GOM 18 : The Olive Garden

Great day planned – it begins for me with a hide report with a difference. This morning I'm a “roving reporter” and am off round the corner to Palmetto Islands County Park. When I say round the corner it is – head out down the drive, turn right and you've arrived.

This park is huge and caters for everyone - you can hire a bike or a pedal-boat or a kayak - you can even fish if the mood takes.

For me it's the nature trails and because I like the quiet life, mid week and out early is just the ticket for a gentle jog, although I have to leave the binoculars behind - jogging can be quite painful otherwise!

The birds are beautiful – bluebirds and the cardinals – vivid, strong colours the like of which you only see in zoos or books. I've never seen a hummingbird in the Park but, come to think of it, I've not seen the colourful feeders to encourage them either. Yet another piece of useless information – did you know that the Carolina wren is the state bird of South Carolina? Neither did I – you learn something every day.

It's really stunning to see the creek at high tide from a completely different vantage point.

Note to self – don't lean on a tree – you never know what might be above you or around the corner!

Back home for a quick change - lunch out at The Olive Garden, a great Italian restaurant in North Charleston near Northwoods Mall – very convenient for a spot of retail therapy afterwards – is there anything better. Eager anticipation, for a I know that I shall be indulging in my absolute favourite, Pasta in Alfredo sauce. What The Olive Garden does do however, better than anywhere are what they call garlic bread sticks – do not be deceived – these are not the garden variety (sorry about the pun, couldn't resist) bread sticks that are the table decoration. These do not snap, they are eight inch warm bread rolls (similar size and shape to a hot dog roll, or a scaled down sub) deliciously soft, glazed with butter and garlic salt, truly a giant amongst breads and the best I've ever had.

I discover that they are now serving a signature bread stick sandwich – chicken parmigiana or meatball with marinara and alfredo sauces – wow – you'd need a run afterwards!

When we get to bread making, we'll include the “bread stick” - I just happened to acquire the recipe.

Off now for that retail therapy and to walk off my lunch, another great day.

Portable Picnics

So often picnics are boring. What we need is food that is easily transportable but above all quick and easy to prepare and tasty.

There's a variation to the “Three Cheese Tart” in The Shindig

Following the recipe roll out the pastry and use a 12 hole bun tin – you'll get 18 individual canapes – may be more depending on how thin you roll the pastry.

Make up the filling as per the recipe.

They can be made ahead and served cold – perfect for picnics.

Looking back at the beginning of the blog, there are recipes you can adapt that lend themselves really well for picnics.

Frittata in “Decisions, decisions: Frittata or pasta?” is a dish that is just as delicious served cold. It can be vegetarian or not – adding leftovers like cooked chicken or bacon bits, whatever takes your fancy.

Try a spot of fusion. Cook a pan of penne pasta and add the “Asian Spiced Salmon” - “Thursday supper and stir fry”. Once again you can add any leftover vegetables. If you don't have any try petit pois and sweetcorn. Fantastic served cold.

“Saturday night slob” gives you the recipe for burgers and meatballs. Make up a batch of meatballs – serve them with either sweet chilli sauce or the Pineapple Salsa from “Summer Holidays”.

Picnic petit-four

I appreciate I'm stretching the definition of a petit-four – it can be sucre or salee – in other words a tiny cake or pastry sweet or savoury. I'm suggesting that “dessert” isn't served in the accepted sense.

Let the kids help :

for the shindig, have a glance at the coolers in “Sweet Surprises for summer”

They could make either the Malteser Cake and/or Rocky Road from “Outside the box” and finally, here's another suggestion,

Tiffin

4oz unsalted butter

2 tbsp castor sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup

4 tsp cocoa

8oz Rich Tea biscuits, crushed finely

Handful of raisins or cranberries

8oz chocolate

(you can mix 4oz milk, 4oz plain)

Melt the butter, sugar, syrup and cocoa.

Add the biscuits and raisins, stir to combine. Pour into a Swiss roll tin or into foil trays to suit your purpose, press down firmly.

Melt the chocolate – either in the microwave or in a bowl over simmering water (as always being careful not to let the bowl touch the water). Pour the chocolate over the mixture . Put into the fridge and leave to set for an hour.

Makes approximately 20 pieces.

Or, you could have a look in the cheap shops and/or baby aisles and see if you can pick up some funky individual pots with lids and make “Nigella's Instant Chocolate-Orange Mousse” mentioned in GOM: Chapter 9 and take with you a huge tub of strawberries, raspberries, melon, whatever looks great and fresh and in season.

