Perfect Manhattans

Is this the best cocktail in the world? In the Universe?  I think so.  It is simply the best drink ever - and yes, it doesn't even have Campari in it!  You need the best ingredients - Woodford Reserve bourbon (2 parts),  then 1/2 part each of Noilly Prat White Vermouth and Antica Formula Carpano Rosso Vermouth, with 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters, a lemon zest twist and a proper Maraschino cherry, stirred (not shaken!) over ice and served in a chilled Martini glass.  One has to be a perfectionist when it comes to perfection!  I was very happy drinking this with the Cheese Palmiers from an earlier entry - very happy indeed.  It helps that the Hubby is a pretty good barman.

Cheese Palmiers

These have been around the scene since Delia showed us all how to make them in her Christmas book - the simplest thing in the world, but so good.  Infinitely variable, I used mustard and parmesan, but also regularly use slices of Parma ham along with the parmesan too, or with black olive tapenade and anchovies, or fresh pesto.  You simply spread your ingredients over a sheet of puff pastry, roll up from either side to meet in the middle, cut into slices and bake until crisp.  Hot and crisp from the oven, I challenge you to stop at one!  Great to keep, in the long un-sliced roll, in the freezer ready for Christmas and pre-dinner drinks.

A Cake of Parsnip and Celeriac

A Nigel Slater recipe, from his stunning book, 'Tender - vol 1'.  Not a cake made with flour, sugar, etc, but a baked dish, a gratin, almost, but with no cream or cheese, just a little stock, butter and thyme.  The smell in the flat as this baked was amazing - helped, no doubt, by the freshest, most aromatic roots from the Riverford box.  I have found an online recipe for you if you are unwise enough not to have invested in either volume of Tender.  The only change I made was to halve the amount of butter.  It made a big dish, and half of it will be reheated during the week, perhaps with some bangers.  Gorgeous.

Chocolate Banana Cake

I saw Nigel Slater cooking this on his 'Simple Suppers' programme this week and knew I had to bake it - although even I would draw the line at having cake for my supper!  A look at my other 'Nigel' cakes on this blog will show how often he uses a 'pound cake' mix - i.e. equal quantities of flour, sugar and butter.  If the butter is lovely and soft, it is a breeze to make - just bung it all in the food mixer with some eggs and half a teaspoon of cinnamon and give it a good mix.  The quantities he used were 175g each of the SR flour/caster or light muscovado sugar/unsalted butter base, with 2 eggs.  When well beaten and fluffy, fold through 3 medium or 2 large ripe bananas, chopped, and 125g of dark chocolate, chopped fairly chunkily.  Turn into a greased and lined 2lb loaf tin and bake at 160C fan for 45 minutes or so until the centre is cooked.  Nigel added chopped toasted hazelnuts to his mix, but I didn't have any.  I'm sure this would be a wonderful addition.  This cake should keep well for our lunchboxes.....provided I can stop snaffling slices of it.

Crisis appeal: buy a Christmas Dinner for a Homeless Person in the UK

We are so lucky.  I know we might not think we are on a day-to-day basis, but, as the weather turns perishing, and the season of excessive consumption (in every sense) is upon us, we should all give pause and be grateful that we have warm homes, hot water, a bed each night, hot food on our tables, and people who love and care for us.  Crisis, the charity that helps young homeless people, has a campaign this year to buy a Christmas Lunch for somone for £24.  As well as a hot meal, in a warm and happy environment, this will also cover the cost of a health check-up, clothing, a haircut, and some time to chat with someone who can give advice on jobs, housing, and health issues.  So, as I crank up to the Christmas cooking, I will make sure I give some money to this worthy cause - if you are interested, check out the Crisis campaign and buy someone lunch too!

Risotto of Butternut Squash and Chorizo

So cold in Oxfordshire tonight!  At least we don't have snow, but temperatures are forecast to drop to -3C and possibly -10C with wind chill factored in.  So strange for this time of year.  There is a real need for warming carbohydrate, and a bowl of piping hot risotto hits the mark.  Made the usual way, but with some finely-chopped celery along with the onion, and some fresh sage half-way through.  At the end, I stirred through chunks of sweet roasted butternut squash and freshly grated parmesan, along with some cubes of sauteed cooking chorizo.  Warming, filling, and another butternut squash bites the dust!  However, another one arrived in the veg box today.  Doh!

Gratin of Penne with Leeks and Bacon

I love macaroni cheese - it is such a warming thing to eat on a cold night like tonight, and Delia's take on it includes leeks and a little bacon for savoury yumminess.  Here is Delia's recipe - I didn't use the cream, as I thought it rich enough, but by all means go ahead and use it if your arteries are younger than mine.

