Amaretti biscuits

Partly from Antonio Carluccio's A-Z of Italian Food and partly from other sources this recipe makes the soft-centered kind of almond Amaretti biscuits.

Makes 20-30

220g ground almonds
110g caster sugar
2 egg whites
Rind of 1/4 lemon
15ml Amaretto liqueur

Lightly beat the egg whites and carefully fold the sugar into them, then add the ground almonds, Amaretto and lemon rind (less if you want) and fold them in. Antonio says you should pipe the mixture onto a buttered baking tray, I just use a couple of teaspoons to make small mounds. Sprinkle them with some demerara sugar and place in a preheated oven at 190C and bake until just brown - about 15-20 minutes. Maybe for Christmas?

Cheese on toast

I was eating lunch today and chatting about what this site is for and why I hadn't posted any new recipes for so long. I came up with some criteria for recipes along the lines of 1) it requires a recipe, so no improvised tomato and pasta dinners, 2) I have to make it regularly, 3) it's good or 4) it's my or my family's recipe. At which point I realised my lunch met at least three of these criteria. So here it is, humble cheese on toast. I'm not sure how widespread this method is but it comes handed down from my Mum. I'm also wondering if it's a Northern recipe (she's from Lancashire) because you need to use Lancashire or Wensleydale cheese.



Makes a few

2-4 slices of bread (brown or white)
Wensleydale or Lancashire cheese - enough to cover the toast with thick slices. A small-ish block is more than enough for 4 slices.
A couple of tomatoes
A splash of milk
Black pepper
Paprika

First, toast your toast. Meanwhile slice up the cheese, crumble it into a bowl and add a splash of milk, not much though, and a bit of freshly ground pepper. Then put it in the microwave for a minute to a minute and a half until it's melted, though preferably not boiling. Slice your tomatoes.

When the toast is done and the cheese has melted butter the toast, put a couple of slices of tomatoes on each slice of toast and spoon the melted cheese over. Sprinkle with paprika and then pop under a hot grill until the cheese has started to bubble, but before the edges of the toast start to burn.

That's proper cheese on toast. It always amazes me how the humble Wensleydale is transformed into something so gorgeous just my melting it.

Chocolate brownies

This one's from the Guardian...

Jane Asher's American brownies

Makes 10

200ml vegetable oil
150g golden granulated sugar
100g dark brown soft sugar
2 tsps vanilla extract
3 medium eggs
60g cocoa powder
100g self-raising flour
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp sodium bicarbonate
100g chopped hazelnuts or walnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180C (165C fan-assisted) 350F, gas mark 4. Prepare a 20 x 25 cm (or 23 cm square) baking tin. Put all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and beat well together. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on how chewy you like your brownies. Let the brownies cool in the tin, then turn out and decorate.

For my latest batch I replaced some of the hazelnuts with chopped up good-quality dark chocolate and some raisins.

Risottos

Two risotto recipes for today's post.



The first one is my regular recipe for risotto and comes from Nigel Slater's "Real Food".

Leek and Taleggio Risotto

Serves 2 generously
50g butter
2 large leeks, chopped and rinsed
2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
a little dried oregano
225g arborio rice
900ml hot vegetable stock (though I usually find this a bit too much)
225g taleggio or other soft, creamy cheese such as Camembert, cut into thick slices

"Put the butter into a shallow, heavy-bottomed pan and add the leeks and garlic. Cook over a moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are soft. Don't hurry this; let the leeks cook slowly for about fifteen to twenty minutes, but stop cooking before they colour."

"Stir in the oregano, a teaspoon or so will do, and the rice. Pour in three ladles of hot stock and stir. Leave to simmer gently, stirring regularly, until the stock has almost all been soaked up by the rice. Add more stock and leave to cook once more, at a gentle pace, then add more when that too has gone. It will stick if you forget to stir it. The rice will be plump and tender after about eighteen to twenty minutes. Taste it to see if it is done to your liking; it should have a bit of bite left in it but should be quite tender."

"Stir in the cheese at the last minute - it will melt creamily. Check for seasoning; it will need both salt and black pepper."

My notes:

I use this recipe as my staple risotto recipe - basically I use it for the amount of rice and stock but with various different flavours. Typically I'll use some onion as the base, rather than the leek, and often a good portion of grated pecorino or parmesan or even cream rather than the taleggio. Then the main part - mushrooms, prawns, asparagus, tomatoes...y'know, whatever you like. For mushroom risotto, use some fresh mushrooms and some dried porcini - soak the porcini first and use the remaining liquid in the stock.


The second recipe is slightly different and comes from Matthew Fort's "Eating Up Italy", in which he samples food while riding around Italy on a Vespa.

Risotto Con La Zucca

Serves 6 (probably more like 4 as a main)

50g butter
1 litre vegetable stock
1 small onion
1 stick of celery
400g pumpkin
400g risotto rice
Grated parmesan

"Melt the butter in the pan in which you are going to cook the risotto. Bring the stock or water to the boil in another pan. Finely dice the onion and celery and saute in the melted butter. Add the pumpkin, cut into chunks, and the rice. Turn in the butter for 4-5 minutes. Pour the boiing stock into the rice and pumpkin pan all at once. Lower the heat to cook the rice slowly. Do not stir. Cover with the lid and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the lid. The contents should be perfectly cooked, and quite dry. Beat in plenty of grated Parmesan."

This made one of the best risottos I've done, but we were in a flat in Tuscany at the time, which might have had something to do with it. It's a bit simpler as you don't have to add stock and stir as you go.

Visiting the celebrity chefs

Well, we didn't actually see any of them, but when we recently spent a week down in Cornwall I made it my mission to go Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant in Padstow and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Store and Canteen in Axminster.