Perfick!

The Shindig

Not sure whether you're thinking about a shindig this summer – I know lots of people like BBQ and as there are gazillions of recipes out there, not to mention those of your own, tried and tested – I'm not even thinking of going there. Of course it might not be a shindig, it might be a picnic so you'd want portable, to survive the journey. “Portable Picnics” will follow.

Instead I'm going to give you some ideas for stuff to serve with the BBQ and the picnic along with a recipe or two!

The following two recipes are both vegetarian. They'll both go with your shindig or your picnic and can be served hot or cold – equally delicious either way.

The Homity Pie is thought to have appeared during WWII probably invented by the Land Girls using what little ingredients they had around. I first came across it years ago in Denby, Derbyshire where the pottery of the same name is still going - it has a great cafe where they still serve it today. Check out www.denbyvisitorcentre.co.uk. (To avoid disappointment, if you intend to visit Denby Pottery call ahead if you want to sample their pie – they don't serve it every day). Eventually I plucked up the courage and phoned the cafe and asked how they made the pie – here's my take on it. It's perfect to serve on either occasion.

For perspective, I'm attaching a photo of the dish that I use – 25cms approximately in diameter and approximately 5cms deep. It doesn't have to be circular - you could use oblong or square – you can get large, strong foil dishes that'll save on washing up too!

Homity Pie

Pastry case

200g/8oz plain wholemeal flour

100g/4oz unsalted butter

pinch of baking powder

cold water to bind

Filling

6 large jacket potatoes, cooked, peeled and diced

1lb onions

3 tbsp rapeseed oil

5 tbsp chopped flatleaf parsley

(3 for the filling, 2 for the topping)

300g/12oz grated cheese – 200g/8oz mature cheddar, 100g4oz Gruyere mixed

(200g/8oz cheese for filling, 100g/4oz for the topping)

3 cloves of garlic, crushed (or garlic paste)

Salt and black pepper

For the pastry case, use a food processor if you have one, pop the flour, baking powder and butter and blitz until breadcrumbs. Add a drop of ice cold water and pulse, gently, until the pastry comes together (do not over overdo it). Tip the pastry out onto a sheet of clingfilm, using the film gather the pastry together into a ball and refrigerate for 30 mins.

Grease your pie dish.

Roll out your pastry, line your dish and refrigerate again until you are ready to bake.

Place the potatoes in a large mixing bowl. Saute the onions and garlic in the oil and cool, then add to the potatoes. Season well. Add the cheese and parsley.

Tip the filling into the pastry case and pack tightly – it will look as if you've too much filling – the tighter you pack, the better it will be. Mix the remaining cheese and parsley together and sprinkle over the top.

Place in a pre-heated hot oven (190fan/210c /gas mark 7) for 40 minutes. Check after 30 minutes. It should be golden brown.

This recipe will give you 12-16 portions – depending on how big you like them – it is filling.

I've seen Homity Pie in the past in supermarkets (recent research seems to indicate that it is no longer available) at a vastly inflated price. These days vegetarian ready meals seem to be “gussied up” in fancy packaging, costing a fortune with very little flavour. The taste test I did was disappointing, mainly because the pastry was too thick and short on filling.

You can of course scale down the Homity Pie recipe – my two pennyworth is that it freezes well, so, in the unlikely event there are leftovers, you can save for another day. This principle also applies to the Three Cheese Tart. I can only speak as I find – it will vanish!

Another tip – in the past, under pressure – cooking for the shindig, I've made and lined my pastry base and frozen it, as is. When required, pull out of the freezer, pack tightly with the filling and bake. Easy peasy.

The Three Cheese tart is my recipe. I'm not a lover of the quiche but love cheese and onion, personally I think that you should taste both and not be lost in an eggy mixture. I realise there's a lot of cheese in this recipe and I am not recommending it as an everyday dish. It's an occasional indulgence. The pastry on both recipes is the same - the aim in each case is to roll it as thinly as possible resulting in a thin, crisp base and, wholemeal pastry is healthy! These days the quality of wholemeal flour is so good – if you can afford to spend a little more – it's definitely worth it.

Three Cheese Tart

Pastry case

200g/8oz Wholemeal Flour

100g/4oz unsalted butter

Pinch of baking powder

Ice cold water to bind

Filling

2 medium onions, chopped

knob of butter, drop of rapeseed oil

300g/12oz grated cheese, 100g/4oz each mature

cheddar, Red Leicester and Gruyere

1 egg, beaten to bind

Black pepper

Grease and line a 9”/22cm dish or spring clip tin.

