All reviews, apart from Donal Skehan’s Great Food For Less are by Ed.

Modern Flavours of Arabia – Suzanne Husseini

Good Introduction to Middle Eastern Cuisine.

Modern Middle Eastern cuisine seems to be on a roll at the moment. After Malouf the other day, we have now received Modern Flavours of Arabia, written by Suzanne Husseini, a food writer and television presenter based in Dubai.

It’s arranged into five main chapters – breakfast, mezze, lunch, dinner and dessert. Recipes are a mixture of Middle Eastern classics (labneh, fried halloumi, baba ghanouj, hummus, kofta, tabbouleh, falafel, shawama, shish kebab and shish tawouk) , together with some more modern recipes that use the classic flavours as inspiration.

Of the more modern recipes, I was particularly taken by the idea of roasted cauliflower with citrus and tahini sauce, herb and nut crusted labneh balls, spicy chicken wings with fresh hot tomato salsa, lemony garlic chicken with rice and yoghurt sauce, cauliflower fritters with yoghurt and mint dip, pistachio ice cream, baklava, sesame and pistachio nut biscuits and spiced ricotta filled dates.

This book looks ideal for those wishing to try some Middle Eastern cooking, and want something that’s not as haute cuisine as Malouf, which we reviewed the other day. Recipes are aimed at home cooking for families – they’re not restaurant recipes needing fifteen different things all to happen at the same time, thirty seconds before serving. If you’re looking to give this cuisine a whirl, they have a look at this book.

Modern Flavours of Arabia, published by Hardie Grant Books, cover price £14.99

Modern Flavours of Arabia: Fuss Free Rating ***

Fish Easy by Mitch Tonks

Takes the Fear out of Fish

Restaurateur, fishmonger, food writer and self-taught cook (as well as being an ex-accountant) Mitch Tonks has written a new book, Fish Easy, promising over 100 simple, 30 minute fish recipes, most of which are pictured.

The recipes are arranged by cooking style: on the grill, in the pan, in the oven, raw cured and salads, and finally a chapter on mayonnaise and other basics. The simpler recipes are presented very straightforwardly in just a page of larger font. More complicated recipes are shown traditionally, with a list of ingredients and detailed instructions. As the essence of fish cooking is fresh ingredients and simple preparation, none of the recipes are particularly long or complicated.

I can’t imagine not being inspired by this book – if not to follow the recipes as written, then just to use them as a starting point for your own creations. This is not to say the recipes don’t look interesting: I’m very keen on trying sea bass with clams and sherry, sardine fritters with caper mayonnaise, fish in salt pastry with lemon, garlic and rosemary, monkfish with sage and roasted garlic, and especially the recipe for salt cod – one of my favourites;an entrant to my all time best dishes was salt cod at Petersham Nurseries. About the only recipe not included is one for fish pie, which I suppose sums up the book not doing the obvious.

Fish Easy, published by Pavilion, cover price £19.99

Fish Easy: Fuss Free Rating ****

Kitchen Hero: Great Food For Less – Donal Skehan

Great affordable home cooking

There have been a number of frugal cookery books published over recent years and Donal Skehan’s Kitchen Hero: Great Food for Less both impresses and stands out.    The book starts with a general guide to frugal food shopping, telling the reader which cuts of meat are which – how many people actually know that chuck steak comes from the neck and shoulder for example?  Knowledge is dispensed in a factual and non patronising way.  Brief advice is given on growing your own, and how to love leftovers.

Recipes are accessible, requiring the minimum of equipment, and come with suggestions on how to vary them the next time you cook them.   Many are traditional recipes from Donal’s family – from his mother’s, grandmother’s and aunt’s kitchens, the food he grew up on.    There is a wide range of dishes, family friendly one pots, cakes, healthy green stir fries and curries and stews.   As well as classic Irish and British dishes food is spiced up with international influences, Indian spices, Thai curries to cowboy beans.   I like the fact that Donal encourages you to try lots of vegetarian dishes, with cheap, filling and delicious lentils and pulses.  We loved the Indian chicken & rice bake (basically a biryani).  Well written, it is like Donal is standing next to you in the kitchen, helping and gently encouraging.

If proper cookery – rather than the current food science – were to return to the National Curriculum this would be the perfect book for students to learn to cook from.     Essential for those wanting to learn to cook, leaving home for the first time, or needing to cook good home food for others.

Kitchen Hero: Great Food for Less, published by Harper Collins, cover price £18.99

Great Food For Less: Fuss Free Rating ****1/2

What to Cook & How to Cook It: Fresh & Easy – Jane Hornby

Enables the Non Expert Cook to Impress

Jane Hornby has followed her book for less confident cooks, What to cook and how to cook it, with a healthier, seasonal sequel, with more recipes for picnics and dinner parties, What to cook and how to cook it: Fresh and easy.

Like the previous book, Fresh and Easy is aimed at demystifying cooking, with numerous photos illustrating every stage of every recipe. It’s a format that does result in a pretty big book – 350 pages for 77 recipes, but it does mean that it’s always quite clear as to what has to be done next, and how things should look whilst being prepared and cooked.

