He is a thoroughly nice bloke too. I have now met him 3 times, and I really enjoy our conversations.  It was a pleasure to provide him with supper, even if I did have to go to Barbican.     If you have not yet fed him do give it a go.   Read about the meal I made for him here, and Danny, I really think you need to give Ocado a trial run.

The August challenge, and my first, from Fresh From the Oven was to make a whole wheat walnut bread.   Like the Daring Bakers, Fresh From the Oven has a new challenge, hosted by one of its members, every month.    For July our host was Sarah from Simply Cooked who chose her recipe from The Neighborhood Bakeshop by Jill Van Cleave.

After some sourdough mishaps, I feel I have lost confidence in my bread making abilities, and am delighted to have joined Fresh From the Oven, and to have the nudge to make bread once a month and am looking forward to building my skills.

I pretty much followed Sarah’s recipe to the letter, but, my sponge starter was made with 50% white / 50% whole wheat flour, and I was out of walnuts and so used pecans instead.  I really like the sponger starter method, and will be using it again as I think that it gives far more flavour and hit of sourdough character to the loaf.   

Whole Wheat Walnut Bread
adapted from The Neighborhood Bakeshop by Jill Van Cleave
makes 2 loaves

1 t active dry yeast, divided
2 c (500 ml) lukewarm water (95 – 110F, 35 – 45C), divided
3 c (380 g) plain bread flour, divided
1 T honey
1 T olive or walnut oil
1 1/2 c (180 g) stone-ground whole wheat flour
1/4 c (40 g) semolina flour, oat flour, or more whole wheat flour
1 t sea salt
1 1/2 c (175 g) coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted

First prepare the sponge starter. Dissolve 1/2 t yeast in 1 c (250 ml) lukewarm water in a medium bowl. Let proof until bubbly, about 5 minutes.
Add 1 1/2 c (190 g) bread flour and stir until a thick batter forms. Cover the bowl and leave at room temperature to rise and bubble for 6 to 8 hours. The starter is ready to use now or can be put in the fridge overnight. (Bring it back to room temperature before using.)

Dissolve the remaining 1/2 t yeast with the 1 c (250 ml) lukewarm water in a large bowl. Let proof for about 5 minutes.
Add the sponge starter and mix well. Stir in the honey, oil, whole wheat flour, semolina flour or oat flour (if using), and salt.
Add 1 1/4 c (160 g) of the remaining bread flour gradually to form a stiff dough.
Add the walnuts.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for ten minutes, adding as much of the reserved flour as needed to keep it from being too sticky. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Grease the bowl and return the dough, turning it to coat it in oil. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise until it is doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Divide the dough into two pieces and form into loaves. Place on a baking pan and leave them to rise again, about 30 minutes.
Bake at 400 F/205 C for 30 to 40 minutes, until the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
Cool on a wire rack.

Ready for the Oven

Delicious.   We had several slices warm with butter, the rest will be for breakfast tomorrow and the second loaf will be sliced and squeezed into the freezer.

Many thanks to Sarah for an excellent challenge and I am looking forward to seeing what August brings.

It seems that the entire world has gone mad for matcha, and  once again I am late to the culinary bandwagon.   Last week I visited the Mind Apples pop-up health farm, then went to the Japan Centre for some of their splendid (and very affordable) sushi and spied lots of matcha.   I remembered reading about  Matcha Madness Month on Catty’s blog and decided that it was time to get some fuss free matcha madness in my kitchen.     Bewildered by the choice of matchas on offer I choose a 10g pouch for £2.

For those not in the know, matcha is finely ground Japanese green tea.    It is made from tencha, which is stoneground to a bright green talc like powder.   It is fairly labour intensive process, taking up to an hour to grind 30g.  The tea bushes are covered for several weeks before harvest; the shade slows down growth, resulting in darker leaves and more amino acids giving a more intense flavour.    Matcha is packed full of all sorts of things that are good for you; antioxidants, betacarotene and vitamins A, B & C.  And matcha is also delicious, like green tea, but more intense and sweeter in flavour.

When I bake there is a high chance that I will make muffins, and my first foray with matcha is no exception.  I used Kara coconut milk which added a hint of coconut flavour, but any milk (dairy or non dairy) would work here.    My full muffin method is here, if you eat eggs throw one in with wet ingredients, if not, leave it out.   I did not measure the buttercream ingredients – too much buttercream is not a bad thing and is delicious straight from the bowl!

