'Crimean' Cocktail

Tonight's cocktail is worthy of a separate entry, as it was so delicious - quite light and relatively low in alcohol - take 4 measures of dry white wine, 1.5 measures of Cointreau or triple sec, and the finely grated zest of a lemon. Stir with plenty of ice then strain into 2 Martini glasses. Top each glass up with a little chilled soda water and drop in 2 Maraschino cherries per glass. This was so delicious, light and refreshing, and incredibly lemony. I have no idea what its association with the Crimea might be - one would expect vodka. Perhaps someone can enlighten me. Anyway, do try it.

Plum Jalousie

What is a jalousie, I hear you ask? Well, in culinary terms, it is a puff pastry dessert with a fruit and almond frangipane. The top layer of pastry is cut to resemble the slatted windows of the same name that you find in tropical plantation houses. This is such a doddle to make: cream together a couple of ounces each of soft butter, sugar and ground almonds with an egg to bind. Roll out a sheet of puff pastry into a rectangle. Spread the almond mixture on one half, leaving a little border all round, then top with some sliced, stoned plums (the English Opals are in the shops now). Brush the border with a little beaten egg or milk. Now with the remaining exposed side of pastry, slash it 7 or 8 times, leaving a border, and carefully flip over the filling, pressing the borders together. The filling will peep out of the slashes - it is meant to. Brush with more egg or milk, sprinkle with sugar, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes at about 170 until puffed, crisp and golden. Lovely Sunday dinner pud. You can vary the fruit, whatever you like. Rhubarb works, so does apple, nectarines, berries. Go with the flow.

Orange and Chocolate Cake

If you like Jaffa Cakes (and who doesn't?) then this recipe from BBC Good Food will suit you. A simple all-in-one sponge drenched in an orange syrup, then topped with dark chocolate. I used the zest of two oranges, not one as the recipe states, and also swapped the 6 tablespoons of milk for 6 of orange juice, as I wanted to up the orangyness. Apparently, this keeps for up to a week in a tin or wrapped in foil. Someone else will have to let me know if that is true!
photo courtesy of BBC Good Food

Patatas a lo Pobre

Or 'poor man's potatoes' - possibly my favourite dish tonight in our Spanish-fest: sliced potatoes, onion, garlic, red and green peppers, all cooked slowly in quite a lot of oil for a good 40 minutes until browned, soft and melting. Again, inspired by Riverford Organics and their brilliant recipe suggestions. I added finely chopped red and green chillies to add some zing. The addition of a teaspoon of wine (or sherry) vinegar at the end, along with parsley, elevated this to a new level. Although a lot of oil is used (5 tablespoons) if you use a slotted spoon to remove them from the pan, you leave a fair bit behind. And it IS good for you, after all. Definitely be making this again, soon.

Runner Bean 'Ratatouille'

So simple, yet so very yummy. The runner beans are simmered with onion, garlic and fresh skinned tomatoes for a good hour - they will lose their bright green colour, but emerge sweet and succulent. I could eat these for ever. Check out the recipe at Riverford Organics - while you are there, do yourself a favour and order their 'seasons' veg box for £12.45 - a bargain, no commitment to order anything else ever again and you'll never have better veg unless you grow your own.

Chickpea and Chorizo Stew

Delicious, Spanish-style meal tonight, largely inspired by some fabulous recipes and produce from the increasingly wonderful Riverford Organics. What did I do before them? Anyway, this is the first of three dishes, and was a doddle. For 2 with leftovers (erm....that was the plan anyway). I sauteed half an onion with some garlic and finely chopped celery for a few minutes in a little oil, then threw in about 50g of chopped chorizo - make sure it is a good one. I added a teaspoon of hot, smoked paprika for some extra 'poke' (phew-wee!) and carried on sauteeing until the sausage released it paprika oil. Then, just tip in a tin of rinsed chickpeas and pour in a little water (don't swamp the chickpeas) and lots of black pepper - it won't need salt, in my opinion, because of the sausage. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes until all is tender. If it is very liquidy, remove the lid and boil hard to reduce. Stir in lots of fresh parsley and - voila! Or whatever the equivalent in Spanish is. Hot stuff but gorgeous.

Courgette and Roast Tomato Sauce

A lovely simple dish for supper tonight. For 2 people, take 5 or 6 really ripe tomatoes, halve, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with chopped garlic and bake at 160 degrees for 3/4 of an hour. When ready, chop roughly (I do this in a jug with a pair of scissors). Towards the end, saute a couple of diced courgettes in a tablespoon of oil until golden, and then throw in a handful of chopped parsley. Add the roasted tomatoes, and then toss through pasta, whatever shape you like.