Like her previous book, this is a great book if you’re not an habitual cook, enabling you to produce great looking and tasting food with assurance. The food for friends section in particular contains many recipes that look like they deserve trying: herb crusted lamb with pea puree and tomatoes, and the pulled pork sharing plate, for example. Likewise, from the barbecue chapter I fancy spicy mackerel with orange and radish salad, chimichurri-style burgers, goat cheese and polenta stacks and finally chargrilled beef and vegetables with horseradish cream.

This is the first book where, whilst trying a recipe, H hasn’t made any “how about you…” or “you know, you could….” suggestions after I’ve produced the dishes, which says something about how easy the recipes are to follow and produce attractive and tasty food.

Fresh & Easy: What to Cook & How to Cook It, published by Phaidon, cover price £29.95

Fresh & Easy: Fuss Free Rating *****

Thank you to the publishers for sending me complimentary review copies of the above books. Opinions are our own. We were not required to write a positive review.

Everything this summer seems to be about popups. From the Olympic games with temporary stadiums, to the pop up house on top of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, via innumerable shops and restaurants. The latest entrant to this festival of popupiness is Electrolux, who are hosting a restaurant with the aim of highlighting their range of home appliances.

The Cube seats 18 diners at one table, in an awe-inspiring glass walled temporary building on top of the Royal Festival Hall, with stunning views over the Thames. This is the building’s (if building is the right word) latest stop, after spells in Brussels and Milan. The space will be open from 1st June to 30th September, and will feature cooking by an astonishing collection of Michelin starred chefs: Sat Bains, Daniel Clifford, Jonray and Peter Sanchez-Iglesias, Tom Kitchen and Claude Bosi.   The chefs will cook in front of the guests, and share tips and their culinary secrets with them.

Being a grammar pedant, the misuse of unique is something that annoys me immensely, but I have to admit that unique is really the only way of describing this opportunity. For a once in a lifetime experience, of incredible food in a unique (there’s that word, but nothing else will do) setting, it’s hard to imagine an opportunity more in need of snapping up that The Cube. I’m most envious of whoever it is who will be there to watch the Queen’s Jubilee pageant on the Thames.

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The folks at Apetina are currently challenging you to come up with a classic salad with a twist this summer using one of their range of cheeses. There is a wide range Apetina cheese, from the classic block style, to ready cubed snack packs flavoured with herbs; perfect for adding to a Fuss Free lunch or salad.

As Britain is in a frenzy of red, white and blue at the moment, for both the Jubilee and Olympics I have made a twist on the classic Greek Salad (after all Greece is the home of the Olympics) and have substituted blueberries for the olives. Frying the blueberries with some balsamic vinegar makes a tangy and fruity dressing, which livens up any salad.

Recipe: Red, White and Blue Apetina Summer Salad

Serves 1

Ingredients

1/2 cucumber
Handful blueberries
6 – 8 baby plum tomatoes
1/2 pack Apetina cubes in herb oil with garlic and olives
Dash light olive oil
1 tbs balsamic vinegar

Cut the tomatoes into quarters.

Using a potato peeler, peel the cucumber and then cut into strips. Place in a sieve and sprinkle a little salt over to draw some of the liquid out. Leave for 5 minutes then gently roll in some kitchen paper to remove the excess moisture. Arrange the cucumber on a plate.

Heat the oil in a small frying pan and fry the blueberries for a minute until they start to soften, gently swirling them around the pan. Add the balsamic. Simmer for a minute or so until you have a syrupy sauce.

Arrange the tomatoes and Apetina cubes on the bed of cucumber strips and pour the warm blueberries over.

Serve immediately.

Every week Apetina will be featuring 4 classic salads with a twist on their Facebook page. Visitors who like the Facebook and vote for their favourite Apetina recipe will be entered into a prize draw with a chance to win a picnic hamper (basket, with salad bowl and servers, plus dressing bottle). The final week’s prize will be a BBQ.

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Viral video by ebuzzing

In reality this cocktail is not that strong, the ginger wine has an alcohol content of 13.5%, but my martini glasses do hold a stagger making 180ml each, and the two drinks above used up just under a third of a bottle of ginger wine, so it does pack a pre dinner punch.

I had always thought of ginger wine as a seasonal drink, which I love drinking in the winter – it goes well with a roaring fire – but it works equally as well when chilled as a summery drink, with some citrus and elderflower.    I used my homemade elderflower cordial, but there are numerous excellent ones for sale in the supermarket.

Despite its name Stone’s Green Ginger wine is not in fact green but a lovely golden amber, given the Jubilee bottle and the hectic year the Queen will be having I am tempted to call this the Busy Lizzie.

Recipe: Elderflower & Ginger Wine Cocktail

Serves 2

Chilled Elderflower Cordial
Chilled Ginger Wine
Lime
Lemon Grass stick – cut in half lengthwise
2 sprigs of mint

Pour a dash of cordial into each glass, and top up with ginger wine.  You want about a 1:3 ratio.   Add a squeeze of lime juice.  Garnish with a slice of lime, spring of mint and stick of lemongrass.

Enjoy elegantly.

Thank you to Stone’s for the Jubilee bottle.

The evening was a three way benefit – we got to enjoy Tim’s menu, Citroen got to generate some buzz for the new DS5 and FareShare gained both monetarily as well as from the publicity. FareShare is an excellent food charity, focussed on relieving food poverty in the UK; something that is very close to our own hearts.

