My new piece of kit.

Those of you who follow the blog regularly will know that I'm not one for spending dosh on kit for it to gather dust. With that in mind I thought I'd treat myself to a chocolate melting machine.

I melt chocolate frequently and I'm an old fashioned kinda gal and always use the steam method – saucepan with the bowl on top – never a microwave, personally I don't think you can control the chocolate and microwaves vary. The only downside to the old fashioned method is that it creates washing up. When I saw the Chocolate Melting Pot in Lakeland, I thought it looked neat and, reasonably priced at £19.99, it wouldn't break the bank.

Here it is :

Never let it be said that I don't have your best interests at heart - for the purpose of its inaugural outing I'm keeping it simple.

The plan :

You'll need :

a baking sheet measuring 30x30 cms

a piece of baking parchment measuring 29x29 cms

- slightly narrower than your baking sheet

4 large paper clips

the chocolate melting pot base and one melting pot

Before you begin

Secure your parchment to the baking sheet with the four paperclips

Draw circles on the parchment measuring approximately

6 cms in diameter – I used a straight sided pastry cutter – anything

circular will do

As a guide you'll get approximately 9 circles on the parchment.

Leave space between each circle.

When you've drawn your circles turn the parchment over

so that the pencil side is face down, then secure again with

the paperclips

Off we jolly well go!

Sides and asides!

Sides

You don't have to serve the fishcakes with the slaw.

Asparagus is in season and would make an excellent companion. If you wanted to serve a mixture of veggies – how about a stir fry – you can buy punnets of small sweet peppers - orange, yellow and red. De-seed and slice the peppers – blanch and refresh your asparagus and stir fry for 2/3 minutes in a drop of rapeseed oil, add salt and black pepper and a pinch of sumac would work really well. Use anything that you like – a sliced sweet onion, courgettes.

Samphire is just coming into season. For those who are wondering, samphire is classed as a sea vegetable – I think of it as a type of seaweed. It's salty if you use it raw. It needs to be either boiled or steamed for a minute or two.

Try it mixed with baby asparagus – steam them both together for a couple of minutes and serve with the fishcakes and a sauce.

Two notes :

Don't forget to snap your asparagus – any woody inedible ends will snap naturally – discard them or, if feeling virtuous you can turn them into soup.

To save your aching feet – samphire is usually found on the fish counter.

Asides

Here's what the girls said about the class :

“The most amazing Coronation Slaw and Fishcakes. Pudding delicious!”

“The mushrooms were so flavoursome and would make a fantastic dinner party starter.”

“A totally wonderful meal. Mushrooms so tasty, fishcakes and coleslaw a delight, sweet – unusual mixture and terrific.”

“Wonderful food and ideas!”

The recipes for both the Champignon au tartines and the Hazelnut Hodgepodge are posted on the blog.

Went down well I thought!

A fishcake post script

Here's my variation on The Ivy's fishcake recipe.

Stuff it!

In this case with a cheese that will melt, for example, taleggio – an Italian soft cheese with a crust. It smells strong but is quite mild and has a fruity tang to it. I use taleggio in arancini instead of mozzarella - it's personal taste.

Cut a slice of cheese 2x3 cms and squidge it into a square. This is easy to do provided you do this straight from the fridge – if you leave it lying around it won't work, as fast as you try to cut it it will stick to your knife.

Divide the mixture into 8 round cakes as per the recipe and stuff the middle of the fishcake with the square of cheese, seal and mould, then fridge to chill.

When you're ready to serve pre-heat the oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6. Lightly flour the fishcakes and fry them until they are coloured on both sides. Bake for 10/15 minutes.

The finished fishcake looks like this :

You might even convert the fish sceptics!

Spring Bank Holiday …

… is not far away.

So I thought you'd like a lunch/supper suggestion, taken from my most recent class – here's the menu :

Champignon au tartines

The Ivy Fishcakes with Coronation Coleslaw

Hazelnut Hodgepodge

A word of warning – the fishcakes are filling and so I don't think you'll need any additional potatoes. A drizzling sauce would work well. The sauce that is used in The Ivy is Sorrel Sauce and, by chance sorrel is in season from April through to September. Sorrel is a herb that has a sharp lemon flavour – it's the leaves that are used in cooking.

Here's the recipe, courtesy of The Ivy :

Sorrel Sauce

500ml fish stock

50g butter

30g flour

50ml white wine

250ml double cream

15g fresh sorrel, shredded

salt and pepper

You'll need two medium sized saucepans.