For the pastry case, use a food processor if you have one, pop the flour, baking powder and butter and blitz until breadcrumbs. Add a drop of ice cold water and pulse, gently, until the pastry comes together (do not over overdo it). Tip the pastry out onto a sheet of clingfilm, using the film gather the pastry together into a ball and refrigerate for 30 mins.

Soften the chopped onions in the butter and rapeseed oil.

Add the cheese, onions, black pepper and beaten egg, set aside and refrigerate until you are ready to roll!

Roll out your pastry and refrigerate again until you are ready to bake.

Pre-heat your oven to 180 fan/200c/gas 6.

When you are ready to bake put the chilled filling into the chilled pastry and bake for 35/40 minutes until golden. Check after 30 minutes.

Leave the tart to cool, ideally served warm. If you cut into the tart when straight out of the oven the cheese filling will ooze – you need to leave it to settle.

P.S. Just in case you think there's a mistake in this recipe in that there's no salt mentioned – there's enough salt in the cheese!

Portable Picnics next!

Summer Holidays

We've all heard the expression “Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs” and I wouldn't dream of suggesting that I know any better than all you experienced cooks out there - though sometimes a bit of help and/or a few ideas can't hurt.

What I do know, from experience, is that even the most grumpy of teenagers can become absorbed and creative in the kitchen and forget to be grumpy!

The other “given” is that most children and teenagers all like to get messy. If you've to entertain/occupy of any age, with varying degrees of supervision – you can sit back with coffee and a cake – I would suggest you keep your camera ready for the pictures I know you'll take – enjoy the fun.

I'm a firm believer in harnessing the energy so, for example, one day each week of the holidays choose lunch snacks they can make themselves with a sweet treat for afters – look at it this way, it's a meal you won't have to prepare. You'll save yourself a lot of stress by laying out on trays the required ingredients. I'd suggest that one tray shared between two works. You could even suggest that they each invite a friend – four in total should be fine, if of course you've got the space. Safety in numbers!

As usual I'm going to give you a few suggestions with recipes. I'm sure you've got plenty of your own, but, if any of them sparks an idea or two then my work here is done!

Tuna and Parsley rolls

200g/7oz tin tuna in oil

1 onion, chopped

100g/4oz cheddar cheese, grated

2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

salt and black pepper

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 puff pastry sheet

1 egg, beaten

1 tbsp poppy seeds

Pre-heat oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6

Drain the tuna, reserving 1 tbsp of the oil. Pour the oil into a pan and cook the onion for 5 minutes until softened. Remove from the heat and stir in the tuna, cheese, parsley, seasoning and mustard until well combined. Allow to cool.

Roll out your pastry sheet and cut in half lengthways.

Divide the filling between the two rectangles, laying it in strips down the centre of the pastry.

Brush one edge with beaten egg and carefully roll up to create two long tubes. Cut each into 12 rolls. Brush with egg and put on a baking tray. Sprinkle over poppy seeds and bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

You can vary the filling with any ingredient of your choice.

Quesadilla and Pineapple Salsa

For the quesadilla

• 8 ready-made flour tortillas
• 250g/9oz mature cheddar, grated
• 300g/11oz cooked chicken, thickly sliced
• ½ red onion, finely sliced
• 60g/2½oz jalapeno chillies, roughly chopped
• 1 small bunch coriander leaves and roots
• 4 tbsp sour cream
• 2 tbsp olive oil

1. For the quesadilla, place four of the tortillas onto a board and cover each with the grated cheese.
2. Divide the chicken, red onion, jalapeno chillies and coriander equally over the cheese-covered tortillas.
3. Spread the sour cream onto one side of each of the remaining four tortillas and place sour cream-side down onto the filled tortillas.
4. Heat a frying pan and add the oil. Carefully place a quesadilla into the frying pan and cook over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes, until crisp and golden and the cheese filling is melting. Carefully turn the quesadilla over and cook on the other side for a further two minutes, or until crisp and golden. Remove from the pan and set aside to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining quesadillas.
5. Cut the quesadillas into quarters and serve fresh and hot.
6. To serve, arrange the quesadillas serving plate and place a bowl of salsa into the middle.