The menu was themed on the five senses: textures of duck, visions of beetroot, flavours of beef, sounds of bacon and aromas of syrah.

Crispy duck skin – we thought could have been crisper, duck liver parfait (smooth, rich and wonderful encased in a crispy shell) and tea-rubbed duck jerky.

A number of different beetroots with a beetroot-dyed goat cheese and wasabi cream. The slightly sharp goat and wasabi cream really complemented the sweet beetroot.

Beef filet, a mushroom and blue cheese potato puree, prune sauce, broccoli.

Pancetta and maple syrup lolly, and pork rind popping candy.

Deep frozen (in liquid nitrogen) lemon meringue. These were great fun – an icy blast of lemon that sat on the tongue and had us all in fits of giggles as we breathed out tendrils of smokey dragon breath.

Spiced mocha ganache, with grape jelly and a blackcurrant and smoked tobacco foam, served with a dry ice smoke.

While the whole menu teemed with novel ideas, and evidenced both careful thought and a desire to create dishes than worked well as a whole – a desire that we thought successful – we thought that the high points of the evening were the duck parfait, the beetroot and goat cheese, the mushroom and blue cheese potato puree and the lemon meringue. But we do want to get hold of some liquid nitrogen and dry ice to play with.

Well done to Citroen for supporting such an excellent cause – I hope that other companies follow suit.

Fareshare works to alleviate food poverty in the UK, with a three fold approach of providing quality food that is surplus to the food industries requirements, providing essential training in life skills of food preparation and promoting the message that no good food should be wasted.

Everyday an average of 35,500 people benefit from Fareshare’s services, and in 2010/11 the food they redistributed accounted for a massive 8.6million meals.

You can donate to this excellent cause here, as little as £1 can help deliver food for 4 meals for someone in need.

Last year I wrote about other organisations who help to alleviate the huge problem of food poverty in the UK, please read and help where and if you can.

This Sunday (20th May) is World Baking Day – sponsored by Stork.

The baking folks at Stork very kindly sent me a box crammed with baking goodies, some of which I used to make Nigella’s vanilla bundt cake.     I made a few adaptions to the recipe – using Stork, and only making a 4 egg batter.  I almost always use Stork in my own baking, I find very little flavour difference, it features in all of Mary Berry’s recipes – if it is good enough for her it certainly is good enough for me, and at half the price of butter it makes financial sense.

As well as relaxing, fun and delicious, baking can literally be life-savingly therapeutic – as detailed in Marian Keyes’ painfully honest account of her depression in her baking book Saved By Cake.  If you are not a baker I recommend buying some supplies and getting into the kitchen this weekend – you may surprise yourself at how easy it is.   Just remember that, as with most things in life, it is practise that is important – no one is born with the skills to be a top-notch baker. (There is a little part of me that would like to ban the use of the word talent altogether and favour practiced instead).

If you bake this weekend why not take a photo and tweet it using #caking.

I think this simple cake would make an excellent addition to any Jubilee party, as a counter to the rich food, so I am sending it to Sarah’s Forever Nigella blogging event – where this month the theme is Jubilee and the host is Nelly.

Many thanks to Stork for my baking box and vouchers.

My default approach to new potatoes is to steam them in their paper thin jackets, along with a sprig of mint and then to serve with lashings of butter.   Delicious!  There is something so good about a fresh new potato – they are delicate, but also bursting with potato flavour, which can be lost from older spuds.     Roasted new potatoes are equally delicious, and it would be a shame not to try them out.

This year, the asparagus crop has been decimated by the weather.    The British asparagus festival was cancelled due to the weather and consequent lack of crop.   It is only just starting to come into the shops, and I was delighted to receive one of the first boxes of the season from Secretts.

Asparagus by post is a new concept for me, but it does make perfect sense.  The asparagus I received yesterday morning had been picked the day before, so it was as fresh as you can get – unless you visit a PYO or grow your own – so perfect for city dwellers like me.  It was beautifully presented, tied with a raffia bow and propped up in the box.   At £9.99 a box it is expensive, but at the same time a very affordable and different present for someone, and at this quality it is a luxury product.  I’d be delighted to receive another box – forget flowers when it is in season, I think that saying it with asparagus is an excellent idea.

The asparagus was delicious, so so fresh, crisp and tasty.   I nibbled quite a bit of it raw which I have not done before.   When prepping asparagus bend it to break the stalk, and it will naturally break in the right place.   Steam for a few minutes and then serve with lashings of melted butter, and lots of pepper and salt.

Recipe: Lemony New Potato Wedges

Simply cut your potatoes into wedges, place in a roasting pan with some golden rapeseed oil, a few slices of lemon and a clove of garlic.   Season well with salt and pepper and roast in a hot oven for about 40 minutes.   If desired scatter some shredded spring onion over 5 minutes before they finish cooking.

Many thanks to Secretts for my box of asparagus.  Order here or you can visit the farm to PYO.

Sending this to Ren’s Simple and In Season, this month hosted by Urvashi.

And to Laura’s One Ingredient Challenge, co-hosted by herself and Nazima at Working London Mummy - the ingredient this month is lemon.

Lastly a reminder about Breakfast Club this month, the theme is Fairtrade and there is a Fairtrade price from Steenbergs.  I’d love anyone to take part!