Matcha Muffins (Makes 4)

For the muffins

“Dry” Ingredients
4.5oz plain flour
1.5oz  sugar
1 heaped tsp matcha powder
1tsp baking power
pinch salt

“Wet” Ingredients
4.5oz  Kara coconut milk
1.5oz  sunflower oil

Whisk the oil and milk mixture with a fork.   Mix the dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together (the batter should be lumpy and mixing should take no more than 15 folds).   Bake at GM5/190C/375F in your favourite muffin pan for 20 – 25 mins until risen.

For the buttercream

1 tsp butter or non diary spread
1 tsp milk (I used Kara)
1 tsp  matcha powder
About 4 heaped tbs icing sugar

Beat the butter & milk together for a minute with an electric mixer, add the matcha and icing sugar and beat for at least 5 minutes until fluffy.   You may need to add more liquid or icing sugar.   Too much frosting cannot be a bad thing! Wait until the muffins are cold before frosting them.

Have I mentioned before that I  really really really love dips?   Looking back at my dippy posts  it seems that I  usually serve them with crudities, but sometimes a bit of non veggie crunch and crispiness is required.      Instead of from a packet and laden with fat and all manner of nasties, these tortilla chips are made from tortilla wraps which I usually have in the freezer.

Simply snip the tortilla wraps into chip sized triangles, I find one wrap per person is about right.   Arrange on a baking tray or pizza stone, brush with a little olive oil (You could use an oil sprayer here) and sprinkle with pepper, salt and your choice of seasoning; cumin, chilli, harissa or celery salt would all work well.     Bake for about 10 minutes in a hot oven (GM7, 220C, 425F) until crisp and golden.     Serve and dip to your heart’s content!

How simple is that?

This summer I have been getting an iceberg lettuce every week in my co-op box and frankly I am a little bored of them.   Nothing conjures up an image of an 1970’s salad more than an iceberg.     Add some pale watery tomatoes, celery and chunks of cucumber and a good dollop of salad cream and you have something straight out of the canteen of my 1970’s primary school in the middle of Kent.

I recently read an article by Mark Bittman on The Charms of the Loser Lettuces.  I was struck by a comment on one of the recipes, which pointed out that if icebergs were not so long lasting and virtually indestructible, they would not be so loved by supermarket buyers and thus available so cheaply and easily.  The rare and scare (and expensive?) iceberg would probably popular with certain groups of foodies.   I hope that my tastebuds are not solely governed by rarity value and cost, but I am sure that there are some foods out there that are more popular because of their rarity rather than the merits of their flavour alone.

But back to the humble iceberg, its hardiness and crispness make it ideal to cook, it softens, but retains some shape and texture not turning to mush.    In fact it actually tastes pretty darned good – I would even venture to say it is delicious!   It is buttery, nutty and subtly bitter.  Add to that almost fat free, low calorie,  cheap, easy to prepare (using only one pot)  and satisfying and I have a winner.        For the more ravenous, serve it as a starter – I would even produce this at a dinner party.

This is another contribution to my series of easy, economical and healthy recipes of what to do with the contents of the co-op “boxes” for the Food Co-ops and Buying Groups project run by Sustain – also part of the Making Local Food Work programme funded by the Big Lottery.

Braised Iceberg Lettuce (Serves 4)

1 Iceberg lettuce
Glug olive oil
1/2 mug vegetable stock (I used Marigold)
Handful frozen peas
Salt & Pepper (to taste)
Soy Sauce (to taste)

Cut the lettuce into quarters (through the stem so each segment stays together).  Add the oil to a casserole dish and fry the lettuce on all sides until it is starting to turn brown.   Add about 1.5cm / 1/2″ stock to the dish, put the lid on and turn the heat right down.   Simmer for about 15 mins, add the frozen peas, (here I left the lid ajar to concentrate the juices) and cook for a further 5 minutes.    Season with salt and pepper and serve.

This recipe is also delicious with a dash of soy sauce.     For a more substantial dish use more peas or serve with some crusty bread.    I imagine that you could also steam a piece of fish over the lettuce too.

Another bumper haul for £6.

I have just discovered the perfect fuss free recipe for iceburg lettuce that makes it totally delicious!  I’ll be posting it soon.

This is the pudding that I came up with for the recent foodbloggers’ Masterchef cookoff with Miele.    When planning a menu it is perfectly normal and reasonable to come up with a pudding first and then plan a main course to go with it?   I wanted a very summery pudding using my homemade elderflower cordial;  it also had to be very quick to make, impossible to mess up and hopefully delicious.   I think that I have attained all 3 requisites here.   Looking back over my archives it would also seem that possets will freeze well too.

As these possets have extra liquid from the cordial added to them I used extra thick double cream to make sure they set.

