It is as American as apple pie.  Although I find it nigh on impossible to look at an apple pie without sniggering or muttering “Band Camp” to myself.

Thanksgiving is held on the 4th Thursday of November, which this year is the 24th.   Similarly to harvest festivals held throughout Europe, the first American Thanksgiving was held to celebrate the harvest and a year in a new land by the European settlers who had arrived on the Mayflower a year before.

Traditions abound, the President pardons a turkey, then presumably will sit down for dinner usually consisting of the pardoned turkey’s less fortunate cousin.    Cranberry sauce accompanies the turkey and pumpkin pie is served for pudding.

The cranberries and pumpkin pie gave me the inspiration for these cupcakes, which are based on Sarah’s recipe.   Rather than use tinned pumpkin pie mix I roasted a pumpkin and blitzed it with milk with a stick blender, left over pumpkin is delicious in smoothies.

In an effort to get more done last night I switched off the phone and laptop and went cold (Thanksgiving) turkey on twitter, blogs and the internet in general.    I have to admit that I twitched just a little bit and tried to reach for my Blackberry more than once, but feel refreshed after 12 hours off grid.    I am fairly sure that our brains are not designed for such constant stimulation?

Cakes were baked last night.    Buttercream coloured and prepped and fondant stars cut.   All ready for assembly this morning.

The eagle eyed will see there are only 11 cakes. We had to test one of the 12 last night!

I had a big batch of buttercream in the fridge ready for colouring (Sarah’s idea) it keeps for ages.    I reckon that you need just over an ounce per cake.  I use gel colours, the liquid ones change the consistency too much, particularly when you are aiming for a darker colour.    Disposable piping bags are an essential, I try to live a green a life as possible, and I hate the use once aspect to them, but really life is too short to wash a piping bag!  Use disposable and be extra diligent on sorting your recycling to assuage any guilt.   Klippits (from Lakeland) are essential for sealing the buttercream into the bag until you are ready to use it.

Recipe: Spiced Pumpkin & Cranberry Cupcakes for Thanksgiving

For the cupcakes – makes 12 small

55g butter or baking marge – I use Stork
120g sugar – soft brown
1 egg – free range please
35g roasted pumpkin
55ml milk
1/2 tsp lemong juice
125g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Handful dried cranberries

Cream the butter and sugar together with a hand held mixer or in your stand mixer.   Put the pumpkin, milk and lemon into a container and whizz with a stick blender.    Add to the butter and sugar mixture together with an egg.  Mix well.

Sieve the flour, baking powder and spices and fold into the batter.   Fold in the cranberries.

Line a bun tin with fairy cake cases.   Fill each case 2/3 with batter and bake at 190C / GM 5 for about 12 minutes.

The buns are done when risen and springy.

For the buttercream

75g butter
250g icing sugar
Food colourings
1tsp vanilla extract
1  – 2 tbs milk

The secret to fluffy buttercream is to beat the butter really well before you add any sugar.     I have also recently learnt the hand trick of making butter cream in the food processor to prevent the kitchen being covered in clouds of icing sugar.     You can make it with a hand mixer, but will need to add the icing sugar slowly to the butter.

Put the butter in the food processor bowl and process for a minute or so, until soft and fluffy.   Pour in the icing sugar and milk, put the lid back on and cover with a damp tea towel, and process again.   Scrape the sides down, add your vanilla and colouring, and more milk or icing sugar if needed and process again.

Pipe red and blue roses onto each cake and sprinkle with white fondant stars.

If buttercream is too sweet for you make a crunchy lemon topping by mixing equal volumes of lemon juice and caster sugar, stirring well and spooning over the cakes.

Click for a printable recipe.

Happy Thanksgiving!

As these contain ginger I am sending them to the inaugural Teatime Treats hosted by Karen of Lavender and Lovage and Kate of What Kate Baked, where the November theme is ginger and bonfires.

Morrisons supermarket recently contacted me and asked me to join their British beef challenge.    A box of seasonal vegetables duly arrived and I set off to Morrisons for my beef.

