Fried Halloumi with a Caper Vinagrette and Edible Flowers and Ravioli with Portobello Mushrooms, Porcini, Ricotta and Sage

Since I last posted I have been away in Meribel, France working as a chalet host which was fantastic fun and jolly hard work (I actually got back in May but took a month to recover). Six days a week for four months I started the day with laying out a table bursting with cereals, pastries, fruit, yoghurts and juice and cooking up eggs, bacon and tomatoes to order for 6-9 hungry guests. Once I had cleaned the chalet top to bottom and made the afternoon teacake - laid out just so with a baguette and jams for my rosy-cheeked guests on their return – I was free to whoosh down the mountains myself. In the evening I would could a three-course meal with canapés the evening they arrived and left and tea and coffee after dessert. Examples of the food were things like twice baked cheese soufflé or caramelised onions and goats cheese tartlet to start, duck in a redcurrant sauce with sautéed leeks or herb crusted salmon for main and chocolate mousse cake or Brioche Bread and Butter pudding to finish.

As I already could cook to a moderate level, I found the recipes simple but a huge amount of prep was needed and timings were so much more important than when I just cooked for family and friends. However, it was a great learning curve and so wonderful when night after night lovely guests would complement the cooking. The skiing day after day wasn’t bad either!

Since I last posted I have been away in Meribel, France working as a chalet host which was fantastic fun and jolly hard work (I actually got back in May but took a month to recover). Six days a week for four months I started the day with laying out a table bursting with cereals, pastries, fruit, yoghurts and juice and cooking up eggs, bacon and tomatoes to order for 6-9 hungry guests. Once I had cleaned the chalet top to bottom and made the afternoon teacake - laid out just so with a baguette and jams for my rosy-cheeked guests on their return – I was free to whoosh down the mountains myself. In the evening I would could a three-course meal with canapés the evening they arrived and left and tea and coffee after dessert. Examples of the food were things like twice baked cheese soufflé or caramelised onions and goats cheese tartlet to start, duck in a redcurrant sauce with sautéed leeks or herb crusted salmon for main and chocolate mousse cake or Brioche Bread and Butter pudding to finish.

The gorgeous Mariefleur

Teatime

Goats Cheese & Red Onion Tart

So now that I’m back, here are a couple of recipes I recently tried. Being a flower addict I couldn’t resist a packet of salad with edible flowers I saw in M&S and I think they look very pretty against the paleness of the halloumi cheese and bright vinaigrette, albeit not adding much to the taste I’ll admit. The ravioli is incredibly rich and delicious, and I am finally getting the knack of this pasta making malarkey.

Delia Smith's Fried Halloumi with a Caper and Lime Vinaigrette

 Pat 1 opened packet of Halloumi Cheese dry with kitchen paper. Slice it into 8 slices, including the ends.
 Prepare the dressing by whisking the Zest and Juice 1 Lime, 1 Heaped Tbsp Capers, 1 Tbsp White Wine Vinegar, 1 Clove Garlic (finely chopped), 1 Tbsp Wholegrain Mustard, 1 Tbsp Coriander (chopped), 2 Tbsp Olive Oil and a grind of Black Pepper together in a small mixing bowl.
 Heat 2 Tbsp Olive Oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. When the oil is really hot, press each slice of cheese into Seasoned Flour to coat it on both sides, then add them to the hot pan as they are done. Cook for 1 minute on each side, or until golden.
Serve them straight away on warmed plates with the dressing poured over and garnished with a few Edible Flowers. This is good served with lightly toasted pitta bread or Greek bread with toasted sesame seeds.

Theo Randall’s Ravioli with Portobello Mushrooms, Porcini, Ricotta and Sage

To make the pasta dough

·       Place 150g Tipo 00 Flour, 50g Fine Semolina, 1 Large Egg and 3 Large Egg Yolks in a food processor and pulse until they form a yellow ball of dough. The dough should be firm, not sticky, like plasticine. Wrap in cling film to stop drying out whilst you make the filling.

To make the filling

·       Soak 50g Porcini Mushrooms in 100ml hot water for 10 mins.

·       Heat 3 Tbsp Olive Oil in a frying pan and add 1 Garlic Clove, finely chopped, and cook gently until softened. Add 250g Portobello Mushrooms, sliced 1cm thick, and 1 Tsp Chopped Thyme and cook for 15mins, until all the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated.