Soy sauce experts Kikkoman want to know how you use their soy sauce to perk up your food.

If you love soy sauce make a quick video of how you use Kikkoman and you could be off to Japan on an exclusive trip for two!

Simply upload your video to youtube and submit all the details to the Kikkomania site.

There have been some fab funny and quirky entries so far, so why not join in the fun?

You can join if you are 18 years or older

Competition closes 4th June 2012

This is a sponsored post.

Warburtons have recently added two naan breads to their range, which they have developed alongside Michelin starred chef Atul Kochhar.   I appreciate that many people are highly skeptical of chefs working alongside brands to develop products, but I honestly believe that the majority of top chefs are not going to risk their reputation for a financial reward.   These naan breads are very good.  Pillowly soft, bubbly and delicious; they have a shelf life of a week and freeze well.   I do make naan bread, but they are tricky to get perfect in a domestic oven so it makes sense to buy them.

At the launch of the product Atul told the assembled company that he had served the breads in his restaurant once when their gas was off and they could not cook their naan from scratch.  That is pretty conclusive product endorsement in my opinion.

Because the breads are square, they are more versatile than the traditional tear drop shaped bread, and thus are great for rolling or wrapping.  I topped mine with dal and homemade paneer, baked and served with mango chutney and tzatziki for a delicious lunch.   Do not skip the wedge of lime, the squeeze of juice makes the dish; again, lime wedges can be frozen and will defrost whilst the naan pizza is cooking.

If you do not want to make your own paneer any soft mildly flavoured cheese would work well in its place.

Recipe: Naan Bread Lentil Dal Pizza

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 Large Naan bread – or plain pizza base

For the dal
½ tsp cumin
1 tsp curry powder
1 small dried chilli
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp cinnamon powder
½ tsp turmeric
Seeds from 2 cardamom pods
1 tbs vegetable oil
70z / 200g / 1 cup red lentils
vegetable stock
Few sprigs of fresh coriander – mine was in the freezer

Tomato – optional
Spring onion – finely sliced

Place all the spices into a grinder and grind to a fine powder.     Heat the oil over a medium heat and fry the spices for a minute.  Add the lentils and stir well.  Add about 1 pint of vegetable stock and all to simmer until the lentils are soft and have broken down into a thick paste.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

For the paneer
1 pint / 550ml milk
Juice half a lemon

Mix the milk and lemon in a saucepan and heat to a simmer.  The milk will curdle.  Strain through a muslin cloth, gather the curds into a ball inside the cloth and squeeze well.  Wrap in a clean tea towel and press underr a chopping board with a few tins of beans on.

To finish

Place the naan on to a pizza stone or baking tray and spread the dal across.   If you wish top with a thinly sliced tomato and the spring onion.  Crumble the paneer over the lentils.

Bake in a pre heated oven GM6 / 200C / 400F until piping hot.    Serve with mango chutney and a wedge of lime.

Many thanks to Warburtons for asking me to the launch of their naan breads and for the samples.

Comfort food calls, and last Sunday I was craving a roast chicken for supper.   Living in central London with 24 hour shops within a 5 minute walk, I rarely menu plan as I far prefer to decide what to eat on the day.   It being Sunday my local butcher was closed and it took a few shops to find a free range chicken.    Instead of serving with roast potatoes I cooked my chicken on a bed of lentils and beans, both are packed with protein so it is a great way to eek out a smaller bird to feed more people.  As the bird roasts it is also partially steamed, with the result that the meat is wonderfully moist.

The lentil and bean mix is very rich as it absorbs all of the chicken fat, if you are feeling health conscious you could skim some of the fat off before adding them; or simply add extra so you have leftovers for another day.    I cook my own beans from dried and then freeze them, any tinned beans rinsed well would work well.  Once cooked scoop some of the beans and lentils into a pot and blitz with a stick blender before returning them to the pan and stirring in, this thickens and gives a lovely creamy consistency to them.  Delicious.

I used Rose Harissa from Steenbergs.  Their spices are top-notch quality, intensely flavoured and the range is organic and Fairtrade as far as possible.   I far prefer using a dry mix that will live happily in the cupboard once opened, rather than a paste that goes off quickly.   I also love that the Steenbergs range is in jars that are wide enough to stack well (preventing the cascade of spice jars falling from the cupboard) and designed to be able to get a spoon into.

Left over beans and lentils freeze well.  Use as a base for soups, or in a burger bun with mayo and ketchup for a very sloppy, but delicious, sloppy Joe.

Recipe: Harissa Roast Chicken with Beans & Lentils

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 medium free range chicken
1 tbs butter – softened
1-2 tsp harissa powder
1/2 lemon cut into wedges
Glug light olive oil
Salt & Pepper

1 tin of beans – drained and rinsed – I used black eyed
1 mug of green or puy lentils
1 cloves garlic – finely chopped
1 pint chicken or vegetable stock

Pop the lemon wedges into the chicken’s cavity and place in a roasting tin with a glug of oil.

Mix the butter and harissa together and rub well into the bird’s breast.   Season with salt and pepper.

Cooking time will be about 20 minutes per pound (450g), plus another half hour at GM5 / 375F / 190C.  Put the bird into the oven to cook.

40 minutes before the end of cooking time scatter the garlic, lentils and beans around the chicken and cover them with the stock.   Return to the oven.