I have to confess that I am not generally a Morrisons shopper, purely because there is not one within walking distance of my flat.   My mother uses Morrisons on the occasions that she is near one, and is always very impressed with the shop, customer service and products.

A while back Morrisons launched their “market street” concept, stores within the store where shoppers could buy their bread from a baker, fish from a fishmonger and meat from a butcher.   I was delighted to discover that all the fresh lamb, pork and beef sold in the 376 Morrisons stores nationwide is British sourced, so Morrisons shoppers do not have to scrutinise the label to choose British meat and support British farmers.    In the Fuss Free kitchen we do not eat that much meat, but when we do we want it to be of great quality and taste and the meat I bought delivered on both.

I was really impressed with my Morrisons experience, although on a Saturday afternoon the store was crowded, busy staff were impeccably polite, helpful and knowledgable.    Usually I find shopping in a different supermarket a fairly stressful experience as everything takes longer as I never know where anything is, helpful staff made it less of a chore.

The butcher was fantastic, helpful and knowledgable.   He went to get a new piece of beef for me so I could get the size of fillet I wanted, and then when I told him I would get another piece for the freezer he offered to wrap it ready for freezing (the Morrisons meat is wrapped in thick paper, rather than plastic).

All in all a great experience.  Prices are keen, I especially noticed how competitive the fruit and vegetables were, and their quality was excellent.   The piece of beef fillet I bought was about £12 and was more than enough for both of us.

I wanted to create a traditional British dish with my beef, but also give it a Fuss Free kitchen twist, playing with the flavours and making it a bit lighter.   I hit upon a modern Beef Wellington, but using filo pastry to make it lighter and added some Asian flavours of sesame, soy and cumin to the traditional mushroom duxelles.   By swapping filo for the traditional shortcrust you are removing calorific butter and gaining a heap of crunch and texture.

I served this with a maple and cumin sweet potato and carrot mash and sautéed pak choi.   Delicious, and definitely something to be repeated, the beef was delicious, and meltingly tender.

Recipe: Asian Inspired Filo Beef Wellington

Serves 2

300g / 12oz fillet of beef

For the mushroom duxelles

200g / 8oz mixed mushrooms – I used a mix of shiitake, chestnut and standard
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbs sesame oil
1 tsp ground cumin
Pinch ground chilli (optional)
1/2 star anise
2 tbs dark soy sauce

4 sheets filo pastry*

Preheat the oven to 220C / 425F/ GM7.  Put the fillet into an oiled roasting dish and season with salt and pepper.   Cook for 12 mins (rare) or 15 (medium) – timings will vary depending on the size and shape of your fillet.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Meanwhile finely chop the mushrooms and garlic (or pulse in the food processor).  Sauté in the sesame oil in a frying pan with the spices.   When the mushroom is reduced add the soy sauce and cook again for a few minutes.   Season to taste and allow to cool.

The trick when working with filo pastry is to be swift, and not leave it uncovered as once it starts to dry out it becomes stiff and brittle.    Place one sheet on a baking tray and spread out a layer of the mushrooms (discard the star anise) about the same shape and size of the beef.    Place the beef on top of the mushrooms and wrap the filo around the meat.     Place your filo parcel on to another sheet and repeat.    Drape the last sheet of filo over your filo parcel and wrap so all the edges are underneath and you have a neat filo bundle.

Gently transfer to a baking tray and bake at 200C / 400 / GM6 for about 20 mins (rare) or 25 (medium).  If the pastry starts to go too brown cover with a pice of foil towards the end of cooking.

When done slice and serve immediately, with the mash and pak choi sautéed in a little soy sauce.

* wrap leftovers well in cling film to freeze.

Recipe: Maple and Cumin Sweet Potato and Carrot Mash

Serves 2

1 large sweet potato
1 large carrot
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbs maple syrup
Salt & pepper to taste

Peel and chop the sweet potato and carrot into 1″ chunks.  Place in a pan of water and bring to the boil, simmer for about 25 mins until soft.

Drain, add the cumin and maple syrup and mash until smooth.

I think that this would also be delicious with pumpkin or butternut squash either in place or in addition to either vegetable.

Thank you to Morrisons for asking me to take part in the challenge and providing the ingredients.

