Minty green beans

Mr M loves to eat beans and peas straight from the plant. So much so that none, including those above, have made it to the kitchen. I'm not so keen - I like mine briefly cooked to bring out the sweetness, but they still need to have crunch.

Sugar snaps, freshly podded peas and french beans are the green of choice at the moment.

One lunch in Budleigh Salterton last week had the most divine minted green bean salad on the side, so we decided to try and make it for supper on Tuesday to accompany some very tasty roast chicken.
Heat up a good glug of light olive oil (2 tbsp-ish) over a low heat and gently saute thinly sliced garlic cloves (2) and spring onion (2). Set aside to cool when done. In a large pan, bring an inch or two of water to the boil. Add sugar snaps, green beans and peas (2 big handfuls of each) and boil briefly until they turn that brilliant lawn green colour. Drain and run under cold water to cool. Add a small glug of balsamic vinegar to the garlic oil, some finely chopped fresh mint (1/2 tbsp) and season to taste. Toss the beans in the dressing and serve.
The quantities above should serve 4 happily. We ate the remainder the following night and they were still nice and crunchy. I had mine as an omelette by heating them up, adding the eggs and a strip of parma ham. Yum, yum, yum.

Mackerel goujons

We have moments when we crave oily fish - when I was busy at work it was all I wanted - there's power in that term 'brain food'. We've recently fallen out of love with tinned fish and the tins have been neatly stacked in our cupboard waiting patiently.

As part of our health kick, we decided that we wanted a mackerel salad for dinner. I love smoked mackerel fillets, especially when they're hot from the oven. Straight from the tin can be a little eek for me - I get bogged down in the bones. Mr M invariably finishes his dinner well ahead of me. I really didn't fancy cold, straight from the tin fish nor did I want to ignore them again so had a quick look at the John West website to find some inspiration. They had an interesting recipe for mackerel goujons - albeit with lemon rind and a lime and caper dressing. So, using that as inspiration I created my own version sans citrus.

Mackerel goujons - serves 2

1 small tin of mackerel fillets in oil, drained but retain the oil
1 small tin of mackerel fillets in tomato sauce
2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
Handful of Chives, finely chopped
Breadcrumbs
Handful of Parmesan or Gran Padano cheese, grated
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Place all of the mackerel fillets on a baking tray. Some will fall apart - I stuck them back together again - think rustic fish cake.
3. In a bowl, add the breadcrumbs, chives, cheese, garlic and season. Stir to mix. Add a dessert spoon of the reserved oil to the mixture and combine.
   
4. Pile the mix on top of the fish and pop in the oven until the breadcrumbs have turned golden.
5. Serve on top of a fresh, green salad with a couple of toasted pitta breads and mayonnaise on the side.

We both agreed that this is the only way to eat tinned mackerel going forward. Miss P also agreed. She would like us to eat it morning, noon and night. Mackerel was declared lip-smacking, whisker-licking, ear-washingly scrumptious.

Random note - we've noticed that Miss P has two very blunt whiskers on one side following her recent holiday - they look like they've been snipped. It's all very odd.

Gooseberry semi-freddo and a little PYO goodness

Last Monday, on one of Mr M's days off (to recover from the London to Brighton - cramp, sore parts in spite of padded protection and general aches etc) we popped to Garsons and did a little PYO. The sun was hot, hot, hot.

There is something about Pick Your Own that whizzes you back to your childhood, when summer holidays were made up entirely of hot, sticky days with never ending blue skies, soaring swifts and the lightest of butterfly breezes.
First stop - sugar snaps and mangetout. Interesting fact - weeds are grown amongst the sugar snaps to give them support. Clever! It also hides the best of the sugar snaps from the average PYO-bod. Double clever! I was highly amused by the carrot bed that had forks attached to a chain so that you could only ever dig in a circle. With our bags stuffed, we paid for our hoard and hopped in the car to the gooseberry field.There were some die-hard gooseberry fans who had clearly been there for some time as their punnets were filled to the brim. We found a row where the bushes were groaning under the weight of their sun-warmed jewels. A punnet full later and it was off to the strawberry field. A pretty cost effective way to ensure tasty, not frozen in transit or picked too soon produce.

As you know, the strawberries were made into this delectable treat. My half that was popped in the fridge for the next day didn't make it beyond my 11 o'clock coffee. Mr M managed to adhere to the German rule of coffee and cake at 3pm. Apparently his work colleagues were rather confused about where the cake had come from and were worried that they had missed out. The sugar snaps and mangetout have made an appearance in every salad that we've eaten over the past seven days. A handful popped in the colander with boiling water direct from the kettle poured on top until they go bright green is all they need. Run instantly under the cold tap and they retain the crunch and are heavenly.

The gooseberries on the other hand were relegated to the back of the fridge due to the incredibly ripe strawberries. We had intended to make a gooseberry fool, but we just never quite got around to it. On Saturday, whilst rummaging around in the fridge and keen not to let anything go to waste, I pulled out the leftover sponge and gooseberries and became a woman on a mission to make a gooseberry semi-freddo meets arctic roll concoction. And do you know what? It worked.