Keep an eye on it, you may need to add more stock, or put a piece of foil over the bird to prevent the breast over-cooking.

When ready the lentils will be soft and most of the stock would have been absorbed.    Place the bird onto a carving board and cover with foil and allow to rest for 5 minutes.    Pour any juices into the lentil and bean mix.   To thicken the lentils and beans simply blitz some to a paste and return to the pan and stir through.

Gok Cooks Chinese is Gok Wan’s first cookery book and is accompanied by a Channel 4 series. It contains 82 recipes under the headings: Chinese Takeaway Classics, Dim Sum, Favourite Wan Family Dishes, Chinese Classics, Street Food, Feasting, One-Pot Wonders and Modern Dishes. There are concise and clear sections to explain ingredients and essential equipment.

The recipes are straightforward and work well. Preparation and cooking times are fair – although I needed more time for careful chopping – but with over half the dishes do-able in less than 30 minutes, there are many realistic mid-week options. Photographs are simply styled and provide both incentive and guidance. In terms of ingredients, the basics are readily available and did not take up as much cupboard space as I expected. There are many recipes which would need a trip to a Chinese supermarket for authenticity, but alternatives are given and, particularly helpfully, there is advice on when it is just not worth trying to substitute.

From the perspective of someone who loves Chinese food yet somehow does not end up cooking it, Cooking with Gok was a revelation. Intensely-flavoured yet fresh dishes kept on emerging and the absence of the dreaded MSG aftertaste that usually heaps regret onto the end of a take-away evening was striking. I felt particular pride after my first attempt (Beef in Easy Tomato Sauce) which just happened to be a Saturday-night sofa meal and looked and tasted authentic, albeit without rain-sodden shoes kicked off nearby. As suggested, I paired Soy-Glazed Chicken with Spicy Cucumber and Spring Onion Salad and have found a quick, fresh and delicious meal which I will come back to again and again. I struggled with Aromatic Aubergine and Mushrooms to fit the aubergine into the sauce as it cooked, but the taste of my thinned-down version was great. Spicy Stir-Fried Prawns with Cashew Nuts was delicious and, despite the luxury of so many nuts, it was of course still cheaper than the typical take-away version. And anyone looking for a fast, delicious and truly healthy meal, the very last recipe in the book – Steamed Cod with Tenderstem Broccoli – is a must.

I have given Cooking with Gok a fuss-free rating of ****+. It delivers a broad range of accessible, straightforward and seriously tasty dishes as well as some challenges for rainy days. Gok’s popularity in other fields and the forthcoming TV series are likely to encourage those new to cooking Chinese food to have a go and if Cooking with Gok does not create a legion of happy converts, I can’t imagine what would.

Gok Cooks Chinese

Fuss Free Rating ****+

Gok Cooks Chinese is published by Michael Joseph, cover price £20

Thank you to Michael Joseph for the review copy which I gave to Fiona for the review.

My father’s favourite clue (he also does not do the cryptic crossword) is “Shiny Trousers? (15)”, the answer of course is “Notwithstanding”.   I was once very chuffed with myself when I sussed that “It’s a sad little motorcycle (5)” was “Moped”, but on the whole word games are not really my thing, although whilst cooking this I did come up with “This Asian fungus really has a laugh at your expense (8)”. 

“Shiitake” Yes – I know really not a good clue, but my thinking was that taking the shiitake was a step beyond taking the piss…   As I said word games are not my thing, and I am not expecting a glittering career as a crossword compiler on the strength of this blog post.

This dish came about last weekend when Radio 4′s Food Programme featured seaweed, which I adore, but have never really mentioned on the blog.   I suspect the nearest most people get to seaweed is as a sheet of nori around their sushi rolls and it is something that does not really feature in most diets, which is a shame.  If you have not tried seaweed then do give it a go, I am certain you will be surprised.

Seaweed or (a more digestible sounding) sea vegetables are packed with nutrients and minerals.  My favourite pick me up is a mug of miso soup sprinkled with sea vegetables and a dash of soy sauce, which I find incredibly restorative, and is just the ticket for the morning after the night before.

I get most of my Japanese ingredients from Clearspring, I find them top quality, the products are organic where they can be, and the misos and tamaris are delicious and made by Japanese artisans with centuries old methods.  They have a fairly comprehensive guide to the benefits of sea vegetables on their website too.

This dish is inspired by this tamari pasta with pak choi that I blogged almost two years ago, after having first met the Clearspring team at a food show.  I used Clearspring’s Sea Salad – a mix of dulse, sea lettuce and nori.  It rehydrates almost instantly and is also wonderful sprinkled over a green salad with a miso dressing.

Recipe: Shiitake Mushroom and Seaweed Noodles

Serves 2

10 dried shiitake mushrooms – pre soaked in boiling water for 20 minutes, drained and sliced
2 bundles of noodles – cooked as per packet instructions
1 tbs toasted sesame oil
2 spring onions sliced
1 tbs tamari or dark soy sauce
1 tbs dried seaweed flakes

In a large pan fry the sliced shiitake mushrooms and spring onions in the sesame oil.  When softened add the tamari and cooked noodles and stir until the noodles are coated.

Stir through the seaweed and serve immediately.

Season with extra soy sauce or tamari to taste.

