 1/2 to 2 pints of stock and simmer until lentils are fully cooked and soft.  Add further stock as needed.  You are aiming for them to absorb most of the liquid without leaving too much broth. 
2. Remove hard core of tomatoes and place whole on baking tray, along with 3 garlic cloves. Roast on high heat until well roasted and starting to blacken. Blitz with handblender. Set aside.
3. Remove ends and slice aubergines lengthways, approx 1.5cm thickness.  Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper.  Roast on high heat until golden brown and soft. Set aside.
4. Saute remaining onion, carrot, red pepper and celery, then add cooked lentils, soy, bay leaf and fresh marjoram.  Add half of the blended tomato sauce (or as much as you want).  Bring to simmer and check seasoning.
5. Heat butter in small pan, add pinch of salt and plain flour and cook to make roux.  Then slowly add milk, whisking all the time until reach a creamy consistent sauce.
6. Layer some sauce in bottom of large deep baking dish and cover with pasta.  Then layer over lentil and tomato mix, followed by layer of roasted aubergine, allowing the aubergine to overlap to create nice thick layer. Add another layer of lentil mix and then top with another layer of pasta, and on top of pasta pour creamy béchamel sauce. Sprinkle top with cheese and salt and pepper.
7. Bake in medium hot oven at 190 C for 30-40 mins until bubbling and top is golden brown.