IN THE BAG - PEAS, PARMESAN, CHICKEN

With one thing and another my efforts at preparing normal meals have been more than a little lacklustre over the last few weeks, actually make that months. There have been a lot of couscous salads, a fair amount of pasta, and more pizza than I can admit to in public. Now that life is (fingers crossed) starting to calm down I can start thinking about planning meals at some point other than when standing staring gormlessly at the supermarket shelves on my way home from work. However, sometimes we need a starting point for our good intentions and I find that food blogging events can give me a prod in the right direction without requiring any brain power on my part.

And so I came to July's 'In the Bag'. This event is run by Julia from 'A Slice of Cherry Pie' and Scott from 'Real Epicurean'. I haven't taken part before but this month's ingredients of peas, Parmesan, and chicken made it a winner. I didn't think too hard before deciding on a basic mush of peas and Parmesan served with garlicky chicken and my new favourite, pea shoots. I'm afraid I have to confess that in this time of seasonally available fresh peas I used frozen. I love frozen peas and really for cooking and mushing why use fresh?

GARLICKY CHICKEN SERVED WITH MUSHY PEAS AND PEA SHOOTS
(serves 2)

2 chicken breasts
1 tbsp olive oil
1 crushed garlic clove
salt and pepper

250g frozen peas
1 garlic clove, peeled but left whole
1 tbsp butter
2-3 tbsp Parmesan
a little salt and pepper to taste

pea shoots

Place the chicken breasts between two pieces of clingfilm and batter to required thinness with a rolling pin (so they are a roughly even width). Place in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, and crushed garlic to marinade while the pan heats. Heat a large frying pan, add a little olive oil, place the chicken breasts in the pan (lying them away from you so you aren't splattered with oil), and cook through turning once or twice during cooking. Obviously the cooking time depends on your chicken breasts but I find about ten minutes works.

While the chicken is cooking boil a pan of water and drop in the peeled whole garlic clove, add the peas and boil for a few minutes until cooked through. Drain the peas, remove the garlic, return the peas to the pan, add butter and Parmesan and either mash or whizz with a blender until the peas reach the consistency you like. Spoon a large dollop of peas onto the plate, add the chicken with any juices from the pan, and finally a generous handful of pea shoots.

PIERRE HERMÉ

So the wedding was over but life didn't exactly calm down over the last few weeks.

The following week was my 29th birthday and a long awaited lunch at Petersham Nurseries Cafe. After reading and loving Skye Gyngell's book this meal was everything that I wanted it to be and more but has had the unfortunate side effect that I now want to go back to see what it is like in Autumn and Winter and Spring and any other time that I might be able to squeeze in a visit - any rich gourmands fancy treating me?

Anyway birthday weekend over and time for wedding part deux. Last weekend we Eurostarred it over to France for the Burgundy based celebration held for all of the friends and family who couldn't make it to Edinburgh. We arrived in Paris on Friday morning and just managed to squeeze in lunch in the Marais before jumping on the TGV to Montbard. The evening meant a walk and a kir before a uniquely French pizza of potatoes, lardons, onions, and reblochon then time to sleep and anticipate what was to come.

What was to come was food and wine and lots of it. Saturday and Sunday passed in a haze of very good wine, obviously not that hard to find in Burgundy, and more food than should reasonably be eaten by anybody in 48 hours but we survived, just.

Anyway, the point of all that preamble is to say that on Monday morning we arrived in Paris with nothing to do except walk, check out a few places we wanted to see, and eat. Monday's revelation was a new found love of raw beef. I accidentally ordered a tartine that was topped with raw ground beef and it was delicious. Next step, try steak tartare but pass on the raw egg.

Day two and ice-cream and macaroons were my main focus for the day. More specifically ice-cream from Damman's Glacier, which we stumbled upon five years ago and where I fell head over heels in love with their salted caramel ice-cream and salted caramel in general, and macaroons from Pierre Hermé. So first things first on a boiling hot Paris afternoon we headed for the Jardin du Luxembourg and Rue Bonaparte and Pierre Hermé. I wanted to live there forever, that isn't entirely true but I certainly wanted to live next door so I could go and buy a macaroon as a post work snack (maybe two). I somehow managed to leave clutching just six precious macaroons, rose, pistachio, jasmine, passionfruit and chocolate, vanilla, and of course salted caramel. Then Chris suggested trying the ice-cream, 'but what about going to Damman's' I said, 'well we could share one from here and then share one from Damman's later' he said, 'sounds sensible to me' I said. So back I went to buy a small tub of plenitude ice-cream, chocolate with fleur de sel swirled with salted caramel with nibs of caramel. We sat on a bench and we ate and we sighed, really we audibly sighed, and we mmmmed and we licked the bowl clean.




