Weekend Cooking

 I haven’t posted on food recently because mostly I’ve been cooking lots of big meaty, family friendly dishes which are perfectly delicious but not at all photogenic such as Spag Bol, slow cooked shoulder of lamb with anchovies, lamb curry – you get the (meaty) picture… This weekend however I tried to be a bit more adventurous. On Friday I’d eaten at Côte in Farnham, a great new chain of restaurants which are based on French bistros and aim to provide simple and affordable food with classics such as Tuna Nicoise, Beef Bourguignon and Cassoulet. On the day I was there they had a special of pan fried skate wing with a caper and lemon sauce which I immediately chose as I’d been craving some fish due to my recent carnivorous bout. I wish I had taken a picture because it was great – a seriously large portion (I couldn’t finish which is unusual for me) cooked to perfection with a crisp skin and flaky underneath. However, I was horrified to find out that Skate is very unsustainable (it has been vastly over fished and on top of this only the wings and occasionally the cheeks are used so it is also very wasteful) and I now completely regret ordering it and am surprised that Côte were even serving it! 

So, to make amends, I cooked trout this weekend – perhaps not as delicious as Skate, but sustainable for now and a perfect match for a herby new potato salad and piquant sauce.

I also made some incredibly rich Millionaire’s shortbread to wrap up for a treat as I was watching friends and family (actually just friends as dad and brother’s boat got a hole!) in The Great River Race in London. To recover from these Sunday night supper was a virtuous but highly tasty Vietnamese salad which I adapted off Gwyneth Paltrow’s website Goop – you would never think raw vegetables could taste so good! I added some stir fried soba noodles and prawns for a bit more substance however.

Poached Trout with a Piquant Sauce and a Herby Potato Salad

Serves 4

For the potato salad

• Boil 10-12 New Potatoes in salted water until tender. Leave to cool.
• Cut into halves or quarters and place in a bowl along with 6 Cocktail Gherkins, finely sliced, 1 tbsp capers, chopped, a handful each of Flat Leaf Parsley, Dill and Basil, roughly chopped, Salt and Pepper, and enough Mayonnaise to coat the potatoes but be careful not to overdo it.

For the fish

• Place 4 Trout fillets skin side down in a large, deep frying pan. Cover with the grated zest and juice of 1lemon , 2 tbsp white wine vinegar, 2 tsp Soy Sauce, 2 tsp Smoked Paprika, a pinch of Sea Salt and 100ml fish stock (or water).
• Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes, covered. Remove from the heat, turn the fish over in the liquid and leave covered for 5 minutes.
• Remove the fish and keep warm. Boil the remaining liquid until reduced to 2 tbsp. Whisk the liquid into 100ml Fromage Frais and season to taste.

To finish

• Serve the trout warm or at room temperature with a tbsp of the sauce drizzled over, a serving of the potato salad and a handful of Watercress on the side.

Vietnamese Salad

Serves 4

• 4 large bok choi leaves, rough bottoms discarded, stems cut into ¼" bias and leaves shredded
• 1 bunch watercress (discard thick stems), roughly chopped
• 1 large carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks or shredded into ribbons with a potato peeler
• The leaves from about 8 stems each basil, mint, flat leaf parsley roughly chopped
• ½ small cucumber, thinly sliced on the bias
• 1 red Thai chili (or more…or less), thinly sliced
• A handful of salted peanuts, roughly chopped

Vietnamese Dressing

Mix the following together:

• 2 Limes, juiced
• 1 Tablespoon Rice Wine Vinegar
• 2 Tsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp Fish sauce
• ¼ Tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp Sesame oil
• 2 Tbsp Agave Nectar
• 1 Tsp minced Garlic
• 1 Tsp minced Ginger
• 2 Tbsp finely diced Red Onion or Shallot

Toss the bok choi, watercress, carrot, herbs, cucumber, chili and a tbsp of the peanuts together with enough dressing to coat. Serve sprinkled with the remaining peanuts. 

Saké Steak with Cardamom Rice and Stir Fried Pak Choi

Before you think that I ate all that can I just say that this dish was for four! It’s an absolutely fantastic way of serving steak as it make the meat go twice as far and the 3 hrs marinating time leaves it melt-in-your-mouth soft. 

