A Birthday Treat - Mains

The best way I can illustrate how difficult the decision was from the choices is to show you both :

I'm a mushroom girl but, mindful of seasonal choices two hits – asparagus and Jersey Royals, it's easy. The final push would be the Baked High Cross. For those who aren't quite sure what High Cross is, it's a cheese. Hook, line and sinker.

Just cast your eyes over this wondrous plate of food :

Now I know that there are those out there who eat meat and feel deprived and hungry if it isn't on a plate. This main course was probably the best vegetarian main course I've ever eaten in a restaurant. It ticked all my boxes, seasonal ingredients cooked beautifully and cheese. My friend eats meat and her comment was “you don't need it”. Don't knock it until you've tried it.

A Birthday Treat - Decisions, decisions

I just have to say that as a vegetarian (for some 30+ years) it gladdens my heart that I can actually go out to eat and anticipate fantastic food. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I stopped eating out long ago because I became so sick and tired and being served yesterday's tomato sauce tipped over yesterday's pasta – not helped by the fact that I loathe tomatoes – much to the amusement of my meat eating friends.

Anyway – shall it be the chilled pea soup or the sweet potato and puy lentil dhal – hmmm. The dhal wins for both of us.

This is what it looked like :

The presentation was spot on and we were not disappointed on any level. The textures and flavours were perfectly balanced, particularly the soft lentils in the dhal and crispy ones garnishing the dish with the oil. I have to confess – I did something I'd never normally do – even at home – I mopped up the remaining sauce with the artisan breads and I don't care who knows it. I apologised to my friend before I indulged and her exact words were, “thank goodness for that” as she followed suit!

The best compliment I could ever give any chef/cook – I'm not a “mopper” or a “dunker” for that matter – it shouldn't be allowed, but that's another story – rules are meant to be broken.

A Birthday Treat

Now I know what the Queen feels like – two birthdays in a year!

A while back my friend asked, “would I like a day in London with lunch at Vanilla Black for my birthday present?” Erm, give me a nano second - yes please!

Before we landed for our 1pm reservation on the day I'd had a look at their website where you can find sample set lunch menus et al. For starters – so sorry - their information is Vanilla Black 17-18 Tooks Court, London EC4A 1LB 020 7242 2622 www.vanillablack.co.uk.

First impressions are good. Friendly and helpful staff and the ambience is great – have a look see

and then comes the menu – such high expectations!

Initially I can't help but think that clearly the current trend is to produce artisan breads and posh butter or mayo as an appetiser. Don't get me wrong – this is not a complaint - I could sit and just eat the bread and butter and be a very happy bunny!

This ain't any old bread and butter – the taller of the two is the cherry with (from memory, I think) sultana – it matters not in flavour terms – it was divine. The shorter offering was quinoa and soy seeds. Better than divine however was the caramelised lemon butter – on a scale of 1-10 – 20!

This is a great start.

By the way, I happened to notice on our way through to our table – a display of Vanilla Black cookery books - the day just gets better.

Confession time

… how much food do you waste?

Whether you do your shopping by trolley in a supermarket or on line and delivered how many times have you succumbed and been sucked into deals that on the face of it sound great without actually thinking through whether you're going to eat the food?

We all fall for it, even if you plan your meals ahead in an attempt to limit waste and not throw money into your recycling bin.

How often have you found, lurking in the depths of your crisper drawer, wizened carrots?

Shamefully, in my case, I recently bought a 300g punnet of mini portabella mushrooms, they were a great deal. They are a particular favourite of mine so I was a pushover. A few busy days later I happened to check the date on said mushrooms and by now they were at least two, if not three days over their “best before date”.

Drat and double drat.

Here's my rescue recipe for the 300g punnet :

melt a glug of rapeseed oil together with

a generous knob of unsalted butter in a large

saucepan (or frying pan if you prefer)

add a tsp of garlic paste or even two if you're

a fan

ensure the mushrooms are clean and slice

them thickly

add the mushrooms to the oil and butter, season

with salt and black pepper

add a generous pinch of oregano (or

garlic Italian seasoning)

add a glug of either dry sherry or red wine

add a vegetable stock pot and let it melt into

your mushrooms

add a drop of water – 100ml

and cook the mushrooms on a medium heat for

2/3 minutes

Let the mushrooms cool and then transfer

to a pour and store bag for the freezer or an ordinary

container with lid if you prefer

freeze until required

Rescue mission complete, here's a few ideas for your frozen mushrooms when you're ready.

Use as :

a base for a soup

part of a pie filling (with chicken for example)

a Crostini topping – really handy if you have unexpected

visitors

a filling for a savoury pancake, adding a glug

or two of double cream

I've mentioned in a previous post that older mushrooms have more flavour and adding a drop of dry sherry or red wine enhances the flavour.

Phew – waste crisis averted!

P.s. Oh and by the way the rescue recipe is not meant to be swamped in liquid, it's meant to be an intense stock with mushrooms in it. When you're ready to use in whichever way you choose you'll add stock or cream to suit your recipe.

Summer Squeak

New potatoes and asparagus are both in season as I write, closely followed by broad beans and peas.

I think it's true to say that we associate bubble and squeak as an autumn/winter dish using leftover veggies. Why not have a summer squeak with leftover new potatoes and asparagus. Ingredients in season are usually reasonably priced and good deals available.