Bream Baked 'En Papillotte' with Garlic and Rosemary [#251]

This was the centrepiece of a marvellous Sunday dinner, which started with bruschetta and home-made tapenade, and finished with blueberry and peach cobbler. The bream were wonderfully fresh whole specimens, wrapped in baking parchment and foil with roasted garlic, rosemary, red chilli and a little white wine (a fine Sancerre which we drank with the fish). Twenty minutes in a very hot oven and they cooked to perfection. Here is a little video from Mitch Tonks himself, telling you how to make this dish - note he uses fillets, but his book says the whole fish, which is better, I think. The recipe is from Mitch's book 'Fish'. The bruschetta, by the way, were washed down with a cocktail called 'El Presidente' - Bacardi rum, pineapple juice, lime juice and Grenadine, shaken on ice and served in a Martini glass - ooh, we are lushes.

Baked Aubergines with Yoghurt and Cucumber [#250]

We had such a feast of vegetables tonight: boiled globe artichokes with little ramekins of melted butter and lemon juice; these wonderful aubergines from Nigel Slater's book 'Tender'; chargrilled courgettes; sauteed spinach with garlic; jammily roasted tomatoes - all served on a big platter with crisp bread and a dish of tapenade. We spent ages picking at this wonderful mezze of veg - sometimes, you really don't need meat at all. Our regular deliveries from Riverford Organics are turning us into almost vegetarians, which is a good thing indeed. Do try this aubergine recipe, though - you don't need 'finger' aubergines as Nigel specifies - I used an ordinary one, halved and the flesh scored, drizzled with olive oil, and baked until the flesh was soft and scoopable with a spoon. Heaven. Followed up with a big dish of cherries and some white-fleshed peaches, we have exceeded our 5-a-day quota in one sitting. picture courtesy of The Daily Telegraph and Nigel Slater

Simple Carrot and Raisin Cake

Now, much as I am a fan of luscious carrot cakes topped with an inch-thick layer of sweet cream cheese, even I (yes, EVEN I!) recognise the need for restraint and for consuming something like that on a special occasion. So, this cake is a more subdued affair - repressed, even. A very British carrot cake, rather than the overblown version beloved by our American cousins. A simple blend of flour, sunflower oil, eggs, unrefined light brown sugar, grated carrot, orange zest and juice, raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg. Worthy, yes, but a good, relatively healthy (can a cake EVER be health food??) tasty bite, and perfect for our lunchboxes throughout the week. Just make sure you get the very best ingredients - organic, where possible - and the flavour will out.

Brandied Cherries

Alice Waters (of Chez Panisse fame) has produced some wonderful cookbooks. This recipe (from 'Fruit') is simplicity itself, and I can't wait until Christmas now to be able to eat them (and drink the cherry brandy left over - hic!). Remove the pits from a pound of washed, stemmed cherries - I have a nifty cherry and olive pitter which is invaluable for the job. Keep the pits. Take a sterilised Kilner jar (don't forget to sterilise the rubber seal, too) and put the cherry stones in the bottom - apparently, they contribute hugely to the flavour. Now add the cherries and pour over half a cup of granulated sugar (about 125g) and then cover with brandy - you don't have to get the best cognac for this, but don't use stuff that could also clean the bathroom tile grouting! Seal the jar and give it a shake. Now, keep somewhere dark and cool for a week or so, and remember to shake the jar each day to dissolve the sugar. After that, let the whole lot mature for at least three months. It will keep longer, but once the jar is opened, the fruit should be consumed within a month and the jar kept in the fridge. The resulting cherry brandy should keep for ages - who am I kidding? This treatment can also be given to raspberries, which I will try next week.

Ratatouille

We eat so much of this stuff at this time of year - pasta with ratatouille, baked chicken with ratatouille, salmon with ratatouille, ratatouille fritatta..... I make large quantities and it matures in the fridge and freezes well too. Tonight, we used some to stuff a gorgeous yellow marrow that a neighbour gave us from their allotment. I halved it and scooped out the seeds, then filled the cavities with ratatouille, put in a roasting tin with some veg stock, covered with foil and baked for a good hour and a half until the marrow was meltingly tender. Then, I topped the lot with sliced cheddar and browned under the grill. Delicious with lots of fresh peas and crusty bread.

I make the ratatouille unconventionally - I slowly roast chunks of aubergine, courgette, onion and peppers. In the meantime, I make a sauce with lots of garlic, olive oil and a mix of tinned and fresh skinned tomatoes. When the roasted veg are ready - well cooked but not charred - I gently combine with the sauce. This way, the vegetables stay discrete and identifiable, rather than turning into a mush. It cuts down on the amount of oil you need to use, with no laborious frying at the start - the oven does all the work.

