Venison Pie

We were lucky enough to be invited out again last night and had another lovely evening. We began with crisps and dips - I could just eat those instead of any real food I think! - and continued with a rich and gamey Venison Pie. Our hosts had 'found' the recipe online and added their own special twist. After the meat had been marinated in red wine and delicious herbs and spices overnight, it was browned and dark chocolate was added! A range of vegetables and a pie lid, decorated beautifully by Sophie, and it was ready for the oven. It tasted velvety and smooth with tender meat and a hint of sweetness - perfect.

Pudding was just as delicious; home-made chocolate brownies with vanilla ice-cream. Our host had substituted chestnuts for walnuts as the chestnuts mysteriously disappeared as she was making them (I blame Ellie!), but it was no loss - the slight crunch of the walnuts added a little crunch to the texture.

Thanks guys!

Friday Night Takeaway

Review

Sweet and Sour Pork Balls
Plain Chow Main
Egg Fried Rice

From: Canton Chef, Chelmsford

Cost: £8.20

What you get: 13 (!) pork balls in batter, a large portion of egg fried rice, a large portion of plain chow mein.

Taste:

Very good. The chow mein is one of my favourites. It doesn't use the thin noodles, but the thicker ones with a good helping of beansprouts. On occasions it has been 'over-peppery' but last night's was just right - enough to give it a good taste and a bit of spice. The pork balls were also well cooked - a thin, crispy batter without too much 'uncooked' batter on the inside and, unlike some take-aways, the pork was tender, rather than overcooked, tough and chewy. Egg fried rice is egg fried rice and no complaints.

Value for Money:

I would say it was very good value for money. Although I just had 'the basics', it was plenty for two people, as proved by my boyfriend when he ate a full meal of left-overs for breakfast this morning. I also snuck second helpings of everything last night too!

Rustic Chorizo Paysan

Last night we had a ball! Before I begin, I must thank our fantastic hosts, Titto and Champs. Yes, I know we had to bring our own chairs, and that drinking wine from a sherry glass is often 'frowned upon' in more elite circles (!), but all of this added to the general merriment and fun of the evening. And we were amongst good friends which is what counts most.

The food was excellent, despite us agreeing that the blog's title could easily have been 'Prison Slops'. The flavours, however, spoke for themselves. Our main course was a rustic and very tasty chorizo stew/casserole. Titto also went to the effort to pop out during his precious lunch hour; he bought not one, but two types of chorizo to add to the depth of flavour. Whilst cooking, the stew developed rich and smoky undertones spiced with tomatoes, peppers, red onion and kidney and cannellini beans: It was scrummy! The boys even had second helpings, which is when we remembered to take the pictures, hence the muddled presentation!

Now, pudding was something of which I had never heard before - a self-saucing cake! Basically, this is a cake that comes out with its own sauce - it really is magic! From what I can remember, its a basic chocolate cake recipe in an oven-proof bowl with a layer of water, sugar and cocoa mix poured over the top. The cake cooks, the top bit makes a sauce and it all mixes up! Champs usually uses a tried and tested recipe from her school days but, as she couldn't get her hands on it, she adapted a 'found' recipe. It turned out perfectly and was delicious, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, mmm. I found a similar recipe online, and it's Australian, much like Champs!

(This is in brackets because I'm whispering! Before I go, I must just set the record straight! It appears that Titto 'developed' his Naan Bread Pizza recipe from one Champs had previously devised using large Pitta bread - so credit where credit's due!)

Thanks guys - we'll host the return leg very soon,

x

Schmoking!

erm - I have a confession.

I set the grill on fire last night - it wasn't really my fault - I turned it on ready to brown the top of the omelette (can you tell we have nothing in the fridge?!) - normally there's nothing underneath it - but I could smell a burning - not coming from under the pan, no - not coming from the hob, no - open the grill door - ooops - haven't cleared away the foil from our unexpected snow-fry-breakfast on Monday - set alight - flames and everything - needed wet towel to put it out.

I am NOT person of the day - all our clothes smell of burnt smoke.

The omelette, however, (and this is the most important thing after all) was good!

Ok - we're off out to Titto's for a meal. It's all very 'cloak and dagger' as to the food, so I'll make my report tomorrow evening!

A demain x

Buttersquash Risotto

Did you know that M&S cheeses have a little flap that folds over and sticks down to keep the cheese fresh? Saves me having to re-wrap the stuff in clingfilm! Brilliant idea!

Anyway, onto more important things...as you may have read, I spend a good portion of yesterday wandering around 'finding' recipe cards, one of which inspired last night's tea. I used a combination of my own and the recipe card's recipe for Butternut Squash Risotto - I've decided to call it Buttersquash Risotto - I like that!

Having never really used or cooked with BS (can't be bothered typing Butternut Squash every time) i wasn't sure what to expect. I asked someone if they would peel it before roasting and they suggested the skin can be tough, so I took that advice, and good it was! Here's my version...

BS

onion - chopped finely

risotto rice

small glass white wine

chicken stock

sage

parsley

chilli flakes - you could use fresh red chilli finely chopped without seeds

butter

cheese - grated. I used strong cheddar but you could use any you liked. A spiced or chilli cheese would be delicious.

First, cube the BS and roast until soft and just turning brown. Oven 180 ish as usual.

Next, add the onion to a hot pan - I used a wok - and fry til soft.

Tip in the rice and wait as long as you can bear before tipping in the white wine! It should sizzle nicely in relief!

When the wine is absorbed, add a ladle of stock and stir. Stir til absorbed.

Continue this process until the rice is cooked to biting point or as desired.

Mash half of the BS cubes and leave half to garnish at the end.

Turn off the heat under the risotto.