My latest loaf is somewhat akin to a fruit and nut bar in bread form, although the chocolate is subtle and comes from cacao nibs baked into the loaf.

Cacao nibs are little pieces of unrefined chocolate, the main ingredient that is used with the addition of cacao butter, sugar and other ingredients to make bar chocolate.  They are hard, crunchy and bitter, with an intense hit of pure chocolate, my little pot came from Hotel Chocolat.  The baking somewhat softens and mellows them; I was surprised at just how well this loaf worked.

Delicious thickly spread with speculoos or a black cherry jam for breakfast or at tea time.

Recipe: Almond, Raisin and Chocolate Loaf

Makes 1 medium loaf (lasts the 2 of us 2 days)

Ingredients

300ml warm water
1 heaped tsp yeast (dried active – I used the one for hand baking)
300g strong white flour
175g strong brown bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbs oil – olive / rapeseed / hemp etc.
Generous handful raisins
Generous handful almonds – roughly chopped
Heaped tbs cacao nibs – or coursely grated chocolate

Pour the water into bowl, add the yeast and swirl to it is dissolved.  Add the other ingredients.

Knead with the dough hook attachment of your mixer on the lowest speed for about 4 minutes until a smooth stretchy dough has formed (if you knead by hand it will take longer).

Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for a few hours or  in the fridge overnight. It should more than double in size.

In the morning turn out onto a floured board and gently knock the dough back. Shape the loaf,  lace in an oiled and floured 1lb loaf tin.  Leave somewhere warm until doubled in size again.

Place in a preheated oven at GM7 / 220C / 425F and bake for about 40 minutes.   For a crustier loaf place a small dish of water in the oven under the loaf.

When it is done it should turn out of the tin and sound hollow when tapped.  It always takes longer to bake than you think it will, so my general rule of thumb is that if you are unsure give it another 5 mins.

The very pretty tea towel in the photos is from the Hope & Greenwood Homewares Collection.

Thanks to both Hotel Chocolat and Hope & Greenwood for samples.

Sending to this month’s We Should Cocoa where the theme is almonds, hosted this month by Laura at How to Cook Good Food.

And to Yeastspotting…

I rather suspect that the UK baking-blogsphere is going to go into overdrive with red, white and blue bakes for the Queen’s  forthcoming Diamond Jubilee celebrations.   I will certainly be whipping out the food colouring at some point, but here is a more natural bake, with the red, white and blue provided by raspberries, white chocolate and blueberries, and flavour from rose water.

The long Jubilee holiday and celebrations are actually marking the start of the 60th year after the actual Coronation, held in 1953, rather than the date of HM’s 60 years on the throne.    (She actually became Queen on the 6th February 1952 and the Coronation was 16 months later).

I am a huge fan of the humble, and under rated madeleine, almost invariably the ones you make at home taste far better than the ones that you buy – they are best consumed within 5 minutes of leaving the oven – they are highly photogenic (as better demonstrated in this post) and as you can make the batter in advance and leave it in the fridge for several days, it enables you to make fresh madeleines in the time it takes the oven to heat up and then to bake.

I was hoping that it would be clear which madeleines were which flavour, but of course the blueberries, raspberries and white chocolate drops sank into the batter, leading to a game of Madeleine Roulette with the finished cakes.   If you want the fillings to be visible then poke a few berries and chocolate drops onto them after 8 minutes in the oven.  If you do not have a madeleine tray then make them in fairy cake cases instead.

Due to a lack of kitchen cupboard space I “caster” my own sugar from granulated using a tip my mother taught me.   Simply put into your (clean) coffee or spice grinder and grind for the length of time it takes to say “Caster Sugar” or, I suppose, “Abracadabra”.

Recipe: Red, White and Blue Jubilee Madeleines

Makes 24

2 large eggs
90g caster sugar
100g plain flour
½ Tsp baking powder
75g butter – melted and cooled
1 tsp rose water
Pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)

Raspberries, Blueberries and White Chocolate drops

Whisk the eggs and sugar together until they have doubled in size and are light and fluffy. Slowly fold in the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the rose water. Slowly add in the melted butter, gently folding all the time. When mixed cover the bowl and put in the fridge for at least 30 mins, the batter should be foamy and full of air.

Cover and leave in the fridge for at least an hour to chill.

Put a dollop of the mixture into a well buttered madeleine tray, each mould should be about 2/3 full.  Sprinkle with berries or white chocolate drops.

Place in an oven at 375F/ 190C/ GM 5 for around 10 – 12  minutes until risen, golden and shrinking away from the edges of the mould.

Leave for a few minutes and then turn out.

The Madeleines are best enjoyed when still warm and crisp on the outside. They can be stored for a day but will lose that just cooked crisp outside.

The fantastic I Love UK Cake Stand, place mats and bunting are all from Premier Housewares.

I am sending my red, white and blue madeleines to Fleur’s Jubilee Baking Competition (sponsored by Appliances on Line (link))

And to Tea Time Treats where this month the theme is floral, hosted by Karen.

Breakfast Club has come home to Fuss Free Flavours this month and I am belatedly getting the announcement up.

World Fairtrade Day will be held this year on the 12th May, so what better theme for Breakfast Club than Fairtrade?