Pineapple Salsa

1 x 432 tin pineapple pieces, drained

2 red chillies, de-seeded and finely chopped

3 spring onions, finely chopped

Small bunch of coriander, leaves only, chopped finely

if you can't get fresh add ½ tsp of ground or to suit

personal taste

salt and black pepper

50g (2oz) sweetcorn (defrosted if frozen) (optional)

Put the pineapple pieces into a bowl. Add the spring onions, coriander and chillies, season and mix well. Whiz a quarter of this mixture in a food processor until smooth. Mix into the bowl with the remaining salsa and add the sweetcorn if desired.

You can add and subtract ingredients to suit. There are chillies in both the above recipes – you could substitute with Romano peppers, finely chopped.

Afters,

Lemon Eton Mess

Pack of 4 or a large tub of lemon flavoured yogurt

Drum of ready-made mini meringues – available from most supermarkets

Jar of good quality lemon curd – or they could make their own – see Microwave Lemon Curd in Luscious Lemons

Lemon juice – 2-4 tsps to taste

Scoop out all the yogurt into a bowl. Spoon the lemon curd into another bowl and stir in the lemon juice. Put half the lemon mixture into the yogurt, you want a rippled effect so go slowly! Repeat, but leave the bowl with a little mixture left – all will be revealed!

Crumble meringues in a plastic food bag, clipped at the end – you won't get bits of meringue flying around this way. Fold into your mixture and spoon into glasses/dishes. The remaining mixture in the bowl is then drizzled over the top.

…..a final suggestion – they could make the Vanilla ice cream – as mentioned in Store Cupboard desserts – uber-useful extras, they then have a dessert for the evening too! Get some strawberries that they can prepare.

It doesn't have to cost a fortune, check out the cheaper supermarkets.

Hope that's helpful – sorry, nearly forgot – for the Lemon Eton Mess you could use half pint plastic glasses – widely available in the cheap shops - no washing up!

GOM 17: The sod hunt and my Charleston Cooks! Class

The GOM go shopping today, however, it's not your normal expedition. They are on a “sod” hunt – or, in the UK, garden turf cut into rectangles. Lawns in this part of the world are not like ours - the grass is sparse and the intense heat doesn't help – hence the need to patch from time to time.

Apparently sod is as rare as hen's teeth so you've got to be in the right place at the right time, i.e. when a delivery is due. This could take some time – and a beer or two to recover on returning home. Just in time for the golf.

Here's another piece of useless information – a sod buster in the US is a farmer who works the soil - you never know when this may come in handy!

Me, I'm off for my treat. The class I've chosen is on low country cooking. To explain, low country includes mostly anywhere in South Carolina that has water or marsh nearby – which would mean pretty much everywhere.

My idea of the best afternoon out – the chef was brilliant. It's a small demonstration room which creates a great atmosphere. There's a screen above the bench where she's working so you can see everything. Here's a snapshot,

We watched as she produced Lemon Buttermilk Pie, Carolina Aromatic Rice, Vegetable Sauté and Blackened Fresh Fish. I left the class inspired and with a tip or two – worth every cent.

Set down below in my version of the Blackened Seasoning used with the fresh fish, devised on my return to the UK.

Blackened Cod

Blackened fish in the UK usually means a base ingredient of

balsamic vinegar or a teriyaki sauce. In the USA blackened

seasoning is very much part of the Low Country style of

cooking.

Blackened Seasoning

2 level tsps paprika

4 tsps dried thyme

2 tsps onion powder

2 tsps garlic powder

1 tbsp granulated sugar

2 tsps salt

2 tsps black pepper

½ tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp sumac

1 tsp oregano

¾ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp nutmeg

Place all the above in a jar, shake and store in a cool dark place. Use for fish, chicken or seafood.

Blackened Cod

Allow 4-6oz cod per person and cut into portions. Using kitchen roll, pat the fish dry. Coat the fish heavily on both sides with the seasoning.

Heat a frying pan over a medium heat. When the pan is hot, add either vegetable or rapeseed oil enough to cover the bottom of the pan.

When the oil is hot add the fish to the pan. Cook until the spices have blackened on the bottom, cooking times will vary according to the thickness of the fish.

Turn the fish and allow to cook through, reduce the heat as necessary.

Serve on a bed of samphire.

Samphire is a sea vegetable – there are two types, marsh and rock. It's similar to baby asparagus and is crisp and salty to taste. Wash thoroughly and then steam. It's fantastic with fish. If you have trouble locating it, I can save your legs and eyes – Waitrose and the fish counter!!

Here's one of the tips that I brought away from the class – if you have a portion of fish that includes the tail, fold it over so that it sticks – it won't dry out and looks neater.