Lime & Elderflower Possets (makes 4 – 6)

284 ml carton extra thick double cream
2 oz sugar
juice and zest of one lime
1tbs (15ml) elderflower cordial

Simply scrape the cream into a saucepan and bring to the boil keep a close eye on it as  it can very rapidly (and messily) boil over.  While the cream heats zest the lime into the pan.   Once it boils, add the sugar, lime juice and cordial.   Simmer for a minute stirring well until the sugar has dissolved.     Pour into serving dishes – 4 ramekins or 6 espresso cups.   Chill until set before serving.    I made these and they were set in under an hour.

I served with strawberries marinated in elderflower cordial and Irish lace biscuits (recipe to come)

I was delighted to be recently asked by Wildcard to an evening with Jo Pratt, who would be demonstrating the new range of Tilda stir fry rices.   A large group of bloggers arrived one boiling hot summer’s evening at the rather wonderful Food at 52 which is situated in a rather lovely street of Georgian townhouses near King’s Cross.   Here we were greeted by the Wildcard team, Jo and Camilla from Tilda who was going to talk us through the range.

We sat down in the gorgeous sitting room and had delicious drinks and chicken toasts (just like prawn toasts but possibly better) and Camilla told us all about the history of Tilda and basmati rice.    As all I knew about basmati rice at this point was that I liked it immensely and it tastes far better than other rice, I found Camilla’s talk very interesting.    Basmati rice is highly prized and will improve with age (in much the same way as wine).  Many families will keep some rice to age it and then serve it when an honoured guest comes for dinner (at this point several bloggers nodded their heads and said they could remember their mother doing the same thing).  Tilda basmati is special as they ensure that only whole unbroken grains are sold – when cooked broken grains leak starch which is what makes some cooked rice stodgy and sticky – with no broken grains the Tilda basmati should be perfect everytime.   Tilda sort their rice by laser and any broken grains are removed by a miracle of modern technology to be used as animal feed.

Chatting to Camilla later I also discovered that Tilda ensure all their rice is 100% basmati by DNA testing the grains.   Also Tilda do not own farms in India but are committed to providing farmers with a fair price for the rice by buying from them at open auction.   In addition Tilda supply farmers with free rice seed (with no obligation to sell their crop to Tilda) and a free telephone advice line.     As CSR and sustainability is very important to me I was also please to discover that Tilda has helped local communities by helping to establish a school and has rebuilt a local temple that had fallen into disrepair.

Camilla then bought out the new stir fry rices; up until this point I had not grasped that these were ready cooked and seasoned in a packet rices,  I had been slightly puzzled at how stir fry rice was going to be any different from any other sort of dried rice.    I have to admit that my first thought was a skeptical “I cook.   From scratch. Why do I want ready cooked rice?”  Happily I was proved very wrong when I got to use and taste the product.

We moved on to the kitchen to see Jo demonstrate the product.  Despite the heat and fearsome gas burners Jo looked as cool as a cucumber as she prepared some delicious dishes for us.

She started with a Thai rice prawn soup a simple stock with soy, ginger,  garlic, chilli, spring onions, coriander,  prawns and a packet of the Tilda Green Thai rice.   It was utterly delicious.  Perfectly flavoured with perfectly seasoned rice.

Using the Tilda stir fry rices Jo then went on to make a lamb stir fry and some crispy duck pancakes – which also contained rice – a clever way to make then more substantial.   She also told us that the utterly delicious chicken toasts we had had earlier (and which Kavey and I had polished a plate off) during the demonstration were also made with the rice, by blending chicken and rice in the food processor.

We were then let loose in the kitchen to conjure up our own dishes using the rices.

I could not resist the king prawns (I may have eaten some and rearranged my plate so as not to appear too greedy here)

Enjoying our rice creations outside in the garden.

I really like this product.    I do not think that is something that I will be using once a week; but I certainly will keep a couple of packets in the cupboard and use it as an alternative to calling for a takeaway when I am tired, late home, just back from holiday.    It certainly will be far cheaper than a takeaway and barely any effort to make a quick stir fry with a packet of the rice and some frozen seafood and whatever vegetables that are in the fridge or freezer.      I am certain that it will taste far better and be better for me too as there are no artificial colourings, preservatives or the dreaded MSG in the rices.

For the non confident or time pressed cook I think that the rices are a great idea.    There is the perfect amount for two adults or one adult and a couple of children.   You can have them as plain or as jazzed up as you like (perfect for using up leftovers).

The rices come in 4 flavours; Peking,  Kung Po and Thai Red & Green.   Each 240g packet costs £1.79 from Waitrose or Ocado.  All 4 rices are vegetarian and gluten free and a couple of them are vegan.