Spanish Pork and Chorizo Stew

This is largely based on Delia's Spanish Pork recipe, but I added a jar of Spanish butterbeans instead of potatoes this time. I love this recipe - it works in the summer as well as winter, and the smoky paprika from the chorizo is addictive. If possible, make it the day before, as you can remove any set fat (oily sausage and fairly fatty pork shoulder give flavour but render a lot of fat on cooking) and the flavour only deepens with a bit of maturing.

Carrot Fritters [#249]

These are a cross between a Nigel Slater and a Bill Granger recipe, so I suppose they count for the challenge? Essentially, grated carrot, grated onion (a good-sized one in each case) mixed with an egg, a heaped tablespoon of flour, and a little milk it it is all too stiff. You should have a mixture that coheres, yet plops gently off a spoon if tapped. You now have some seasoning options: I added a finely chopped green chilli, mainly as I had one in the house and wanted to add a bit of 'poke' to proceedings. I crumbled in a little feta too, which is the Bill way, but Nigel suggests grated cheddar. Not too much, an ounce or two. Season well with pepper and some salt if the cheese isn't included. A herb is needed - I used coriander, but parsley would be nice too, as would some mint.

Now, heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a non-stick pan, spoon tablepoons of batter into the pan, and flatten a little. Cook for a couple of minutes each side, drain on kitchen paper and serve with Greek yoghurt into which you've stirred some sweet chilli sauce, more of your chosen herb, and perhaps some chopped or grated cucumber. Lovely with a green salad and some roast tomatoes for a hearty veggie supper and enough for 2.

Cooking note: these are quite fragile, so don't worry if they break up when you turn them over, just squidge them back together again. I placed them on a parchment lined baking sheet and finished cooking in a hot oven for 10 minutes - this helped them firm up and also allowed some of the oil they inevitably absorb to come out.

Cherry Clafoutis

The English cherries this year are truly glorious - plump, purple and exploding with juice. We made the oh-so-simple but so delicious cherry clafoutis for dessert to celebrate them, and to make a change of just eating them out of the hand. Pitted cherries are marinated and then cooked in kirsch and a knob of butter until tender, tipped into a dish and then a batter is poured over (made of: 2 eggs, 3 tablespoons of plain flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 125 ml of a mixture of single cream and milk and a teaspoon of vanilla essence). Bake at 160 degrees (fan oven) for about 25 minutes until set and starting to puff up at the sides. Serve just warm, dusted with icing sugar, and cream if liked - although it is moist and rich enough on its own. This quantity serves 4. Recipe adapted from Alice Waters' "Fruit"

Blueberry Apple Cake

I love 'pound cake' recipes, with equal quantities by weight of butter, sugar, flour and eggs - infinitely variable, much easier to make than a victoria or genoese sponge, and lasts longer. Just get the butter nice and soft and mix it all up, then flavour as you like. The only difference with this cake was that you rub the butter into the flour and sugar first, then remove some of the'crumble' to add to the top later. Mix in the wet ingredients - here, eggs, lemon juice and zest, grated apple and some blueberries, and then pour into a baking tin, lined with parchment. Top with the reserved crumble, into which you've added a spoonful of demerara or Bajan granulated sugar and some cinnamon, spoon over the top and bake. Lovely!

Veal Meatballs with Creamed Beetroot and Lemon Sauce

Now, stick with me here. Firstly, people tend to be funny about veal. But, good British veal is reared humanely, and I always look for meat that has been pastured with its mother, too. Much better than allowing veal calves to be exported to Holland in crates, or worse, shot at birth (males) as being surplus to requirements. Get the good stuff and you have a mild, lean alternative to beef that makes delicious eating. This was minced veal, mixed with chopped rosemary, garlic, lemon zest and parmesan, then sauteed and eaten with beetroot sauce. Fresh baby beetroot, boiled until tender then peeled, sauteed in a little butter and then a little single cream and lemon juice added at the end. Stir the meatballs through to combine with lots of chopped parsley, and serve with pappardelle pasta - a memorable and delicious meal, vaguely Scandinavian and made a change from the usual tomato-based sauce, albeit a rather startlingly coloured dish.

Time to get back in the blogging saddle

OK, so after taking a month off to deal with 'stuff' - health work, work and more work - I shall try to hop back on to the blogging saddle. Obviously, the challenge has slipped badly this year - I think I really missed Nigel and the focus of a single book. I have still been cooking though, and managing lots of baking, for some reason. In the oven now is a blueberry, apple and lemon cake - I shall post the recipe when it comes out of the oven.

We have also been inspired by the fabulous produce from the Riverford Organics veg boxes every week. last night, we had a brilliant Veal Meatball and Beetroot dish with Pappardelle pasta, for example, and today I am planning a Spanish Pork stew for dinner, with chorizo, pepper, olives and potatoes all cooked in it. So - I haven't been idle in the kitchen, just online. Here's to more blogging!