I suspect that it is not going to be BBQ weather this August Bank Holiday weekend.   At least not in London.   I would have gladly forgone this year’s glorious May for better weather this August.

So in the absence of the BBQ, I suggest this magnificent pulled pork, which is one of the best things that I have made for ages.

I made this using my hand of Gloucester Old Spot that I had been given on my visit to Jimmy’s Farm.   The method is based on this recipe by Kevin and Amanda.   Tender, melting soft, spicy strands of pork.   Perfect for banishing the damp Bank Holiday blues.     It does take 36 hours to make, but hands on time is very little.

Recipe: Perfect Asian Spiced Pulled Pork

You need to start this recipe 36 hours before you want to eat. The actual hands on time is very very little. The brining makes the pork incredibly tender.

Serves 10 -12

Ingredients

3 – 4 kg / 7 – 9 lb piece of pork on the bone
6 tbs salt
6 tbs brown sugar
4 bay leaves

For the Spice Mix

1 tbs ground chilli
2 star anise – ground
1 tbs cumin – ground
1 tbs coriander seed – ground
6 cloves garlic – smashed
1 tbs miso paste – I used barley miso
1 tbs sea salt
2 tbs soy sauce
4 tbs brown sugar

Method

Put all the ingredients for the spice mix into a bowl and mix well.

Remove the skin from the pork, and find a casserole that it fits into – I used my preserving pan. Dissolve the salt, sugar into a 2 litres of water and stir in 3 tbs of the spice rub. Pour over the pork and leave to soak for 24 hours in a cool place. If you buy your pork in advance and will be freezing it remove the skin before freezing. I put my frozen pork in the brine, so it brined and defrosted at the same time.

After 24 hours remove the pork, and dry it off with some kitchen paper. Rub the remainder of the spice mix well into the meat. If needed tie the joint up with some kitchen string.

Place the meat in your slow cooker or crockpot and cook on high for 2 hours, then turn down to low for another 10, baste the meat occasionally. I cooked with the lid ajar for the last few hours. Alternative place in the oven on the lowest setting and cook in a heavy casserole dish.  If I want the pork for dinner I start cooking it first thing, for lunch I cook it overnight.

I found that lots of juice came out of mine so I skimmed if off and froze it for stock.

When done remove the joint from the slow cooker, and shred the meat with two forks.

Serve on a bun with mayonnaise and BBQ sauce.

Freezes well.

Click for a printable recipe for  Perfect Pulled Pork.

With the advent of summer come the salad bags from the fruit and vegetable co-op.    As much as I love a traditional mayonnaise potato salad, they can get a little boring and they need a makeover to keep my interest.   One variation was to add cucumber, mint and yogurt but delicious as it is, it is still fairly similar to the mayonnaise based salad.

Several months ago I held a miso tasting, where a gaggle of food bloggers gathered in my flat and we tasted our way though Clearspring’s miso range, it was a fantastic and hilarious evening, as a result I am long on miso, with enough to keep me going for at least the next 12 months. Whisking up some miso with other Japanese ingredients made a deliciously different dressing for my potatoes,  salty, tangy and packing a massive umami punch, a dish that certainly will be repeated the next time the sun comes out.

Recipe: Miso Potato Salad

This is more of an idea than a recipe, adapt according to what vegetables you have in the fridge.

Ingredients

Salad Potatoes – cooked and sliced
Handful French Beans – optional

For the Dressing

Equal quantities of

Brown miso (I used barley)
Tamari or soy sauce
Lemon Juice
Sesame Oil
Mirim
Tahini – optional to thicken

Method

Whisk the dressing ingredients together. I know tahini is not Japanese, but it thickens the dressing nicely.

Steam the beans for 2 minutes and then plunge into cold water

Pour the dressing over the potatoes and beans and mix well

I topped with some furikake (a mix of sesame seeds and ground seaweed – it can contain fish – so read the label if you are vegetarian)

Keeps in the fridge for a few days and is delicious for a packed lunch.