Columbo Cocktail

Not named after the detective, I don't think!  This is a long fruity Campari, made with 1.5 measures of Campari, 1.5 measure fresh orange juice, 3/4 measure fresh lemon juice and 1 measure of fresh lime juice, with about 1/2 a measure of gomme syrup.  Shake and then serve over ice in a long glass, topped up with chilled tonic and a slice of orange and lime.  Heaven.  We had little crisp squares of buttery baked bread, topped with a duxelles of mushrooms with minced Parma ham mixed in, and baked until bubbling, to accompany it before our dinner of roast lamb and pumpkin pie.

Spiced Pumpkin Pie

Well, it is Thanksgiving on Thursday, and in honour of my American friends, on both sides of the pond, I thought I'd make good ole pumpkin pie.  I also had half a pumpkin to use up, which was very convenient!  Whilst researching this recipe, I was surprised to find that most Americans use tinned pumpkin puree - what a shame, given its seasonality - indeed, ubiquity - at this time of year.  So, I baked big wedges of the beast and stripped the skin off when cool.  This gave me around 400g of pumpkin flesh, which was pureed in a food processor with 2 eggs, 75 g dark brown muscovado sugar, a scant teaspoon of cinnamon, and around 150ml of cream.  This glowing gold custard was poured into a deep pie dish lined with rich eggy shortcrust pastry, and all was baked until the custard was set and the pastry was crisp and golden.  Just lovely with a blob of whipped cream, and the simple flavours shone through.  Happy Thanksgiving, and let's all count our blessings.

Chickpea and Pumpkin Coconut Curry [#253]

We have so much butternut squash in the house, courtesy of Riverford Organics, that I am surprised I don't look like one - oh, hang on, perhaps I do!  Anyway, this was delicious and warming, and would be great for a vegan.  Fry a paste made up of a chopped onion, 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, an inch or so of ginger root, a stem of lemongrass and a de-seeded red chilli - use a tablespoon of oil.  After a minute, add a teaspoon of yellow or black mustard seeds. After another minute or so, stir in a teaspoon each of ground turmeric, ground coriander and cumin.  Then add a 200ml can of coconut milk and 300ml of veg stock.  For non-veggies, splosh in some Thai fish sauce.  Also, add the juice of half a lime.  Add a tin of drained chickpeas and simmer for 15 minutes or so.  Meanwhile, steam some chunks of butternut squash or pumpkin.  Just before serving, add the pumpkin to the sauce with some coriander leaf and more lime if liked.  I like it with sticky rice, or some naan bread - not Thai but still delicious.  This is adapted from a Nigel Slater recipe in 'Tender, Vol. 1' and is plenty for 2 people.

Cabbage with Pancetta and Onions

This is the food equivalent of a comforting hug - we had a Savoy cabbage that needed using up - simples!  Remove the ribs from the outer leaves and discard or feed to the rabbit.  Shred the remaining leaves and the tender heart of the cabbage, washing really well.  Chop some pancetta (or bacon), a good-sized onion and some garlic.  Stir-fry the bacon in its own fat until starting to crisp.  Remove from the pan, turn up the heat and add the sliced onions, with a little olive oil if needed.  When starting to go golden, add the garlic, stirring for a minute or two, then add the cabbage and some black pepper.  Stir and cook until bright green and cooked through, adding a little water if it needs it.  Return the bacon to the pan and heat through then serve with a runny poached egg on top.  Yum!  Pop a baked tattie next to it if you want more substance.  The simple things in life are often the best

Mushroom and Mascarpone Sauce for Pasta

This isn't low fat, for sure, but it got supper on the table in 15 minutes and was warming and filling on a freezing foggy Autumn night.  Whilst your pasta is cooking, what ever shape you fancy, saute a finely chopped onion in a tablespoon of olive oil until starting to soften, then add a clove of crushed garlic and stir for a minute or two.  Then add a punnet of chopped mushrooms, whatever you have to hand - I used two wonderful big Portobello mushrooms from the Riverford veg box - and saute for a minute or two over a brisk heat until lovely and juicy.  Strip three or four small sprigs of fresh thyme and stir into the pot.  Now, stir in around half a tub of mascarpone, about 125g.  I know, I know, stop whingeing, it is for 2 people!  Allow it to melt and bubble into the mushrooms.  Taste and adjust the seasoning, stirring in a couple of tablespoons of grated parmesan.  Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the cooking water.  Add drained pasta to the pan and stir well with the sauce, adding a little of the reserved cooking water if needed.  Add some chopped parsley if you have it. Spoon into hot bowls, sprinkle a little more parmesan over, and tuck in!  Now what to make with the remaining mascarpone?  Same again?  Or spoon it through a hot tomato sauce for another creamy pasta option!