We stashed the macaroons away for later and started the walk towards ice-cream number two, or so we thought. All that way in the heat and it was gone, long gone from the look of the unit which had since seen something else come and go. It seems Damman's Glacier is no more but I will continue the hunt, surely it can't just have disappeared? Needless to say hooray for Pierre Hermé ice-cream and hooray for Chris for accurately assuming that I would happily eat double ice-cream on a hot day in Paris.




(p.s, see how intently I am staring at the ice-cream? That's how I eat sweet things when they are really really good.)

WEDDING CAKE

I have been out of action again but, miraculously, this time it is actually because I have been preoccupied (obsessed) with something food based (to the extent that I was dreaming about it, frequently).

Before moving to London I offered to bake a wedding cake for Chris's sister. When I told people the responses tended to go 'is it a fruit cake?', 'have you ever done it before?', 'are you decorating it yourself?', and finally and most importantly 'how are you getting it to Edinburgh?'. My responses went something like this 'no it's a sponge', 'no, I've never done this before', 'yes, I am decorating it as well', and 'on the train'. At this point most people looked slightly concerned for my sanity and as the weeks went by and the words from Peggy Porschen's 'Romantic Cakes' started to permanently etch themselves on my brain I started to become slightly concerned for my own sanity.

So baking week dawned and with it a shopping trip for, amongst other things, 36 eggs and 3 kg of butter. I baked all day and got a bit bored of making the same cake six times. Monday came and I trimmed the cakes, layered them with raspberry jam and vanilla buttercream before covering them in a blanket of the same buttercream. At this point the smallest cake looked a bit wonky, the middle one looked great, and the largest looked monstrous and impossible to move. Day 3 of the great cakeapade and I was kneading marzipan. It is not easy to manoeveur enough marzipan into place to cover a 25cm cake tier without cracks appearing and needing to be glued back into place. Thankfully just as I was starting to panic the small sensible part of my brain said 'it's marzipan, no one will see it, just get it as level as you can and that will be fine', I stopped fussing, wrapped up the cakes and put them into their special cake transporting heavy duty cardboard boxes. All I can say is that three tiers of cake is a heavy and cumbersome thing to try to move on public transport.

Against all the odds we all (the cake was acquiring a personality of its own by then) made it to Edinburgh relatively unscathed and just in time for me to take over another kitchen to ice the cakes. Once again I rolled and I covered and each cake instantly acquired one side called 'the back'. Day 5 and I covered all 4 base boards with ribbon before wrapping each cake with thick ivory ribbon. Of all the tricky things to do this was, surprisingly, one of the trickiest. I needed at least one extra hand, maybe two to be safe. With a bit of assistance the supporting dowels were trimmed to size and the cake was assembled into 2 sections ready to be fitted together the next morning.

On the 4th July we rushed out to collect the cake topper and head down to the venue. I left the cake with instructions for putting it together with a special note not to tip the flowers at all as the arrangement included a precarious test tube of water which would soak the cake at the smallest encouragement. Home and time for hair and nail appointments. Miraculously the sun shone all the way through the outside ceremony and drinks. At 6pm we were back at the venue where I dashed through to the back to see the cake to check it was all ok before anyone else saw it.




Is it bad to say that my heart swelled a little when I saw what I had created? I stopped seeing the lumps and bumps and just saw one glorious whole. It was cut and it was eaten and by the time we left Edinburgh on Sunday there was hardly any left. Would I do it again? Maybe, but only for someone very very special.

BAKED SWEET POTATO WITH SPICY FETA AND OLIVE SALAD

I'll just say it straight off, last night was lovely. There was nothing special, no going out, no seeing other people, in fact there was nothing to do but make some dinner, drink a reviving G&T (or two), and make up for the fact that our TV is still in Edinburgh by watching episodes of 'A Taste of my Life' on the internet (thank you BBC i-player). Have you seen this? Nigel Slater chats with people about their lives and their food memories. Last night we watched the episodes with Nigella and Sophie Dahl. The Nigella episode made me wish I was sitting eating with them and gave me a must try recipe of poached chicken with vegetables, rice, and saffron. The Sophie Dahl episode didn't make me as hungry but did make me a little jealous, not only is she incredibly beautiful but she is the granddaughter of the magical Roald Dahl who I credit with hooking me on reading from a very young age.

Prior to enjoying a spot of laptop watching we had a delicious and simple dinner. After not spending any time blog reading for a really long time I started catching up yesterday and in the process stumbled upon this recipe for sweet potatoes with a spicy olive and feta salad on 'Traveler's Lunchbox'. It seemed like exactly the sort of meal I wanted to make so off I went to the little Tesco near work to buy the ingredients but the only one they had was feta, not even a red onion to be found. So on the tube and over to Sainsbury's for a slightly more successful shopping trip but also some of the longest post-work supermarket queues I have ever seen. Anyway, shopping done and a bus journey home and I was ready to get started. I popped the potatoes in to bake, mixed together the salad ingredients, took a seat, waited for the potatoes to cook, split them, piled on the salad, and that was that. Easy and delicious and definitely one to be repeated in one guise or another. I'll just direct you to Melissa's page again for the recipe and for her photo as my attempt was pathetic and I was too hungry to persevere.