Add most of the cheese, (retaining some for on top,) chilli flakes, herbs, mashed BS and a dollop of butter. Stir in. It should become rich and creamy immediately.

Serve with a little of the grated cheese, chopped parsley and BS cubes on top - delicious.

It really was tasty - much more so than I expected and a completely different dish from, say, mushroom risotto, which I usually do.

"Calories don't count in the Cold" according to Chris Evans, Drivetime, Radio 2

It's a good job, that's all I can say!

I've been lucky enough to have another snow day at home thanks to school being cancelled. Hurrah! So, again, I was up early and pottered around. Managed to get a bus into town and got enthralled walking around the food department of M&S. Now, don't think me odd, but I do love just wandering around their aisles and looking at all the yummy food. They're tending to move towards adding actual ingredients to their shelves now as well as simply ready-made stuff and even had lots of recipe cards out, to which I quickly helped myself, before making another tour of all the shelves to ensure I had got each and every one!

Tonight's meal will be a combination of one of those very cards and my own version. It should turn into a risotto of some sorts. Will keep you posted.

Last night, it was fish pie. I hadn't made this for a while and even went so far as to buy prawns to add to it, as requested by my boyfriend. Normally I leave them out - don't know why, just always have!

Hannah's Fish Pie

fish - I used pieces of smoked haddock, cod and prawns, but you can chuck in your favourites!
milk
plain flour
butter
salt and pepper
cheese - grated - some for the white sauce and some for the top!
peas
wholegrain mustard
mash
squeeze of lemon

First, pop all raw fish into an oven-proof dish and cover with milk. Put into the oven at 180 until the fish is just cooked. If in doubt, remove it from the oven a little beforehand.
Using the milk from the fish, make a bechamel sauce - white sauce - roux, whatever you'd like to call it:

In a pan, mix a blob of butter and a splash of flour in the quantities such as you get a smooth paste! (I do mine by trial and error - a blob of butter, then add flour til it comes together, you can always add a drop of oil if it goes powdery!)
The trick to getting a smooth sauce is not to have the milk hot, but to have the pan hot and add it a little at a time. So, splash by splash, add the milk, whisking the mixture continually. It will thicken and look much as it did at the start for the first few splashes, but will gradually become runnier.
If you use up all the milk from the fish, add a little more!

When the mixture has a thick, creamy consistency that clings to a metal spoon and drips slowly, add a few teaspoons of wholegrain mustard to taste, salt and pepper and some of the cheese. Mix together.
In an ovenproof dish, flake the fish, add the peas and prawns and pour over the sauce, mixing a little to combine. Be careful not to mix it so much that the fish 'mashes'.
Spoon the mash over the top and sprinkle over the remaining cheese.
Pop into the oven at around 180 for 15 minutes or so, until the cheese has browned. Everything is cooked so it just needs time for the peas and prawns to heat through and the cheese to brown and bubble!

You could even make it up earlier and finish it off in the oven when ready.

Winter Warmers

Oh no - we've got no food in. It's ok, we can walk to the supermarket. No we can't, it might not be open...you get the point how I was feeling this morning, after I'd been informed that there was no school today! Hurrah! I have been up since 6.30 am though in order to update the website so the parents know as well as the staff. I've watched the snow all morning and pottered in the Cabbage Patch to clear the snow so I might have a few veggies this spring / summer to cook with!

I'm into the wintery, warming dinners at the moment and last night was no exception. It was inspired by 2 pieces I'd read or watched this week - 1) Jamie cooking a shoulder of pork on t.v. the other night, and 2) a recipe from the Food Stories blog. I bought an incredibly cheap cut of British Pork (cheap because it was shoulder and everyone prefers a leg joint), scored the fat on top, rubbed in salt and olive oil, blazed in a very hot oven for 20 minutes, then put on low for several hours. It was delicious, the crackling being the best part as you can see - or not see, as I'd actually picked off most of it by the time I remembered to take this photo!

I also made Jamie's Baked Onions, (I do have other recipe books, but his are so warming for this snowy weather.) I found that the Parmesan flavour was overpowering and would use a mature cheddar next time.

The World's Best Baked Onions

Jamie's Book "Happy Days with the Naked Chef. - serves 4.

4 tennis ball sized white onions, peeled

olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, peeled & finely chopped

4 twigs of fresh rosemary, lower leaves picked & chopped

8 tablespoons double cream

a couple of handfuls of grated Parmesan

sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

4 slices of pancetta or smoked streaky bacon rashers

Boil the onions in plenty of water for 15 minutes until slightly tender.

Remove from the pan and allow to cool.

Then, with a sharp knife, remove the top 2.5cm/1 inch of each onion, finely chop and place to one side. If need be, slightly trim the stalk end of the onions so that they will sit flat on a roasting tray.

Cut about a heaped tablespoon out from the inside of each onion, keeping the outside intact.

Finely chop and add to the rest of the chopped onion.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

Heat a frying pan and add a little olive oil, your garlic, the chopped onions and just a little chopped rosemary.

Fry for a couple of minutes until softened, then turn the heat down, add the cream and remove from the heat.

Stir in the Parmesan and season. I (Jamie) like(s) to wrap a nice slice of pancetta around the middle of each onion and just spike it in place with a sharpened twig of rosemary or half a cocktail stick. The rosemary and pancetta will make the onion taste lovely as it cooks.

Place the onions on a roasting tray and spoon some of the chopped onion mixture inside each one.

Bake in the preheated oven for around 25 minutes until soft and tender, depending on the size of the onions. It's cool to experiment with different cheese, so give it a bash.

I have got food in, btw; I'd forgotten I'd bought several pieces of fish for fish pie. Will save it for something to do a little later on!