Our Zebra Cake

Unlike ours, which was served “bare” (that is, without any icing), Jane has shown she has some real talent in the kitchen by fashioning hers into a handbag (below).  Style is honestly lost on me (I’m a man, it stands to reason), but that just looks great, doesn’t it?

Jane's Zebra Cake, in the making.

Jane's Zebra Cake (2)

The challenge is on.  Can you do an even better job of baking a Zebra Cake than Jane did?

Curd Cheese

Lets start with the basics, shall we?  To be honest the basics of cheese making are all I know, although I have more than a passing interest in  trying my hand at some more complicated home-made cheeses, if I ever find the time…

In progress Curd Cheese

To make cheese, you need milk.  Milk is basically made up of water, protein, fat and lactose, and what we need to do is make the proteins stick together by adding an acid (forming curds), then sieve away the liquid (the whey).  A little bit of extra draining through a muslin lined sieve and we’re done; a really basic cottage cheese.

A side point of interest; if you take the whey and heat it to near boiling before re-sieving it, you get even more curds, in this case known as ricotta, which means re-cooked.  Ricotta, as you probably know, is a soft and slightly grainy cheese, great for use in deserts such as cheesecake.

Home-made Curd Cheese Recipe – Ingredients & Method

• 1.5 Litres (3.2 US Pints) full fat milk
• Juice of 1.5 lemons
• Salt & pepper

Start by heating the milk in a pan until its almost (but not) boiling.  Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice slowly until the curds are visually separating from the milk.  At this point pour it out into your muslin lined sieve (with a bowl underneath to catch the whey) and leave it for anywhere between a couple of hours (in which case give it a bit of a squeeze in the cloth to remove excess moisture) to overnight.

It’s great spread onto fresh bread and sprinkled with a little salt & pepper.  Well worth a try!

Now, has anyone else out there tried making their own cheese, and if so what tips do you have for my next adventure?

All mashed up

Golden Beetroot Carpaccio

Normally, a carpaccio is a dish made from thin slices of meat or fish, accompanied by a tangy dressing with vinegar, mustard, or lemon juice. The same principles apply with this beetroot carpaccio, too; wafer thin slices (I don’t have a mandoline, but use one if you do), arranged on a plate and drizzled with a balsamic and olive oil dressing. A selection of chopped up herbs finishes the job.

The ingredients here are given as a guideline; I’m sure you can do better than my attempt though, so feel free to use this as inspiration and have a play around.

Golden Beetroot Carpaccio Recipe – Ingredients & Method

• 4 Golden Cooked Beetroots
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Chives, chopped.
• Basil, ripped up.
• Salt & Pepper

Start off by peeling & slicing your beetroot; discard the ends for now so that your slices are around the same size, then arrange on a plate.  Make your dressing by mixing 1 part balsamic to 3 parts extra virgin olive oil with salt & pepper added to taste, and drizzle over the beetroot.  Finally sprinkle over with the chopped herbs and your done.  Enjoy!

The Tomato Book

I received my copy of “The Tomato Book” a few weeks ago now, in the midst of my tomato growing frenzy.  Despite only having 4 plants growing in my conservatory, I’ve become a bit of an obsessive and am already planning world tomato domination for next year.

You’ve already seen evidence of my tomato obsession this year through my recipes; “Pappa al Pomodoro“, “How to Make Sun-Dried Tomatoes“, and “Wild Tomato Salad“.  For the last one, change “Wild” to “Heirloom” – a bit of an example of my lack of experience helpfully pointed out by my friends on Facebook.

So, I’m a beginner in every sense of the word.  I’ve learned about pinching out sideshoots and such-like from the internet but didn’t know what to do when my leaves started going brown around the edges. Luckily, The Tomato Book features easy to follow “What’s wrong with my leaves?” and “What’s wrong with my tomatoes?” fault finding charts.

Helpful Tomato Tips

When I had my first flick through and saw the 60 (or so) page section just describing some of the varieties available out there I was amazed. What a sheltered tomato life I’ve lived. I also had no idea that it was possible to create my own variety through cross-pollination and grafting; a tip best left a couple of years, I think. I’ll never work my way through them all!

Plenty of other tips abound in this great little book; did you know that placing a banana next to green tomatoes encourages them to ripen? Neither did I.

The final section of the book is taken up by preserving tips and recipes; the tomato and marscarpone ice cream sounds particularly mouth watering.

All in all, a great little book which I’ll be coming back to year after year through my tomato growing adventures.

Wild Tomato Salad

I’m going to throw out a bit of a plug to my organic veggie box suppliers here; feel free to skip this paragraph if blatant recommendations aren’t your thing.  I’ve been getting my box from Woodlands Farm in (my home county) Lincolnshire delivered every two weeks for the past 6 months or so and it’s really changed the way I eat.  There’s something great about having your food come to you, rather than you going to your food; you’ll pretty much be able to guess what arrived in my box each week from what I blog about.

This recipe is pretty well timed, too.  I received a cookbook recently called “The Tomato Book” (which I’ll review later in the week) and spent hours staring at the 60 page (!) section about tomato types; salivation just doesn’t begin to describe it.  Why are the ones I’m growing all boring and red?

Wild Tomato Salad Recipe – Ingredients & Method

• Handful of “Wild” tomatoes – basically different shapes and colours.
• Rocket
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper, to taste

This is such a simple one to create; simply create a dressing from balsamic vinegar mixed with olive oil, salt & pepper, then use to coat the tomatoes (I halved mine; chop smaller dependant upon size) and rocket.  Leave for an hour or so for the flavours to come together then enjoy!

No, they're not parsnips.