We were staying near Padstow so it was pretty easy to go to the seafood restaurant though I guess you might need to book fairly far ahead. We chose the tasting menu which consisted of five courses of seafood, from lobster salad to escalopes of halibut. It was good but I could have done with a bit more variation and excitement. However I did like the smart and relaxed atmosphere at the restaurant. Rick Stein also owns four or five other cafes and restaurants in Padstow, which is only a small fishing town. But having walked five miles to get to his fish and chip shop for lunch one day we weren't best pleased to arrive at 2:31 and discover it closed at 2:30.



The River Cottage Canteen isn't on the farm you see on the TV shows, it's in the centre of Axminster, but that makes it a good stopping off place for lunch on the way down to Cornwall. There's a shop with local food for sale and a cafe/canteen at the back with a small-ish menu - it was pretty good food though a bit pricey for lunch. We liked it so much that we stopped there on the way down and the way back.

Smoked salmon alla carbonara

This one's my own variation on a traditional spaghetti carbonara recipe. But with smoked salmon rather than pancetta.

Makes 2 servings

1 tbsp olive oil
12.5 g butter
75g smoked salmon (however much you like really)
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 eggs
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp dry white wine
20g grated Parmesan
20g grated Pecorino
salt and pepper
200g dried spaghetti

Cook the spaghetti in a large pan of salted water.

Meanwhile, heat the oil and butter in a pan. Add the garlic and smoked salmon and fry for a couple of minutes (you're supposed to discard the garlic, but I like it so keep it in).

In a bowl, beat the eggs with the parsley, wine and half of each of the cheeses. Season with salt and pepper.

When the spaghetti is cooked, drain it and return it to the pan. Immediately add the egg mixture and the smoked salmon and garlic. Take the pan off the heat and toss well, the eggs should cook in the residual heat. Add the remaining cheeses, toss lightly and serve.

Homemade pitta bread

Made from a recipe by Dan Lepard in the Guardian

I only used half the quantities to make 4 pittas. So that's...

150g strong white flour
100g plain white flour
1/2 tsp dry yeast
1/2 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sunflower oil
160ml warm water

And then follow the instructions over on the Guardian site.

They certainly puff up a lot and are quite unlike supermarket pittas. A says "they're a bit yeasty" but I liked them. Serve with falafel and houmous.

Smoked mackerel dauphinoise

My variation on a recipe from Nigel Slater's Real Food

Serves 2 as a main dish

400g waxy potatoes, scraped or scrubbed
150g smoked mackerel fillets
2 bay leaves
200 ml double cream
200ml milk
1 tablespoon grain mustard
1 small head of broccoli

"Slice the potatoes lengthways, about as thick as one-pound coins. Put them in a shallow baking dish about 30cm in diameter. Break the mackerel fillets into large, bite-sized pieces and toss them gently with the potatoes. Try not to break the fish up too much. Tuck in the bay leaves."

"Mix together the cream, milk, mustard and a little salt and pepper, then pour it over the potatoes. Bake in the oven preheated to 190C/Gas 5 for about one hour, till the cream is bubbling and the potatoes are knife-tender."

My notes:

This is my variation, mainly on amounts of ingredients. The recipe suggests about this quantity for 4 people but I feel you need a bit more potato for a main course.

Make sure the potatoes are sliced quite thinly and that they are soft and tender before serving. This is important, leave them another 15 minutes or so in the oven if they are not.

And I added a bit of broccoli this time, just break it into small florets and scatter amongst the potatoes.

Friands

From "Simple Food" by Jill Dupeix

Makes 10

180g butter (preferably unsalted)
200g icing sugar
60g plain flour, sifted
120g ground almonds
5 large free-range egg whites
1 tsp grated lemon or orange rind
icing sugar for dusting

"The friand is a truly awsome small, moist, dense, rich, almondy cake. It's very, very French and very, very chic."

"Heat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Melt the butter and allow to cool, then use 1 tbsp to coat 10 muffin tin moulds."

"Sift the icing sugar and flour into a bowl, and mix in the ground almonds. Lightly beat the egg whites with a fork, then fold them into the dry ingredients. Add the cooled, melted butter and lemon rind, and mix well."

"Three-quarters fill each mould with the mixture and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 10 minutes. Turn the tray around, and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, until the tops are golden and spring back to the touch."

"Leave in the tins for 5 minutes, then gently unmould onto a wire tray and leave to cool. Dust the friands with icing sugar to serve, or store them in an airtight container for up to 3 days."


My notes:

Egg whites - Having made custard with egg yolks, or anything else, this is a great recipe to use up egg whites, as are macaroons.

Cooking times - I seem to need 10 minutes, turn around and another 10 minutes. My oven is not particularly good.

Size - You can make smaller ones in fairy cake cases or use a muffin tin for larger ones.

This gets a review from A of 9.5 out of 10 - "they would have got 10 if they were bigger".

Food at cookin'/relaxin'

This is my food blog. It's a bit like an MP3 blog, but sampling favourite recipes from books, rather than tunes. Please buy the book if they look good. If you're the author and would rather I didn't include the recipe then let me know and I'll take them down.

It's mainly a place for me to collect my favourite recipes, including my own (not that there are that many) as well as any modifications I make. But maybe you will enjoy them as well. Oh, I'm part-vegetarian (I eat fish) so I don't eat meat and there won't be any meat-based recipes here. Sorry.

This blog is brought to you by some of my favourite cookery books:

Nigella Lawson's Feast
Nigel Slater's Real Food
Gordon Ramsey's Secrets
The Green's Cookbook
Dan Lepard's The Handmade Loaf book

And the ingredients come mainly from Waitrose and Abel & Cole.