Click here for a printable version

We are currently away, house and gerbil sitting in Cheltenham.   The last time I looked after gerbils was when I was 7 and had my school gerbils for the weekend.   Much to my disappointment one of them barely moved and slept for the entire time.   Very boring.   Then the following weekend, much to my mother’s relief that it was on someone else’s watch, it died.

These gerbils are younger and full of life, they belong to E’s seven year old niece H.   They are much loved and desperately wanted first pets.  It is an amusement to give them the cardboard inner of a loo roll and watch them frenziedly chew through it in about 30 seconds.

Having had the gerbils for a couple of months H put them into the (empty) bath to run around so their cage could be cleaned out.    H’s five year old brother (who is several inches taller than his sister) decided to climb into the bath to play with them.    You can probably guess what happened.   One of the poor unfortunate creatures was accidentally stepped on and squashed, and cue two hysterical children.    Fortunately a replacement gerbil was successfully introduced as a companion to the survivor.

Consequently the burden of gerbil responsibility weighs heavily upon me, and as much as I would like to put them into the exercise ball and watch them run around, the thought it bouncing down the stairs and the gerbils escaping fills me with horror and instead I treble check the cage is secure every time I walk past.

For this month’s random recipes Dom has set the challenge of cooking a random recipe from your favourite recipe book.  As I am not at home, I do not have my favourite book (which would be something by Skye Gyngell, Prepped or the Nordic Bakery Book) so I have selected a random book and made a random recipe from it.   The book I plucked from the shelf was A Feast for the Eyes, evocative recipes and surprising tales inspired by paintings in the National Gallery, by Gillian Riley, which I hope is suitably random?

I opened the book at page 73, and found Risi and Bisi, a simple risotto-eque dish with peas and flavoured with Parma ham.     Perfect for showcasing fresh peas.

Risi and Bisi

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
400g (scant 3 cups) risotto rice
400ml (1 2/3 cups) good chicken stock, more or less
1 kg (generous 2lbs) fresh young peas (weigh before shelling) shelled
1 slice Parma ham, cut into small pieces
Salt & Pepper
freshly grated Parmesan to serve

Method

Soften the onion in the butter and oil.  Stir in the rice.  Pour over the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 10 mins.  Add the peas and Parma ham, bring to the boil again, and simmer until done, adding more stock if it seems to be getting dry.

Season with salt & pepper if necessary.   Take off the lid and let some of the liquid evaporate if it seems too runny.  Dot with a little butter just before serving with the Parmesan.

This was OK, but I feel could have been greatly improved following the usual method of making a risotto, adding the stock slowly, stirring as you go, rather than boiling with the lid on.    I also added garlic when frying the onion, and a good glug of wine.

In the spirit of taking part in more food blog events (which I wrote about yesterday) I am also sending this to Ren, at Fabulicious Food for Simple and In Season.

There is still time to enter this month’s Breakfast Club!  The theme is cereal!

Yesterday I reviewed the Mighty Spice Cookbook and promised a recipe from it, so here you are.

This was delicious, I used some of my Morrison’s father’s day rump steak rather than the fillet suggested in the recipe, which I was very impressed with.   Both tender and flavoursome, far better quality than I am used to from supermarket meat.

I have also come to realise that ginger is essential in any vaguely Chinese based recipe to give a full and rounded flavour.   The balsamic vinegar is an interesting addition, adding a modern flavour and some sourness.   I’ll be making variations on this recipe again and again.

Stir-Fried Beef with Black Pepper & Basil

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tbs vegetable oil
500g / 1lb 2oz beef fillet, finely sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2.5cm / 1 in piece root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
a pinch of sugar
1 tbs light soy sauce
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 large handful basil leaves, roughly torn

Method

Heat a wok over a high heat and add the oil.  Once hot add the sliced beef and stir-fry or 1-2 mins, or until turning golden brown.

Add the garlic, ginger & black pepper and stir-fry for another minute, then add the sugar, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and basil leaves.  Mix well and serve immediately.

Recipe reproduced with kind permission from DBP

Come back tomorrow for the chance to win one of three copies of Mighty Spice!

We gathered at the hotel for some delicious fizz and canapes to fortify us against the weather, fortunately most of the rain came when we were still at the hotel.