Saké Steak recipe - adapted from Nigella Lawson's 'Feast' cookbook

Serves Four

• In a large bowl, combine 2 tsp English Mustard + 2 tbsp Soy sauce + 4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce + 2 tbsp olive oil + 2 garlic cloves, sliced. Add 2 x 300g Fillet or Sirloin Steak and massage the marinade into the meat. Cover and leave for 3 hrs or in the fridge for up to 2 days. N.B Let the steaks come to room temperature before cooking.
• Rinse 300g Basmati Rice until the liquid runs clear and place in a saucepan with double the volume of water and 4 Cardamom pods, bruised. Bring to the boil then turn the heat to the lowest possible and leave to cook for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat a ridged pan until smoking and fry the steaks, out of their marinade, for 2 minutes on either side. Immediately take off the heat and wrap the steaks in a double layer of foil. Leave to rest for ten minutes on a wooden board.
• For the sauce: Bring 120ml Saké to the boil in a tiny saucepan. Take the pan off the heat and add in 2 tbsp Soy Sauce + 1 tsp Fish sauce + 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce + 2 tsp English Mustard, and whisk to combine. Keep warm.
• Heat 2 tbsp Sesame oil in a wide frying pan and then add 3 heads of Pak choi, leaves separated, and fry until wilted.
• Unwrap the steak and slice thinly on the diagonal
• Pile the rice onto a large serving dish and arrange the steak and pak choi on top. Drizzle over the sauce.

Blueberry and Vanilla Ice Cream

I love blueberries (everyday with yoghurt and cereal please) and I love proper vanilla ice cream so where could I go wrong with blueberry vanilla ice cream? Homemade ice cream has to be made with lots of egg yolks in a custard base for it to have that true Italian taste – to add in the blueberry element I merely added puréed blueberries, which I’d softened with a little sugar over a low heart, to the standard vanilla custard. To make it more luxurious I would put a vanilla pod in with the milk/cream whilst it heats and then scrape out the seeds into the mix when the custard has thickened. At the moment there are literally carpets of wild cyclamen growing in the garden which I thought looked pretty against the purple/grey colour of the ice cream. N.B. I don't believe that these are edible though!

Blueberry and Vanilla Ice Cream

• Put 300g blueberries into a small saucepan with 100g caster sugar and leave to stew over a gentle heat until soft. Leave to cool slightly then purée.
• Meanwhile, make the custard base by heating 250ml cream, 250ml milk and a teaspoon of vanilla extract in a heavy based saucepan until it reaches boiling point. Take off the heat.
• Whisk 4 egg yolks and 100g caster sugar for 5 mins until pale and thickened. Whisk in a slurp of the milk/cream and then transfer the egg mixture to the milk/cream mixture and place over a medium heat, stirring all the while (to prevent curdling).
• Continue stirring until the mixture thickens. Take off the heat and mix in the blueberry purée. Leave to cool.
• Churn in an ice cream machine and then transfer to a small contain and freeze until solid. 

When I grow up...

Flicking through the pictures on vogue.co.uk of Fashion's Night Out (the show in NYC) I saw the usual shots of a variety of big fashion players: designers old and new, models, style savvy young actresses and, of course, Anna Wintour. It struck me how guests over a certain age completely outshone the younger generation which was so refreshing. As a girl in her twenties I feel it is important to aspire to grow old gracefully rather than dread getting old as, of course, it is inevitable. In this day and age where people are constantly trying to appear ten years younger it’s fantastic to see role models in fashion who make getting older appear glamorous and fresh rather than something to be hidden. Granted, I’m talking about people who are blessed with good looks, have probably had botox or more, and spent thousands on their clothes and general appearance, but they are not trying to dress younger and still have lines and creases to convey emotion which is a step in the right direction. Of particular note were the fashion designers Caroline Herrera, whose outfit exuded chic, and Diane von Furstenburg who looked stunning in a demure sheer black blouse and a more edgy ikat print skirt. I was most inspired however by Lauren Hutton. In a sharp navy blazer with loose cream palazzo trousers, her hands nonchalantly stuck into the pockets she looked so natural in contrast to the trussed up younger girls in their heels and tight dresses and yet hadn’t ditched the classic male tailoring she has favoured throughout her career as actress and model, as seen in the right hand picture), but merely adapted it by swapping young strappy heels to more comfortable converse. So, through my rambling, I hope to convey that we should not forget that style is universal and ageless and I hope that even when I’m 80, I'll still be thinking about what to wear - see my style icon, above right! (photograph taken by Scott Schuman)

Figs...

Late summer/early autumn is almost my favourite time of year for food. The bramble bushes are bursting with juicy blackberries better than ever from the long winter frost, the orchard branches are weighed down with clusters of tart apples and pears ready to be cooked and large, dark, sticky sweet figs are available (as opposed to the tasteless variety you get out of season). Our own shaded fig tree managed to yield more than ever i.e. 1 sole fantastically plump fig - which I admired for a long time before cutting and sharing. Whilst that was lovely it didn’t quite satisfy as you can imagine and happily my local fruit shop had piles of the large purple gems for 35p each so I swiped the lot. But what to do with them? Although they are delicious uncooked, with yoghurt and honey or parma ham and pecorino cheese, I felt the need to be a bit more adventurous. So I laid them on a simple frangipane tart and drizzled with honey so that they caramelised in the oven and then tried a savoury recipe: Ottolenghi’s marinated lamb cutlets with a fig, goats cheese and walnut salad. 

