For Ellie and Charlie

Two of our bestest and loveliest friends got married on Saturday and unfortunately we couldn't make it , dog sitters were all away and we had to work. In order to celebrate we decided to have a special meal in their honour. Now Ellie and Charlie love food (though you wouldn't think so to look at them!) and Ellie is off to study at Leith's in September so the food had to be good.

We started with salmon quenelles with mixed leaves and homemade mustard mayonnaise. I had never had quenelles before though the husband had. The recipe is quite bizarre, you make choux pastry and mix salmon , herbs, black pepper and lemon zest to the dough then really chill it down   then mix in cream. The mixture is then poached in salted water with a little white wine. Mayonnaise is easy to make and I had loads of spare egg yokes left so mayonnaise was an ideal way to use them. Beat the yolks for about five minutes until they become thready then dribble in olive oil drop by drop whilst beating well. The Kenwood is perfect for this and is my most used gadget. Its about 30 years old and was given to me by my mother in law after my original one; bought by my mum in 1974; gave up the ghost when the motor burnt out!  Back to the mayo,  dribble in the olive oil about 1/4 pint to a yolk and keep beating till it emulsifies. Then add a large dollop of mustard and chill till ready to use.

For main course we had roast duck with roast veg and potatoes. I usually just stick the duck in the oven and leave it to cook at 180 for 20 minutes per pound plus 20 minutes. It comes out OK but not brilliantly. This time I decided to follow the amazing Julia Child's recipe. Remove the wish bone  then put thyme salt and pepper in the cavity. Pop on a baking tray and roast at 250 for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 180 and turn the duck onto its side, cook for 30 minutes then turn onto the other side for 30 minutes. Then pop it onto its back and sprinkle the breast with salt for the remaining cooking time. When ready rest for at least 20 minutes. The potatoes and parsnips were par boiled then for about 5 minutes then rolled in semolina, goose fat, salt and pepper and roasted for 45 minutes.
The duck was fantastic all of it being moist and melt in the mouth rather than some bits dry and a bit stringy and crunchy on the outside fluffy on the inside potatoes and parsnips.

For dessert we had meringue with strawberries and basil cream. I hate making meringues, they always seem to come out too crispy or too chewy. On Saturday I thought we were going to have chocolate meringues done in the usual way beaten egg whites then add sugar and beat like mad when it gets peaky and stiff add cocoa powder, turn it out and bake for an hour on a low heat. It all went wrong and came out like a brick . Sunday morning 6am lets start again. I did think at the time that I should find a reliable recipe so I sat down with Nigella, Julia et al piled around me and eventually plump for Julia Child's recipe in Volume 2 of Mastering the Art of French Cookery. The only reason I fell for that one is because it looked interesting. The sugar was boiled with a little water till it became stringy when dropped into cold water. This was then added to the beaten egg whites with a pinch of salt and a pinch of cream of tartar. Baked in the oven at 120 for 2 hours. Strawberries and meringue you cant go wrong with and a friend had told us about strawberries with basil. A bit sceptical to start with but you have to try everything once. I whizzed cream with fresh basil and a little sugar. It was a revelation the freshness of the basil really brings out the flavour of the strawberries and the meringue was crisp on the outside and deliciously chewy on the inside . Perfect!
I think Ellie and Charlie would have enjoyed it and may they have a long and happy life together!

Saturdays Dinner

So on Saturday night we had some friends over to stay from Shrewsbury, we only see them about once a year and they are real foodies so pull all the stops out.
The plan for the meal was Salad Niscoise with seared tuna and poached quails eggs followed by deboned and stuffed chicken, fennel with parmesan, vichie carrots, runner beans,and fried new potatoes followed by lemon and almond tart and homemade cheese and biscuits. All set. So Thursday I go to Global Fruits in the Buttermarket where I buy all my veg, the only shop in Ipswich to stock quails eggs and they hadn't had their delivery that week. We went back on Friday to see if it had arrived and no quails eggs again. Rethink , rethink until on Saturday morning the lovely Dan from aforesaid shop rang to say they had got some in and would deliver them round to work in the afternoon. Star!!!!

So Salad Niscoise with finley sliced tuna steak, seared for a few seconds, to cut the tuna really thinly pop it in the freezer for about 1/2 hour before you cut it. Quails eggs if you have ever tried to break one have a really thin shell but a tough membrane so you have to saw a little nick into them with a serated knife without nicking the yolk. (several did get nicked and put aside for another day!) Pop them into boiling salted water for 2 minutes then out into a bowl of cold water. Just before serving pop them back into boiling water for 30 seconds. Toss the salad of new potatoes, tomatoes, cucumber and leaves with classic dressing, place the quails eggs and tuna on the top and hoorah there we go delicious!

Next course deboned and stuffed chicken, it sounds like an occult mystery to debone a chicken but there are loads of films of it on youtube and its quite easy if not a little fiddley. Stuffed with a pork layer and a chicken liver pate layer and then baked in the oven for a couple of hours. It really needs to be rested for at least 45 minutes before carving. Served with slices of fried new potatoes, vichie carrots which are glazed with butter and sugar, runner beans and fennel with parmesan. Fennel isn't really my favourite vegetable , too aniseedy and sweet. However the halved fennel bulbs were braised in the oven for an hour with chopped fennel stalks, butter and white wine. When done the bulbs are removed and placed in a dish cut side up. Parmesan is then mixed with some of the strained juice and spread on the top with more grated parmesan, grill for 5 minutes till golden. Fantastic, don't knock it till you try it! the sharpness of the parmesan really counterbalances the sweetness of the fennel. A definate must again!

Finally Lemon and almond tart from Julia Child's Mastering the art of French cooking.  A crispy pastry with an almondand lemon custardy filling baked and left to go cold. Julia puts a lemon syrup on the top but I thought that would be too sweet so just sprinkled some lemon zest and marigold petals on the top. Apart from the slightly rustic looking pastry edge it was delicious with cream, one of those things you just want to kidnap and eat the whole thing yourself!! Perfect with home made lemon balm wine.

Finally home made cheeses and biscuits, more of which on another day.
Stuffed!

Small Kitchen

My kitchen is small, there are smaller kitchens but compared to most people's it is small and I love it. The thing with a small kitchen is that everything is close at hand. I can reach the cooker, fridge and sink just by turning round. Out of this kitchen have come a buffet for 100, a Medieval banquet for 14 and endless (hopefully) delicious meals for family and friends. I love cooking and believe that if you have to eat you may as well do it well. French, Italian, British , Chinese and Japanese foods come tumbling out on a regular basis. I have loads of cookery books but hardly ever follow a recipie, look at the picture, look at the ingredients, a quick read through of the instructions then make it up as you go along, ok there are occasional failures but most of it comes out ok.
So in this blog there will be lots about the food I create so enjoy!