Ingredients
375g gooseberries
70g caster sugar
1-2 tbsp water
150ml double cream
400g Greek yoghurt
Sponge base - see recipe here

1. Over a low heat, let the gooseberries, sugar and water gently break down and simmer until the mixture becomes glossy. This should take about 10 minutes. Try to avoid stirring too much before the sugar has dissolved as it tends to scratch the pan dreadfully - I find jiggling works quite well. Set aside to cool. We kept the skin and pips in to add texture, but you can obviously strain the sauce if you prefer.
2. Line a loaf tin with cling film. Make sure you have enough overhang on all four sides so that you can form a cover once the tin is full.
3. Cut out a rectangle of sponge to fit the base of the tin. I only had enough to do the base and a strip in the middle. If I had had more I would have done three layers - bottom, middle and top.
4. In a bowl, whip the double cream into peaks. Gently fold through the yoghurt, then fold through the cold gooseberry mixture. Try not to over-fold, as you'll lose the raspberry ripple effect.
   
5. Pour half of the mixture into the tin. Gently place the sponge on top. Pour the rest of the mixture into the tin, fold over the cling film ends and pop in the freezer for 5-6 hours.
6. Slice and serve.

We're keeping ours in the freezer and cutting a slice whenever we fancy. At some point I will move onto a lettuce and fruit only diet but with no major beach holidays booked, I'm not so worried...

Strawberries and cream

And with Wimbledon (and the football and the cricket) playing in the background it would be rude not to. Particularly when you've picked the strawberries yourself (we didn't leave that many behind at the PYO farm on Monday). You can't beat it.

Or can you? Why, yes. I believe you can. By having said strawberries and cream on a vanilla sponge base. Oh my. So pleasing.

Sponge base - serves 8
125g soft butter
125g caster sugar
125g self raising flour
1tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
3-4 dsrtspn milk

1. Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper
3. Cream the butter and sugar together.
4. Add the vanilla essence and the first egg. Mix, then add roughly half of the flour. Stir until smooth.
5. Add the second egg, mix, then add the remaining flour. Once the mixture is smooth add the milk to loosen.
6. Pour the mixture into the the baking tray and level out with the back of a spoon or palette knife.
7. Pop in the oven until golden brown.
8. Leave to cool.

Creamy mixture of joy - to cover 1/2 of the above tray bake. Serves 4.
142ml double cream
2 dsrtspn Greek yoghurt
A little icing sugar (I use a funny tea strainer thing as my sieve because I'm lazy - probably equates to roughly 1 tsp)
2 handfuls of strawberries - chopped

1. Whisk the double cream until there is a slight visible drag in the bowl.
2. Sprinkle a little of the icing sugar over the top and gently fold in the Greek yoghurt until combined.
3. Spread over the sponge with a palette knife and sprinkle the strawberries on top. Dust the top with a little icing sugar and devour.

Comedy fact. We - yep, Mr M and moi - thought we could eat all of the above in one sitting. Clearly an eyes bigger than stomach moment. And I had divided the sponge base in two - with the spare half popped away for another day. The photo shows the half that we thought we could polish off. We were defeated. Half of it has gone in the fridge for tomorrow. I reckon if you double the topping recipe, you'll be able to feed 8 quite happily.

Clear as mud, eh? Tasty mud, mind you.

Cafe au lait with a splash of pink?

A splash of pink from one of my favourite flowers with its delicate petals. I tried to grow them when we first moved in. Alas, shade and squirrels put a stop to my grand plans - so I shall continue to buy them on special occasions until we have a sunnier spot and I can try again.

So, how has your weekend been? We've been quite busy, pootling out to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday yesterday and having my parents over for a spot of Mother's Day lunch today. I was adamant that I would bake a cake for lunch. And bake I did, with the aid of Mr M's right arm doing a mighty fine food processor impression*, at silly o'clock last night.

I'm not too sure why I became fixated with baking a coffee cake - it's certainly not one of my favourites. It may have taken hold as I flicked through the Hummingbird bakery cookbook (still not baked a thing from there - I don't think the icing recipe really counts as baking...) - who knows! I even bought one the other weekend from the supermarket which was, as expected, a bit blah.

So, here is my first attempt. I'm starting to realise that everyone has their own version. Mine is a take on Nigella's Victoria Sponge recipe. Full credit to Mr M for suggesting, and fetching, the cocoa. And for helping - I don't think he realised just how much help was required.