  

Fig frangipane tart (serves 12-14)

• For the sweet pastry tart shell (to line a 30cm loose bottomed tart case)
• Preheat the oven to 180˚C/Gas Mark 4
• Pulse 350g plain flour, a pinch of salt and 125g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes, in a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
• Add 100g icing sugar, then 3 large egg yolks and pulse until combined.
• Remove, form into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill for an hour.
• Coarsely grate the pastry into the case and then press evenly into the sides and base. Prick the base with a fork and chill for ten minutes.
• Bake blind for 20 minutes, until very light brown. Cool.

For the frangipane filling

• Lower the oven temperature to 180˚C.
• Cream 200g unsalted butter at room temperature and 200g caster sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Mix in 200g ground almonds and two eggs.
• Spoon into the tart case. Slice 6 - 8 figs in half or in quarters and arrange on the top, pushing them down slightly. Drizzle with a little honey.
• Cook for 45mins or until the top is golden and the middle wobbles only slightly.
•  

Lamb cutlets with walnut, fig and goat’s cheese salad, by Ottolenghi (serves 4)

• Marinate 12 lamb cutlets (French trimmed which a bucher can do): combine with the chopped leaves from 6 thyme sprigs and 1 rosemary sprig, 2 garlic cloves, crushed and 6 tbsp olive oil. Massage into the meat and marinate for 4 hrs or overnight.
• For the sauce: Place 125ml freshly squeezed orange juice, 60ml red wine vinegar, 50g honey, 1 star anise and 1 cinnamon stick in a heavy based saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30-40mins until it has reduced by two thirds. Remove from the heat and keep warm.
• Toast 50g broken up walnuts in a frying pan for 5 mins then cool.
• Heat a griddle pan until smoking and cook the lamb for 3-4 mins on each side for a rare to medium cooked meat. Leave to rest for 2 minutes.
• Meanwhile, toss together the walnuts, 20g mint leaves, 25g flat-leaf parsley (or if preferred, baby spinach and rocket), 100g goats cheese, crumbled and 2tbsp olive oil. Cut 4 figs into halves or quarters.
• To serve, put the cutlets on serving plates , pile the salad next to them and the figs alongside. Drizzle a scant tbsp of the sauce over the lamb and drizzle the rest over the figs and salad.

'The Great British Bake Off' Cob Loaf Challenge

Inspired by 'The Great British Bake Off' on BBC2 (which I had disregarded as a bit silly but now admit I rather enjoy!), I decided to challenge myself to cook the basic cob loaf according to the judge Paul Hollywood's recipe. I believe that it is distinguishable from a traditional white loaf from the inclusion of a smat of butter, a double rising and rounded cob-like shape. I am not sure if mine is wholly successful as it is perhaps a little flat in looks but it tastes delicious; a crust on the outside and almost fluffy inside. Also it (just) survived the test that when you pushed down on the sponge it sprung back. Phew - what a lot I can say about a loaf of bread! But I can see how it can become an obsession - one can become quite attached to it as you watch it grow from that first prove to the final rising in the oven. And if after all that it goes flat in the oven (often due to over-proving I learnt) it can be rather infuriating! But if it turns out well it is streaks ahead of shop bought bread and very satisfying. As Hollywood himself is a man who knows his bread his instructions are Very specific and there is even a video on the bbc website so instead of putting it all here, the link is:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/paul_hollywoods_crusty_83536

Pastels in Fashion…

This photo of Blake Lively in Chanel I shouldn’t like yet I am in love with the outfit. It’s pastel and frilly yet she manages to pull it off with a glowing tan and beachy hair. It reminded me how pastels could be chic without looking naive or too girly. 

 Whilst trawling through my old scrapbooks I found these pale pink and green Manalo Blahnik shoes which are still to-die-for ten years later and this striking photograph by Peter Lindbergh in 1991 of Chanel-clad supermodels which shows how pastels can be toughened up when paired with chunky black leather biker jackets and boots, blingy gold chains and baker boy caps. 

…and in Food

Of course, ever since the SATC girls graced the Magnolia Bakery in New York in early 2000 (see pic above left of some I bought on a trip there) the humble cupcake has rocketed to fame and England is awash with these larger-than-ever yet incredibly light confections with their candy coloured cream cheese or buttery creamy icing. Embracing the pure girliness of this food trend I made these Lavender cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook which were surprisingly delicious and un-soapy in the way that Lavender scented foods can be.