·       Drain the porcini, reserving the liquid, then add the porcini and half the water to the pan. Cook until the liquid has evaporated again. Remove from the heat and cool.

·       Finely chop the mushrooms and add to 200g Ricotta Cheese and 75g Grated Parmesan. Mix and season.

To Assemble

·       Roll out the pasta as thinly as possible, following your pasta machine instructions. Place 1 Heaped Tsp of filling at 3cm intervals along the bottom half of the sheet (I find it easier to cut the sheets into sections). Brush water around each filling and fold the top half over the filling, pressing down with the side of your hand to encase it tightly (make sure there are no air pockets). Cut each ravioli neatly with a knife or use a pastry cutter.

·       Cook the ravioli in a large pan of boiling salted water for 3-5 minutes, until al dente. Meanwhile soften 75g Unsalted Butter in a frying pan with 6 Sage Leaves. Drain the ravioli and toss with the butter. Serve with asparagus, black pepper and grated Parmesan.

Sea Bream with Fennel and Orange

The greatest (or worst) part of cooking a fish dish is that it is often hard to predict what the fishmonger will have that day, so unless you cannily bring a recipe book in with you, one has to improvise on the spot the rest of the ingredients to match the fish. In this case, I went to the fishmonger thinking I would be doing a bouillabaisse but all they had were two (lovely) little sea bream, so sea bream it was! Next door in the grocers they had some slightly worse for wear fennel which I thought I should rescue and fish loves fennel so that seemed perfect. At home I made a sauce for the fish by braising 2 fennel bulbs (quartered) in the juice and zest of 1 orange, thyme, sliced garlic and some stock. 

When it came to cooking the fish, I’ve found that the easiest way to cook fillets (after the fishmongers done the smelly gutting and filleting for one) is to whack an oiled baking tray into a 200˚C set oven until smoking, then add the seasoned fillets, skin side down, and cook for ten minutes. Check the fish is done by having a look to see if the translucent flesh has all turned opaque – it may need another two minutes. For the last 2 minutes I added the fennel and it’s cooking juices to let the fish take on some of the delicious Sicilian flavours. I topped with fennel fronds and served with crushed new potatoes. 

Soul food for the bleak mid winter

Osso Bucco on Saffron Risotto with Gremolata

Blueberry and Lemon Friands

Sometimes I find that the more beautiful a cookbook, the less I will use it - Nigel Slater's homage to vegetables, Tender, is such a wonderfully bound tomb I rarely take it off the shelf rather than for a flick but cookbooks from Jamie, Nigella, Delia....whilst also being no doubt fine looking but average in the world of cookbooks, appear dog-eared and splattered with gravy from their devout usage. So the other day I decided to cook something from Jane Lawson's Snowflakes and Schnapps, a beautifully photographed and bound book that had not moved from the coffee table since it was received. The recipe I chose was the Osso Bucco with saffron risotto - risotto is actually one of the very few things I don't like as I find it a bit heavy and dry (and 20mins of continuously stirring irks me!), but the idea of the tender veal with all its flavorsome juices combining with the risotto sounded (and was!) delicious. The recipe was fairly long winded but not at all complicated and looks very fetching too. 

I also made some Blueberry and Lemon Friands which I have made countless times as they are so light and moist that I barely count them as a treat but a prerequisite with coffee! Originally a small French cake, apparently they are very fashionable in Australian coffee shops...hopefully they'll catch on here as they're much nicer than muffins and less naughty than cakes as ground almonds take the place of the majority of the flour and only the white of the egg is used. 

• Blueberry and Lemon Friands
  • Preheat the oven to fan 180C/conventional 200C/gas 6. Generously butter six non-stick friand or muffin tins. Melt 100g Butter and set aside to cool.
  • Sift 125g Icing Sugar and 25g Plain Flour into a bowl. Add 85g Ground Almonds and mix everything between your fingers.
  • Whisk 3 Medium Egg Whites in another bowl until they form a light, floppy foam. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, tip in the egg whites and the Grated Rind of 1 Lemon, then lightly stir in the butter to form a soft batter.
  • Divide the batter among the tins, a large serving spoon is perfect for this job. Sprinkle a handful of Blueberries (about 85g) over each cake and bake for 15-20 minutes until just firm to the touch and golden brown.
  • Cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack. To serve, dust lightly with Icing Sugar.
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