Bring the fish stock to the boil in one of the saucepans. In the other melt the butter and stir in the flour. Cook very slowly over a low heat for 30 seconds, then gradually whisk in the fish stock. Pour in the white wine and simmer gently for 30 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Add the cream and reduce the sauce until it is of a thick pouring consistency, then put in the sorrel and season.

A note from me :

The recipe is as written in the book. I would use unsalted butter and plain flour. I'd use a medium dry white wine.

Knorr make a fish stock pot – it's a great product.

You could make larger fishcakes if you're concerned about filling tummies but I don't think you need worry!

Is there a teenager in the house?

Do any of the following words describe anyone in your household – feel free to tick as many as apply. Gloomy, sullen, sulky, glum, morose, touchy, grouchy, volatile and my personal favourite – cantankerous!

By accident I recently discovered that my “comfort food pasty” may have healing powers. I digress slightly to explain that when I visit my Sister, I take a pasty for her (minus the onion) ready sliced into portions so that they can go straight into her freezer.

Here's an extract from a text she sent :

“Apparently your cheese & onion pasties are incredible!

He (my Nephew) was in a foul mood when I got in from work

so I left him to it. I put a pasty in the oven and hey presto

he became human again!

All you have to do now is bottle it! xxx”

So, the method is as follows :

When your teenager arrives home, grunts and passes through to the black hole (aka bedroom) upstairs turn on the oven to pre-heat. Place the pasty in the oven – let the smell of the pasty warming drift to the black hole. The aroma should be enough to get his or her attention. A call of “food is ready” should be sufficient – serve the pasty – preferably on a plate and watch it disappear – may not be a metamorphosis but the demeanour definitely improves.

It's worth a shot!

The proof of the pasty …

… is in this step by step photo guide.

Step 1 – soften the onions :

Step 2 – grate the cheese :

If you don't grate ahead have a rummage through the fridge - it's a great way of using up whatever bits and pieces of cheese you've got lurking around – provided they are of the hard varieties and suitable for grating.

Step 3 – cube the potatoes :

Step 4 – combine the ingredients :

Step 5 – place mixture on half of the sheet

Step 6 – cooked pasty

Step 7 – slices of pasty

Whilst 200g of cheese may seem an awful lot 200g divided by eight portions is 25g per serving – as a treat it's not the end of the world.

If you've followed the principles mentioned in The pasty and a triple whammy you'll know that if you've already got the potatoes cooked, the cheese grated and the pastry in the freezer you can assemble this any time you like.

The Defence rests, as they say!

The pasty and a triple whammy!

Those out there who follow the blog will know that it began with a multitasking morning and a cooking and planning for the following week, giving you more time and making life easier. Here are two elements that are always included.

Wrap six large baking potatoes in foil and bake

for an hour and a half then test – remember they will

continue cooking when removed from the oven because

they are insulated by the foil. Cool, then bag and fridge.

Grate a lump of hard cheese of your choice -

Mature Cheddar, Red Leicester, Gruyére, whatever

takes your fancy. Bag or box and fridge.

That's two out of the three – the third is, yet again, a repeat of the perfect product, the puff pastry sheet.

The Pasty

Three large jackets potatoes – cooked and when cool, peel and

cut into a small dice

1 medium onion – finely diced and softened

in a drop of rapeseed oil and a knob of unsalted butter

200g of grated cheese – I'm using Mature Cheddar

Red Leicester and Gruyére

1 tsp of Dijon mustard - optional

Puff pastry sheet removed from fridge to come to

room temperature

1 egg, beaten

Place the potato in a large bowl, add the onion and then the cheese. Unroll the pastry, leaving it on the wrapping sheet of paper. Place the filling on one half of the pastry – it will look as if there's too much filling – there isn't! Pack it tightly – egg wash the edges of the pastry and then fold the remaining half over the filling and “glue” in place. Using a fork, press along the edges of the pasty, egg wash it and then bake in a pre-heated oven 200c/180fan/Gas 6. For 40 minutes – turn after 20 minutes. If you want to freeze the pasty then cook it for 30 minutes – turning after 15 minutes. Freeze and wrap after cooling.

If you choose to freeze think ahead. I would cut the pasty in half and then cut four equal portions from each, giving you eight servings. Freeze the portions to suit – more practical and potentially less wasteful.

Tempted?

Read on ...