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Squares

I made this for a cake-sale fundraiser at work today, and they went down pretty well - the caramel flavour perhaps could have been a wee bit more pronounced?  Never mind, they looked fantastic.  This is a recipe I've had my eye on for a while, and it has cropped up on many brilliant blogs, including Smitten Kitchen and Annie's Eats.  It consists of a base of crushed digestives and butter (about 80g and 40g respectively) baked in a foil-lined 8" square square tin for 10 mins.  Whip up 250g of mascarpone, a tin of Nestle Caramel, 60ml of single cream and two eggs.  Pour this over the cooled base, and bake, prefereably in a bain marie at around 160 degrees for 35 minutes.  Chill well, then top with a 'glaze' of 100g dark chocolate, not too bitter, 50g butter and 2 teaspoons liquid glucose, gently melted together and poured over the top.  When set, cut with a sharp long-bladed knife, dipped in hot water and wiped after each cut, to give dinky bite-sized portions.  This recipe yielded 36 squares, so great for gifts, buffets, after-dinner treats.

Spiced Carrot and Lentil Soup

I fancied some dal and some carrot and coriander soup and had the idea to combine them into a cheap, cheerful and very nutritious soup.  Another one suitable for vegans, if so inclined (see the red cabbage recipe previous to this)

• 2 tsp cumin seed, toasted in a pan
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• pinch chilli flakes or a finely chopped red chilli
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 600g carrots , washed and grated 
• 140g split red lentils
• 1litre hot vegetable stock (from a cube is fine)
• bunch of coriander, washed and chopped

Toast the cumin seeds, dry, in a pan, and when the aroma starts to rise and they change colour a little, tip into a pestle and mortar and grind to a powder.  Mix with the coriander powder and chilli flakes or fresh chilli.  Heat the oil in the pan and gently fry the onion until softened, adding the garlic and the spices for the final minute or so.  Now, just add the rinsed lentils, the grated carrots and the stock.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes or so until all is tender.  I pureed the soup, with the coriander in, until smooth, but you could leave it unblended and stir the coriander through.  Yummy! (post script:  I am reminded of Nigel's Spiced Pumpkin and Dal soup, which was one of the first things made in the Challenge last year.  As I have numerous small pumpkins and squashes from Riverford in the flat, I will revisit this!)

Red Cabbage, Beetroot and Apple Braise

From time to time, we ladies need a bit of a boost in the old iron department.  When I feel like this, it isn't meat I crave, but beetroot.  A quick Google reveals that beetroot is high in iron (as well as potassium, so good for the blood pressure, and folate, were I, by some miracle, trying to conceive).  It is also very rich in beneficial anti-oxidants.  So, it figures that accompanying it with red cabbage AND red onions will be a very healthy thing indeed.  All I did here was peel and shred the bunch of raw beets (the kitchen does look like a scene from 'CSI'), shred the red cabbage and a couple of red onions, sliced some celery, chopped a few cox apples, and then layered them in the big Le Creuset casserole, sprinking 200g of brown sugar (in total) and some salt between each layer.  Pour over 300mls red wine, or cider if preferred, 100mls of red or cider wine vinegar, and lots of black pepper.  Add a cinnamon stick and a piece of star anise, cover, bring to the boil and then simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour on a low heat.  Turn everything over in the pan from time-to-time.  This does shrink down quite a bit, but still loads here, just right to eat with grilled bangers, maybe, or some smoked mackerel.  Any leftovers will keep in the fridge for a few days and it freezes well too.  Might just save some for Xmas and the duck.......

Red Wine and Radicchio Risotto

Well, now, this is never going to be the best looking dish on the block, but it was deeply savoury and umami-ish.  We had some wonderful Treviso radicchio delivered in the Riverford box last week, which we used as a pasta sauce on Monday with bacon, a little cream, onion, garlic and sage.  Scrummy!  This used similar flavours - some chopped pancetta, a red onion, the shredded radicchio, sauteed in oil and butter and a good splosh of red wine (red vermouth in our case) along with some chicken stock.  I kept the risotto quite soupy this time, as I felt the texture of the radicchio needed this, somehow.  Finished at the end with another knob of butter and some parmesan, it was just delicious, just a slightly murky colour.  Radicchio is quite an addictive flavour!