Cake -
225g unsalted butter, softened
225g caster sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
190g self raising flour
25g cornflour
10g cocoa
2 tbsp milk
1 heaped tbsp coffee granules, dissolved in 120ml hot water
50g chopped walnuts

Icing -
160g butter, softened
500g icing sugar (gasp!)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp coffee granules dissolved in 60ml of hot water.
25ml milk
50g chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 170C and line two 20cm round cake tins.
Get Mr M-imix to cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl. Add the vanilla extract, one egg, together with a spoonful of the dry ingredients, to the bowl and combine using Mr M-imix. Repeat for the remaining 3 eggs. Stir through the rest of the dry mix until combined. Add the milk and 2 tbsp of the cold coffee to the bowl. If the mixture is still a little stiff, add another spoonful of the coffee until you're happy with the consistency.
Chop 50g of walnuts (putting the remainder aside for decorating) and stir through the mixture.
Divide equally between the two tins and pop in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
Once cooked through, leave to cool. If baking late into the evening and there is no cat-free zone, pop in the oven wrapped up in a tea towel with the door propped open with an oven mitt. Dream about two rock hard, cement-esque Olympic discuses with a faint whiff of coffee ready albeit a little early for 2012.

Once cool, flatten the bottom half of the cake by slicing the dome off.
Cream the butter and icing sugar using Mr M-imix on double-fast speed, as time is running out and hand blender has gunked up on account of butter not being 'soft' enough. Add vanilla, milk and 30ml of the dissolved cold coffee - mix until smooth. Add more coffee if it doesn't feel 'soft' enough.
Using a palette knife spread the bottom half of the cake with a thick layer of icing.
Plonk the other half of the cake on top. Spread the icing over the top and sides.
Sprinkle with the crushed walnuts, pushing down with the palm of your hand to make them stick.
Answer door.Pop the kettle on and grab a plate. I must confess to having already had 3 slices today. Mum adamantly refused to take any home, so it will have to join me in the office tomorrow for others to try.

*One day, when we own stairs and carpet and a proper spare room which doesn't double up as a sitting room, office, dining room, sewing room, guest room, cat house and library, I am going to own a food processor. I can not wait. Nor can Mr M.

Rhubarb ribbons

It's hard to believe that rhubarb could be so pretty. In fact, it's hard to believe that I agreed to make a rhubarb pudding in the first place considering my lifelong dislike of its sourness.

We had friends over for a leisurely lunch on Saturday and with Mr M's lamb shanks on the menu, we needed something equally as delicious for dessert. Being prepared as always, we decided on the pud late Friday night which meant an early start the next day to buy all the bits. The first supermarket had obviously made the decision not to stock seasonal food (naughty, naughty Mr Sainsburys) so I carried on up to Mr Waitrose - where they had piles of British rhubarb. Marvellous.

There was a bit of a rush on to get the pud ready. You see, there was a deadline. We would be eating pud at about 3:30, and it needed a minimum of 4 hours, but ideally 5, in the freezer, and softening fruit can't be rushed, and it was already 10:30. Gah. Anyhoo, the rhubarb (400g) and sugar (50g) behaved perfectly. The crumble was a little more time-consuming but that was soon sorted.

Mix one pot of mascarpone (250g) with one of Greek yoghurt (400g), stir through the cooled rhubarb, a splash of vanilla extract (and vanilla seeds if you're posh) and some of the crunchy crumble so that it swirls like raspberry ripple. Spoon into a loaf tin lined with cling film and pop in the freezer. Take the chilly bundle out of the freezer 20 minutes before serving. Turn out onto a beautiful serving plate, pile the remaining crumble on top and serve large slices with a big spoonful of rhubarb coulis.

Eat as quickly as you can so that you can get a second helping in before anyone else has finished their first.

I will most definitely be making this again - blackcurrant would be amazing, as would raspberry and perhaps gooseberry...

So, thank you Mr Waitrose for your British rhubarb and tasty recipe.

Bachelors' buttons

I must confess to making these the weekend before last and not having the time to post about them. We had some old eggs that needed to be used up, so biscuits seemed to be the order of the day. I've been meaning to bake something from The Woman's Book for ages and was drawn to the name Bachelors' buttons - luckily we had all the ingredients in the cupboard and fridge.

Simple to make and moreish like you wouldn't believe!

Ingredients -
5oz flour
2oz caster sugar
2oz butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 170C (a.k.a. 'a good oven')
Cream the butter and sugar together, and add the vanilla.
Beat the egg and add gradually with the flour until a stiffish paste is formed. No need to add the entire egg unless necessary.
Take small portions and roll them into balls the 'size of hazel nut' with a little flour to prevent them sticking to the hands
Pop them on a greased and floured tin. Just before sticking in the oven sprinkle them with sugar
Bake until golden - about 12-15 minutes
Place on a rack to cool
Make a lovely cup of coffee to go with the first ones to cool...

They are part shortbread bite and part dry sponge finger - that is selling them rather short, they are very tasty indeed. Enjoy!

Red relish

Mr M came home armed with a small bunch of beetroot from the local farm shop during the week. Rather than roast it as per normal, we made lamb burgers and the beetroot relish from the November issue of Country Homes & Interiors.

Grated onion, carrot and beetroot. Crack of pepper. Balsamic vinegar and a dash of runny honey.

Delicious.

The red sea came to tea

A very red raspberry puree from the depths of the freezer on a bed of puff pastry.

Tasty and quick to throw together (200C, cook for 20 minutes), but be sure to cook the pastry first before adding the puree otherwise you'll end up with soggy raw pastry like I did. Not so tasty.