Now, how to cook a white carrot and still keep it interesting?  A quick scan of the internet shows recipes ranging from white carrot juice to white carrot cake.  Since I’ve not tasted white carrot before, I opted for a recipe which would highlight its flavour (a bit more delicate than a “normal” carrot, I think); the humble soup.

Before you ask, the reason there’s no picture of the finished article (the soup) is down to a pure lack of skill on my behalf. An very pale bowl of soup is hardly photogenic and I have neither the talent nor the patience to make it so, but I make no apology.  You want carrots, you got ‘em.

And did you know that orange carrots have only been around since the 16th century, when they were developed by the Dutch?

White Carrot Soup Recipe – Ingredients & Method

• Bunch of white carrots (I’m no good with exact quantities; go for around 6 decent sized carrots), diced
• 2 Leeks, sliced
• 1 Stick celery, sliced
• Pinch dried thyme
• 1/2 Clove Garlic, finely sliced.
• Chicken stock
• Salt and pepper to season
• 1 tbsp Italian Chestnut honey (buy normal if preferred)
• 1 tbsp Double cream

Begin by sweating off the vegetables in a little olive oil for 5 minutes before pouring in 750ml of chicken stock and adding the thyme.  Simmer for 20 minutes until all of the vegetables are soft, then whizz in a blender until smooth.  Add the honey and double cream and stir well.  If too thick thin with water to the desired consistency then season to taste.

Some variations on the net use Gruyere Cheese as an addition which sounds delicious.

Ready for the oven...

I’ve been going tomato crazy this year, boring the hell out of everyone at work with almost daily updates on how my batch of home grown ones are doing.  My modest 4 plants are in the conservatory and have been providing me with a reasonable, if not plentiful harvest.  My recent idea to fill pretty much all of the floor space with plants next year was met with instant disapproval from Gosia; needless to say I agreed with her opinion (like any good husband), but will go ahead and do it anyway.

Sun drying is just one technique you can use to preserve tomatoes should you be lucky enough to have a glut of them this year.  Even better, you don’t need the sun to do it – great for those of us living in England, where this summer is turning out to be yet another wash out.

The basic idea is simple.  You take a load of tomatoes, chop them in half and place on a wire tray (as pictured), then sprinkle with salt (Maldon sea salt is great) and dried herbs of your choice.  It’s then out into the sun or (more realistically in the UK), into the oven until dried.  In my gas oven this meant 130 degrees c (266 degrees f – the lowest it would go – around 100 would be perfect) for about 8 hours, opening the door slightly for the last few hours to prevent them burning.  Once dried you can store them in a sterilised jar filled with olive oil until needed; the oil will absorb some of the flavour over time making a great by-product.  Incidentally I prefer them “semi-dried” – this gives all the benefits but still leaves them instantly munchable should you be unable to resist (but be aware they wont keep long like this).

This year I’ve done it with both my own home-grown tomatoes, and cheap supermarket varieties.  I can now report back that the uneven sizes of my home grown ones were a big mistake (the smaller ones burnt before the bigger ones were done).  The difference in taste between my own and the supermarket ones when fresh was immediately noticable; not so once they were dried.  I can therefore happily recommend this as a way of transforming cheap tomatoes into a gourmet food, should you not have any of your own to hand.

I love them tossed into pasta, salads, and on a slice of crusty bread drizzled with olive oil.  Why not give it a go?

I'm watching you!

I’m no La tartine Gourmande, that’s for sure – Bea was already blogging within a couple of weeks of giving birth to Lulu (and well done to her for doing so!).  I honestly didn’t realise how much time out of your life a little baby can take.

It’s important not to lose sight.  I still love to eat good food , but hardly find the time to take photographs and blog about it.   Just the other day I had a delicious salad of mixed tomatoes (black, green, yellow and red varieties) with rocket and balsamic vinegar that I’m sure would have looked so good in a photograph, if I’d have bothered taking one.  Some of those tomatoes (bright orange and super sweet Sungold type) were grown in my conservatory; despite not knowing what I’m doing, they’re coming out just fine and I’ll be doing the same next year.

I’ve been in the kitchen a fair bit recently, too, so I can feel a few recipe posts for the blog brewing.  My blackcurrant jam turned out much better than last year (adding the sugar later was the key), and I have a pork bolognese recipe I just need to share with you all.  Perhaps more exciting (to geeks like me); I can see hawthorns, rosehips and elderberries growing in a local hedgerow which are just crying out to be picked, when the time is right.

Finally, I haven’t forgotten the cookbook giveaway I promised a couple of weeks ago.  I pick (drumroll please)….Jennifer H!  30 years of canned food is way too much.  The book is yours!

50 Great Appetizers

I’ve been away now for just over 1 month since my wife gave birth to our beautiful baby daughter, Mia (more photos of her soon, I promise), and I’ve been missing you all.

To make up for it and as a thank you to all those readers who’ve sent good wishes to us (and also to anyone else who happens across this post; greetings!), I’m giving away another great FREE COOKBOOK.

This time around the book is “50 great appetizers” by the great Pamela Sheldon Johns.  I’ve read it and can say that it’s a great little reference book that you’re going to be keeping in the kitchen for a long time to come.

All you have to do to win this free cookbook is leave a comment on this post (or send me an email) telling me why you should receive it.  I’ll pick a winner by around the second week in July…

Mia's First Bath

In these photographs (and, indeed, as I type) she is just 5 days old but already beautiful. And just look at all that dark hair!

Baby Mia

If the website is a little quiet over the coming weeks then I apologise in advance; I’m sure you’ll agree that my excuse is well worth it.