Many thanks to Tilda and Wildcard for a lovely evening.  I am greatly looking forward to working my way through Jo’s book – In the Mood for Entertaining!

I do not understand why some people think  that they do not like tofu.  It is so versatile and takes on the flavour of whatever it is cooked with there realy is nothing to dislike, although I do agree that watery slimey tofu is a very sad experience indeed.   I first made this at the start of June and unbelievably I have lasted over a month before making it again.    As before I made my own tofu in my soyquick machine but this time I had the idea of making black pepper tofu  so added some Steenburgs Spanish Black Pepper (available here) to my coagualted soymilk.    If you have never had ultra fresh tofu it is worth making from scratch once, but it is a bit of a faff and does lead to a huge number of dirty pans.

This time I adapted the recipe using a red onion in place of the shallots, adding half a green pepper and a heap more spring onions.   I also fried the vegetables in oil rather then butter.   It was every bit as good as I remembered.  I particularly liked using a red onion as it gave an even more intense colour to the dish.  Maybe I should rename this double black pepper tofu?

Make this  – if you are a die hard tofu phobe give it a go, afterall there is so much pepper you are not going to be able taste the tofu.

It is Friday again and I have received a bumper number of entries for this  week’s PPN.    Happily for those of us in the Northern hemisphere there are some salads and for those in the depths of winter a pasta bake or two!

In order of receipt!

Margaret from Tea and Scones made Penne with Roasted Tomatoes, Garlic and White Beans.

Nupur from One Hot Stove has avoided her stove being too hot by making a raw sauce or salsa curda for her pasta.  Delicious and super healthy.

Liz at Cooking the Vegan Books, also used white beans, this time with courgettes and homemade vegan feta.

Val from More than Burnt Toast has a glut of courgettes so used some up in her Rigatoni with Zucchini Pistou.

More courgettes, from Abby of Eat the Right Stuff.  This time they are paired with parma ham & tagliatelle.

Sarah from What Smells so Good? Sent summery low fat cacio pepe – lemon pasta with brocolli.

Mary the Food Floozie made a salad for a sweltering summer’s day with noodles beef and lots of bits and pieces from her kitchen with a delicious end result.

Deb who has a Hawaiian beach kitchen (Kahakai Kitchen) made a chicken piccata pasta salad.  Perfect for the beach!

Girlichef Heather made a Mark Bittman recipe of pasta with bacon which she believes to be the perfect pairing.

More courgettes from Joanne, who Eats Well With Others  and made Linguine with Zucchini, Capers, Pinenuts, Lemon and Herbs.  Impressively she made the pasta from scratch and as usual wrote a fantastic post with it.

Sabiha from Cooking Escapades and Delights made a delicious looking Baked Schiaffoni stuffed with herbed vegetables.

Apu of Annarasa: Essence of Food sent me a quick macaroni with black olives and pinenuts, which is perfect either hot or cold.

Photo to come!

Once Upon a Feast’s Ruth is suffering from the heat wave but sent a maple smoked salmon pasta salad. Maple smoked salmon sounds divine Ruth!

More courgettes and tales of renovation of her French house from Katie at Thyme for Cooking who made a warm courgette pasta salad with peanut and ginger dressing.

Jeanne at Cook Sister was sent a hamper of smoked salmon to review (I am somewhat jealous!) made a beautifully summery Smoked Salmon and Pea Pasta with it.

Pam at Sidewalk Shoes sent the second bacon pasta of the week – Pasta all’Amatriciana.

More bacon and another salad from Kait at Plots and Pots – Tomato, Bacon, Bean & Pasta Salad.

Johanna from Green Gourmet Giraffe had a sick child at home and so needed fortifying food so made a bake of spaghetti, pumpkin ricotta and facon. I like that the recipe was inspired by a London blogger and is has come back to a London blog for the round up!

Lastly the 3rd London recipe of the week and more courgettes, Niamh at  Eat Like a Girl made Courgette and Truffle Carbonara and gave me the welcome news that good pasta cooked al dente is in fact low GI!

I have failed to get an entry in, but I did have a pasta night this week where a lucky  group of UK food bloggers were  cooked for by Gennaro Contaldo!  Gennaro has been working with Bertolli to produce a new range of pasta sauces.    There is a full write up coming, but these sauces are amazing, I really cannot believe that they came from a jar – amazingly the jarred sauce tasted every bit as good as the sauce cooked from scratch.  They are perfect for having on hand for when it is too hot or too late or you are too tired to cook.

Next week’s host is Pam at Sidewalk Shoes – the full hosting list is here look forward to seeing the round up next week! Thanks for taking part in PPN # 171.