The Cheltenham Food & Drink Festival is now in its 4th year, and is a delightful event which has not yet got too popular with the larger brands with their marketing budgets to match. It is lovely to see both smaller & local companies who have made the choice to exhibit at Cheltenham rather than at the larger, and presumably more expensive, BBC Good Food Show and Taste of London which are both also happening this weekend.

For a very reasonable £6 for a ticket you will have rather more money to spend at the show, which will benefit the exhibitors and not leave you feeling short changed by high entrance fees!

Firstly we were treated to a cookery demonstration by Tom Rains, head chef at the Montpellier Chapter, who cooked Asian Lamb, which I ate at the hotel several weeks ago (recipe below), and some rosti salmon and haddock fish cakes.

All in all the festival felt more like a large farmer’s market, with none of the money making vibe that is sometimes present at the larger shows.    It was busy, but not unmanageably crowded.     Some things that caught my eye were:

I have got a little bored of cupcakes recently, but I think that these beautiful creations from Crumpet, are a refreshing take on a cake genre that is perhaps a little jaded?

Herbal Heaven had at least 10 different types of mint for sale, most of which I had not seen before.

Australian olive oil and balsamic is something I have not seen before, and would make a good present for an oil lover?   Both were very pleasant indeed and are on sale at The Food Emporium, both in plain and flavoured varieties.

At every show I go to there seem to be more and more people selling their own rapeseed oil.    As well as being a gorgeous colour a good cold pressed oil is delicious, can also be used to fry as it has a high flash point and also has fewer air miles than other oils.   I bought plain and smoked oils from Cotswold Gold.

I could not resist these beautiful British cherries from Global Orchard, the first of the crop picked yesterday morning.  Juicy and delicious!   We ate all of our bag on the walk home!

If you are a quince fan, do go and look at Quince Products, who sell all things quince; marmalade, jelly & cheese.   Quince is generally underrated but I am an ardent fan and am lucky enough to have a supply from my mother’s tree.

Do make a note in your diary to visit next year.

Asian Lamb Cutlets

Serves 4

12 plump lamb cutlets

For the marinade

150ml light soy sauce

50ml sesame oil

1 clove of peeled crushed garlic

1/2 a peeled and chopped onion

50g fresh ginger peeled and sliced

1 juice of orange

1 juice of lemon

25g brown sugar

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground turmeric

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper.

Liquidize all the ingredients for the marinade and then pour through a sieve.  Lay the cutlets in a suitable dish and pour over the marinade. Move the cutlets around with your hands so  they are evenly coated with the mixture and place in the fridge for 24 hours.

To cook, shake off any excess liquid. Lay onto a plate ready for cooking.  Heat your large frying pan with some oil, or BBQ. Place your cutlets into the pan on onto the BBQ and cook at a high heat for about 4-5 minutes.  You want them slightly blackened but still pink on the inside.

Serve with an Asian salad and a drizzle of marinade over the lamb.

Thank you to Tom Rains for letting me publish his recipe.

Thank you to the Montepellier Chapter and to Garden Events for a most enjoyable day.

I am a huge fan of Japanese flavours, and put some together to make this tasty salmon, which is perfect for a quick fuss free supper.

I love quickly cooked dishes that have been marinated.  Lots of flavour for barely any effort.  What could be better than that?   Simply whip up your marinade the night before, in the morning, or even an hour before cooking.   The longer it marinates, the stronger the flavour will be.

My top marinating tip is freeze your meat or fish in the marinade, then leave to slowly defrost in the fridge for 24 hours before cooking.   Can you get more fuss free than that?

Recipe: Miso Salmon Steaks

Serves 2

Juice half a lemon
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 dsp tamari or soy sauce
1 dsp dark miso – I used Clearspring’s rice miso
1 clove garlic – crushed
1/2 green chilli finely chopped (vary the amount to taste)
Several sprigs of coriander – chopped

2 Salmon steaks

Whisk together all the marinade ingredients and pour over the salmon, cover and place in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

When ready to cook, drain the salmon (keeping the marinade).  Add a glug of oil to a pan and fry skin side down for about 4 minutes, until the skin is crispy.  Flip the salmon and cook for another minute or so until done.    Put the salmon onto a warm plate, add the marinade to the pan and boil on a high heat for a minute until reduced and sticky.