I am also delighted to have a prize of some Fairtrade coffee and teas donated by Steenbergs, who sell a vast range of organic and Fairtrade spices and teas and all manner of other ethical goods.

To take part, simply make a breakfast using one of more Fairtrade items!

• Mention Breakfast Club in your post and use the logo
• Add your entry to the linkie below
• Link to this post and the Breakfast Club page
• You are welcome to send in old recipes, but please add the information above and republish
• Entries can be sent to other events, but please respect their rules
• If you tweet please tweet using #blogbreakfastclub and mention me @fussfreeflavour
• Deadline 6th June 2012

Steenbergs will choose their favourite Fairtrade breakfast and send the prize out.

I am looking for hosts for August and beyond so please give me a shout if you would like to take part (helen at fussfreeflavours dot com)

My corn was from ZaraMama – named after the Incan Goddess of Grain – they stock a dozen different types of corn, with exotic and tasty sounding names such as creamy crunch, fiery amber and pink blossom.  A 90g bag costs just over £1 which will make two huge bowls full, still a bargain.

Delicious and morerish Speculoos spread is hard to describe, I only discovered it on my last trip to France.  It is Lotus biscuit paste in a jar.   Spicy and caramalised (remarkably Lotus biscuits account for a massive 20% of biscuit consumption in their home county of Belgium).  Perfect spread on toast, pancakes in cakes or sometimes it begs to be eaten straight from the jar with a spoon standing in front the still open cupboard.

Whenever I mention Speculoos on twitter I am sent a barrage of replies extolling its virtues and deliciousness, but, bizarrely it does not seem to be stocked by any of the UK supermarkets – I think we need a twitter campaign to lobby them to get it in store, although I wonder if it will lose at least some of its allure if its scarcity value goes?   I bought back 4 pots from France last November, carefully swaddled in a fleece at the bottom of my suitcase and have been rationing them ever since.   If you crave the taste, but do not have a jar of the paste, Steenbergs have a Koekkruidden spice blend which will give you the flavour at least.

Today I opened my last jar to make the popcorn, heaven in a bowl.

Recipe: Speculoos Popcorn

Serves 2

Scant glug vegetable oil
2oz / 1/4 cup popcorn

1 heaped tbs Speculoos Spread
1 heaped tbs butter
Good pinch sea salt

Place the oil and popcorn in a pan with a well fitting lid and put on a medium / high heat.   Swirl the pan every 20 seconds or so.    When the corn starts to pop turn the heat right down.

Meanwhile, melt the Speculoos spread and butter together and stir well, adding  sea salt to taste.

When the corn is popped pour the Speculoos sauce over and mix well.

Sit down with a good film and scoff

My translation of the ingredients seem to suggest the Speculoos is both egg and diary free, so substitute a non diary spread for a vegan adaptation.

One of the most frightening books that I have ever read is John Christoper’s The Death of Grass, which describes a future world in which a new strain of virus kills off grass.    It does not sound too bad, until you realise that rice, wheat and barley are all types of grass, and with the death of grass comes famine, the complete breakdown of civilisation and survival of those willing to kill.

As part of my degree I studied crop science, and was told that a huge percentage of rice grown in the world is from just a few strains.   I am all for selective breeding of crops; drought resistance, saline resistance and shorter stems can all be desirable characteristics, but creating a monoculture also increases the risk of one variety of a crop being susceptible to, or decimated by pest or disease.

The topic could easily take up several blog posts, and is something that I would like to return to in the future, but I was reminded of The Death of Grass, and associated potential problems of monocultures when I bought a packet of Doves Farm Einkorn flour.

Doves Farm have devoted a great deal of time and resources into growing Einkorn and turning it into a commercial crop.   Einkorn was the original wheat, first developed over 20,000 years ago.   Its yield is lower than modern wheats, and consequently it costs more.  It is a golden colour, and the flour smells of fresh hay.  Who knows what properties are locked into its genome that could benefit modern wheat and farmers?   I feel we should be profoundly thankful to Doves Farm for resurrecting this grain and making it available to us.

Einkorn Flour Bag - Photo from Doves Farm

I have to confess that I did not get on that well with the einkorn the first time I made bread with it, I used 100% and the loaf was heavy and vaguely worthy.    This time I mixed it with some standard bread flour and the resulting loaf was a huge success – full of substance without being heavy, an even crumb, and a lightly nutty toasted flavour.  I am a convert and will be trying it in cakes and a pizza base.

I am rarely taken by surprise by a product, but the Natural Selection Californian raisins did just that.  On the packet I was promised “deliciously sweet jumbo raisins with a beautiful crimson colour”, and in the manner of Ronseal doing exactly what it says on the tin, they did exactly what it said on the packet and more.   These raisins really are jumbo; I would venture to say woolly mammoth sized  – most are larger than my thumbnail – and are indeed the most glorious crimson colour and totally delicious.  A handful was perfect to add to the loaf.

Recipe: Heritage Einkorn Loaf with Crimson Raisins

Makes 1 medium loaf (lasts the 2 of us 2 days)

Ingredients

300ml warm water
1 heaped tsp yeast (dried active – I used the one for hand baking)
275g strong white flour
175g einkorn flour
1 vitamin C tablet – finely ground with a spoon of the flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbs oil – olive / rapeseed / hemp etc.
Generous handful raisins

Pour the water into bowl, add the yeast and swirl to it is dissolved.  Add the other ingredients.