I appreciate that Jersey Royals are expensive and in my neck of the woods they don't seem to vary that much during their short season. There are however loads of other varieties of new potato out there for example, Cornish new potatoes and your summer squeak could include meat or fish if you wish.

Here's a recipe off the top of my head – this is one of my “fly by the seat of your pants”/”live dangerously” versions! One small tip – when you're doing your shopping ensure that you take account of the extra new potatoes and asparagus or any other veggies needed that you'd like to include in your squeak.

Here goes :

Summer Squeak

Serves 2

350g (ish) cooked new potatoes

1 medium onion, finely diced

200g cooked asparagus, chopped into bite sized pieces

OR

200g fresh peas – raw or cooked

OR

200g broad beans, podded, blanched

and popped from the outer thick skin

OR

a mixture of all three!

Salt and black pepper

30g unsalted butter & glug of rapeseed oil

Melt the oil and butter in a large frying pan, add the diced onion and sauté on a medium heat for 2/3 minutes. Add the potato and mix together, sauté for a further 2/3 minutes. Add the asparagus/peas/beans, combine thoroughly and cook for a further 2/3 minutes.

Serve in a warmed bowl, topped with a poached egg.

As an option if you prefer to add meat. Omit the oil and butter and sauté 200g of finely diced chorizo or diced smoked back bacon and then add the onion and potatoes, followed finally by the veggies.

Hope your squeak is scrumdiddlyumptious!

Many moons ago …

… my Mum worked full-time which included Saturday. My sister and me helped out with chores. Even then I loved to cook – perhaps to strong a word – but in those days we were taught to cook etc., at school – then it was called Housecraft - nostalgia is a wonderful thing.

Anyway I digress. To give perspective I think I should point out that I am going way back almost to the Dark Ages – 1967 ish. The gas cookers of the day were basic and mostly made by a company called De La Rue – by today's standards of the fashionable “range” style they would look like a cooker you'd put in a dolls house despite the fact that they did make different sizes!

Moving on with my story. Mum didn't arrive home from work until 6pm and so we would do what we could towards “tea” as it was called in those days.

One Saturday afternoon I decided I'd make a cake for after “tea”. Full of enthusiasm I opened the box – yep, add an egg, stir and away we go. Obviously I needed a cake tin - found a perfect circular one and the rest, as they say, is history.

It's wasn't rocket science and into the oven went the cake. At the appropriate time I opened the oven door, so excited and oh so horrified to be greeted with the sight of a grotesque mess - it had completely melted – as it would do, since the cake tin I'd chosen with such care was in fact plastic – a twisted molten mess that would qualify as an candidate for an exhibit at Tate Modern! A combination of molten white plastic and a biscuit coloured cake mix all over the oven rack and there was nothing I could do about it …..

except wait for Mum to get home.

When you eventually get to be a grown-up and you've had these little hiccups along the way we should perhaps remind ourselves of how fear clutches at your heart when you're a youngster.

How many times have you heard, “things are never as bad as they seem” - YES THEY ARE I'M LOOKING AT MY MUM'S WRECKED OVEN. Two hours seemed like two weeks until she arrived home and I was able to confess.

How lucky was I – she took one look at it – by now a cooled monster - carefully removed the rack from the oven and consigned it to an outhouse – when she'd stopped laughing – and that is where the expression “a wicked sense of humour” comes from - our Mum had the best!

To finish off my story, some several days later I was summoned to the outhouse where said rack with the twisted Tate Modern offering lay, still in tact. “Stand back” was the command and I watched as Mum swung a very large hammer and whacked the rack and the molten mess split right in two and the rack was as clean as a whistle.

P.s. The rack lasted for years as did Mum's sense of humour.

Scrumdiddlyumptious

To coin a word from the late great Roald Dahl and one that forms part of his Dictionary – there's nothing better than nonsense words to explain what you're trying to say.

This word describes perfectly the Alfredo sauce mentioned in My Quest and, to do the sauce justice, I feel I should elaborate on the flexibility of said sauce apart from using with pasta.

To begin, I served it to my Ladies in a recent class, as a warm dip with rice crackers. I wanted them to taste the sauce in its most simple form – they said “one to be used again and again”, “beautifully smooth velvety sauce” and “so simple and versatile”. As is always the case you can mess with it if you so wish by adding garlic paste.

Its other uses :

Add sautéed mushrooms to the sauce and serve with a smoked chicken breast

Add sautéed mushrooms to the sauce and serve as a crostini topping

Remember the recent Stromboli recipe – use the sauce on the base for a change

instead of tomato paste and add bits and pieces of your choice

- vegetarian or not - whatever takes your fancy

Serve with smoked haddock and asparagus

The sauce, in a covered container, will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can freeze it – but give some thought to the quantities that you'd generally use and freeze accordingly. Note to self – remember the small pots from the baby aisle in your supermarket. These pots are really useful and come in bright colours – easy to see in your freezer but don't take up unnecessary space.

The pots shown in the photograph below are by Vital Baby and come in packs of four. You'll see from the photograph that these little beauties have a tiny non-slip circle on the base so the pots stay where they are put when you are filling them and don't end up on the floor!

I will now shut up about the Alfredo sauce – I hope you love it as much as I do!