Serve with seasonal vegetables, with the sauce poured over.

Yum!

This noodle filled sushi is a delicious twist on the more traditional rice based sushi, and just as scrumptious, although not at all easy to roll.

I cannot claim any credit for these, the original idea was from Clearspring, and the recipe can be found here.   I substituted salty tangy umeboshi paste for the pungent sinus clearing wasabi; as well as the soba, my rolls contained sesame and tamari shiitake mushrooms.    I have also made these with avocado filling.

Dipped in tamari they were the perfect pre-tasting nibble for a group of food bloggers that gathered at my flat last week, to sample our way through the entirety of Clearspring’s Miso range.

Despite these being more of an idea than a recipe I am sending them to this week’s Presto Pasta Night #205, hosted by Debbie Does Dinner.   Last week’s host, Sarah, enjoyed these with us and I am sorry I did not manage to get them to her round up in time.   A trip to a sugar craft exhibition (which will be blogged soon) intervened.

I’ll also get the miso tasting notes up soon, and some recipes using them!

Thanks to Clearspring to sending me all the ingredients to make these.

This is the strangest and irrational dough recipe but it always works.

There are two key factors about achieving a good dough that do NOT apply here:

1. Never mix yeast directly with the salt. Exactly the opposite is what you have to do here. Since the salt kills the yeast when in direct contact we are using double amount of the yeast than we would usually use for this amount of flour.
2. Leave the dough to temper for an hour or two after taking out of the fridge. Not here. Work with the dough directly when out of the fridge. It’s essential for the dough to be cold, otherwise the butter will start to melt and absorb more flour which isn’t desired.

We must specify that this isn’t the original recipe, it’s our version of the recipe. The original recipe uses margarine and the fat is in bigger amounts, but we don’t use margarine and have always made it according to this version.

Notes: For mixing and kneading the dough, normally, we are using electric mixer equipped with the dough hooks. But it could either be used a wooden spoon. If needed at the end we are turning it a couple of times by hand, but to be honest I prefer not to touch it in order not to soften the butter too much with the warmth of my hands.
It have happened to me to decide to make the dough impromptu with butter directly out of the fridge. In this case it was enough just to cut the butter into small cubes (1 cm). Do not melt the butter.

Khrushchev Dough Recipe:

• 40 gr fresh yeast (or 10 gr powdered dry yeast + 30 gr water);
• 10 gr salt;
• 250 ml cold milk(directly from the fridge);
• 150 gr unsalted butter, cut in small cubes, room temperature(NOT melted);
• 1 Tbsp sugar;
• 500 gr all purpose flour + additional for the counter;

If using fresh yeast: Using an ordinary tablespoon rub the salt through the yeast block till it becomes liquid.

If using dry yeast: Mix salt and dry yeast, then add the water.

Add in the milk, butter, sugar and sift the flour on top. Mix with an electric mixer equipped with the dough hooks till all the ingredients are combined and soft dough forms. A wooden spoon could either be used. Cover the bowl with an airtight lid or plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.

The dough becomes firm in the fridge (since the butter goes firm) but it does rise slowly. Although the original recipe says it doesn’t, we are making it every quite often for more than five years, and it always rises, not as much as the other doughs but it rises nicely.

The next morning, dust the counter with flour, place the dough on top, roll it out and shape it as you like. Work the dough as soon as you take it out of the fridge. If needed divide it in two or three parts and place one part in the fridge while you are forming the other.

We’ve never freezed the dough but according to the Russian forums there’s no problem of doing so after the overnight proofing in the fridge. When you want to use it, leave it overnight in the fridge to defreeze.

Mine were very similar to the kiflice, that I made in November, and the barely rose, I think that the fact that I ran out of time and left the dough in the fridge for several days may have had something to do with it!   I stuffed them with a mix of feta, herbs and paprika, and they were delicious.

A few are in the freezer ready to be baked, it will be interesting to see how they come out!  Thanks to Mushiza for an interesting challenge and I am looking forward to seeing what February brings!