Knead with the dough hook attachment of your mixer on the lowest speed for about 4 minutes until a smooth stretchy dough has formed (if you knead by hand it will take longer).

Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge overnight. It should more than double in size.

In the morning turn out onto a floured board and gently knock the dough back.  Place in an oiled and floured 1lb loaf tin.  Leave somewhere warm until doubled in size again.

Place in a preheated oven at GM7 / 220C / 425F and bake for about 40 minutes.   For a crustier loaf place a small dish of water in the oven under the loaf.

When it is done it should turn out of the tin and sound hollow when tapped.  It always takes longer to bake than you think it will, so my general rule of thumb is that if you are unsure give it another 5 mins.

Sending this to this month’s…

Bake Your Own Bread – hosted by Girlichef…

.. and to Yeastspotting.

… and this month’s Fresh From the Oven where the host is Sarah, with a challenge of Fruit Breads.

… and Alphabakes, run by Ros and Caroline, this month the letter is H (hosted by Caroline), which fits perfectly with heritage wheat

I firmly believe that if you eat a wide variety of food, which has not been mucked about with, and you heap the fruit and vegetables onto your plate, then you cannot really go far wrong with your diet?

Bit by bit for various reasons we are eating less and less animal products (this is discussion for another post) but fish is a weekly treat.   I make sure that the fish we eat is sustainable, preferably approved by the Marine Stewardship Council, for a guilt free and delicious meal.

In this easy sea bass dish, I simply fried the bass and served it on a bed of wilted greens which I had tossed in some olive oil infused with Asian spices.    Speedy, delicious and deceptively simple.  To make preparation even quicker you can make the infused oil the evening before.   I would serve this for a weekday supper, or visit the Chinese supermarket for a selection of Asian green veggies, and serve with some steamed jasmine rice and some top quality soy sauce for a slightly grander meal. Adjust spices and seasonings in the olive oil to your taste.

Like this recipe I am aiming for super speedy blog posts, so here we go.

Recipe: Sea Bass with Asian Greens

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic – smashed
Handful coriander – including the stalks*
2 dried chillies
2 star anise
Few strips of lemon zest
Slice or two of fresh ginger
Pinch cumin
1/4 cup / 60 ml light olive oil

Knob of butter
2 fillets of sea bass – mine were from the Saucy Fish company

Large pile assorted greens – cabbage, broccoli, pak choi, spring onions.

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

Place garlic, herbs and spices into a small pan and cover with the oil and gently heat.  From time to time give the solid ingredients a good bash with a wooden spoon to extract as much flavour as possible.   Once infused strain and set to one side.

Meanwhile shred your greens, place in a colander and pour a kettle of boiling water over them to wilt them.

Melt the butter and a tiny glug of oil together in a frying pan on a medium heat.  Once hot fry the sea bass skin side down for 3 minute, flip and fry for another 2 or 3 minutes.

Once the sea bass goes in the pan heat the remainder of the infused oil in a wok and add the greens.  Toss together for a few minutes.

Serve the fish on top of the greens. Garnish with a slice of lemon and some shredded spring onion.

*I often free stalks when using the leaves for something else.

Many thanks to Fish is the Dish and the Saucy Fish company for my Sea Bass.   Here is another fuss free fish recipe – Baked cod with antipasti.

Good Heavens have been making yogurt in Middlesex for over 20 years.  The drinking yogurt range has 10 flavours, 4 organic, 6 non organic.

All are probiotic, nicely sour, and the drinks are thick, but not so thick that you feel you are missing out on the remains coating the inside of the bottle.

Salted Caramel

Yum yum yum and delicious were our first reactions. Great caramel and salt, neither too intense, balanced by the sharp, slightly sour yogurt. Great flavour balance and nice length of aftertaste.

Lemon & Poppy Seed

Delicious fresh, zesty and citrus filled. Refreshing and the yogurt was nicely sour. Poppy seeds looked good but were superfluous, getting stuck in the teeth.

Apple & Pear

This did not rock my boat. Small chunks of apple and pear, that somehow tasted slightly chemical to me. I love pears, but tend to not like pear in things.

Vanilla

Fairly neutral, with a subtle flavour – maybe some flecks of vanilla seed would have improved appearance.

Strawberry

Fruity and fresh.  Tasted just as it should have natural freshly picked strawberries.

RRPs of £1.69/£2.10 respectively.  The drinks are now available in 230 Tesco Express and Metros – other stockists Selfridges; Harrods; Sourced Market (St. Pancras); Whole Foods Market; the Camden Food Company (8 London train stations, plus Birmingham and Leeds) and As Nature Intended.

Thank you to Good Heavens for my samples.

Happy St George’s Day! Have a St George’s fairy cake decorated with English glace icing.

I was going to bake “properly” for St George, but time ran out.  Happily I had “emergency” fairy cakes and the freezer and mixing up a batch of glace icing is both speedy and fuss free.   Also there are all sorts of new and exciting filters within Picasa which have gone someway to almost rescuing my photo.

The board and tea towel are samples for my planned Jubilee Food extravaganza!

Board is stocked by Top Gourmet & Mad About the Pad.

Tea Towel is one of a set of 3 from Sabichi, £6.