The sod hunt bore fruit and by the time I returned everything was planted and refreshed - water for the sod – beer for the GOM!

Fab Feedback

Here's a couple of comments received, the first concerning the Summer Pudding:

“We all loved the Summer Pudding, took it to a

party, adults and children all had a slice, there were

no leftovers – very easy to make”

and the second, the Risotto:

“Even a kitchen simpleton like myself could

pour and stir then wait – something happened

and it was a meal!”

Outside the box

…..the chocolate one that is!

It's that time again and the summer holidays are upon us. For those out there who'll be entertaining the children and/or grandchildren I thought you might like an idea or four in the chocolate line that may occupy the older kids (with some supervision) in that they can make these treats themselves.

First up,

Malteser Cake

125g unsalted butter

400g milk chocolate, broken into small pieces

2 tbsp golden syrup

250g digestives - crushed

135g Maltesers

Line a 20cm tin with parchment.

Melt the butter in a large pan, then add the chocolate and syrup until melted.

Remove the pan from the heat, allow to cool slightly then stir in the biscuits and Maltesers. Pour into the tin and refrigerate for two hours.

Cut into squares.

Alternatives:

Could make with chopped Crunchie bars,

Could drizzle with melted white chocolate,

Could decorate with extra Maltesers.

I say Malteser Cake, you can make it in a circular tin but these days I make it as a tray bake (standard size) – it's easier to cut into squares and therefore portion control – bite size pieces. I got this recipe from Whizzer's best friend – another thank you. A couple of tips – if you think the ingredients a tad expensive, buy “own brand” versions from one of the well known cheaper supermarkets. Sainsbury's Basic range produce 100g bars of milk chocolate and I have to say it's ideal for this recipe – at 35p. On the upside the tray bake cut into said bite size pieces will give you 4 x 500g pots so quite a substantial amount. I should be able to say how long its lifespan but in all truth it has never lasted long enough to be able to say. Realistically a week kept in sealed containers.

Here's a photo of what you can expect-

Conversely if you feel like making a posher batch for the grown ups, use a more expensive Swiss/Belgian milk chocolate and serve as the ultimate “understated petit four” - it's a bit like the old fashioned sweets – sit back and watch it disappear.

And second:

Rocky Road

250g dark chocolate

150g milk chocolate

175g soft butter, unsalted

4 x 15ml tbsp golden syrup

200g of hobnobs

*150g shelled Brazil nuts

*150g red glace cherries

*125g mini marshmallows

Put the biscuits into a freezer bag and bash with a rolling pin to get a mixture of rubble.

Put the Brazil nuts into another freezer bag and bash them too.

Chop both sorts of chocolate into small pieces, or use chocolate buttons made for melting and then put them into a heavy-based saucepan to melt with the butter and syrup over a gentle heat.

Take the pan off the heat and add the biscuit and nuts, cherries and mini marshmallows. Turn carefully so that all the ingredients are coated with the syrupy chocolate.

Tip into a foil tray (I use a tray bake size), smoothing the top as best you can, although it is meant to be bumpy.

Refrigerate until firm enough to cut, which will take about 1½-2 hours. Take the set block out of the tray. With the long side in front of you cut 6 slices down and 4 across so that you have 24 squares.

Make ahead tip:

Make the Rocky Road and refrigerate to set, cut into bars and then store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 1 week.

Freeze ahead tip:

Make the Rocky Road as above and free for up to 1 month. Thaw overnight in a cool place. Decorate as above before serving.

Taken and tweaked from 'Nigella Christmas'.

Here's a photo of what you can expect -

The above recipe is the basic Rocky Road recipe. You will see three ingredients above marked “*”. These ingredients can be swapped to suit your own personal taste. You can take any of the ingredients given on the following “Design your own Rocky Road” sheet.

Design your own Rocky Road

Traditionally Rocky Road is made using Brazil nuts,

glace cherries and marshmallow.

Rules are meant to be broken - take a look at the

list below and if you'd like to design your own

Rocky Road swap any or all of the three

ingredients above

(or may be four if you can't bear

to leave a real favourite ingredient out!)

Peanut

Pistachio

Pecan

Hazelnut

Glace cherry

Dried sour cherries

Cranberry

Apricot

Banana chips

Pineapple

Sultanas

Nougat

Turkish Delight

Fudge

Toblerone

Praline

Salted Caramel

Mini Marshmallow

Popping Candy

Lest you should start to suffer from a chocolate overdose, the remaining two recipes next time.