SANTORINI

Last Thursday we came back to Earth with a bump after spending a week in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Since then we have had people to stay so spent the, rather wet, weekend out and about before eventually realising that in almost two weeks we hadn't eaten a home cooked meal. I intend to start rectifying that very soon and have started to make amends with a few tasty but simple options that are not really worth writing about but were welcome just for the simple pleasure of eating food that wasn't chosen from a menu.

So, back to Santorini (I wish). After a week or so of beautiful weather in London we left a cold and rainy Gatwick (after a 4 hour delay) to arrive in sunshine. A, slightly too fast and slightly too scary, taxi to the hotel was made worthwhile by the first glimpse of the famous Caldera where we would be staying. An introduction to the cave house that would be ours for the week, and a change into summer clothes (oh joy), and we were ready to do absolutely nothing but look at the view, eat, and drink local wine. Santorini is the postcard view of Greece and I mean that quite literally, all those white walls, blue domes, and cats lolling about on roofs that overlook the sparkling blue of the Adriatic, it's all Oia, the small town we stayed in at the tip of the island. I recommend it to you all and leave you with some photos while I go and eat dinner, but more on that later (if it's good).

AND BREATHE...

Well, I didn't intend to disappear for so long but since January life has been turned upside down and this feels like the first chance I have had to breathe and just be in almost four months.

For quite a long time we had been contemplating a move and after going backwards and forwards for an equally long time we both started to job hunt in London. So, shortly after my last post I had a few interviews and by the middle of February I had a job and then all of a sudden Chris did too. We spent a month packing boxes of kitchen paraphernalia, and any (large) number of books and records and headed south. From there on we had to contend with the flat rental nightmare of central London so stayed with our very patient friends (thank you all) and spent our free time eating in restaurants out of necessity, which gets very tiresome very quickly, and looking at flats. Just in case you're unsure moving 500 miles, starting new jobs and having nowhere to live really isn't that much fun and to top it all of it seemed to be the coldest April ever. Then, finally, the sun came out, we settled on the area we definitely wanted to live in (the decision helped along by an abundance of bakeries, small food shops, and Turkish restaurants), we found a flat, and as of last Tuesday we are in. Okay, so we haven't completely unpacked yet and all those boxes of books and records still need to be moved from Edinburgh but we can settle, briefly.

Last night we celebrated by taking ourselves off to Ottolenghi for plates of crisp salads, lemon sole, and king prawns. I would tell you what we ate in more detail but to be honest all I can remember apart from the taste is the bare bones of the ingredients and that wouldn't be doing it justice. It was delicious and relaxed and I would go again in a heartbeat although maybe for their renowned brunch next time if we can get through the door and only if you can have pudding after brunch because I don't think I would ever be able to ignore the counter overflowing with tarts, cakes, and meringues.

We are off on holiday to Santorini on Thursday but in the meantime I will be breaking out the pots and pans, opening up the few cookbooks that have been moved so far, and cooking.

ONE YEAR OLD

On Sunday this blog turned one and, if I'm honest, I didn't start it with much thought of what it would be like to write a blog, or to have people read it, but it's been fun so far and I've encountered some lovely people out there in food blog land so thanks to you all. This monumental (well, to me) day coincided nicely with a meal I had been planning where pudding, or more precisely a galette des roix, was to be the star of the show. I know this is a dish to celebrate epiphany and 13th January is not exactly epiphany but then I am not exactly religious so no need to get hung up on dates.

With a pudding planned involving a huge quantity of eggs, butter, sugar, and puff pastry I decided that light(ish) savoury courses were necessary so Nigella's pea and roast garlic soup with a dollop of creme fraiche to start.

PEA AND ROAST GARLIC SOUP
from 'Real Food' by Nigel Slater
serves 2 (I doubled it for 4)

a head of garlic
2 teaspoons olive oil
200g frozen peas
25g butter
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
200ml vegetable or chicken stock, heated
150ml double cream, or to taste (I never use the cream but this time I added a dollop of creme fraiche to each bowl)

Lop the top off the head of garlic; you want to see the tops of the cloves just revealed in cross section. Cut out a square of foil, large enough to make a baggy parcel around the garlic. Sit the garlic in the middle of it and drizzle with the olive oil. Make a loose parcel around the garlic, sealing the edges of the foil. Put in an oven preheated to 200°C/Gas 6 for about an hour, until soft.
Cook the peas in boiling salted water as usual. Drain and tip into a food processor, squeeze in the soft cooked cloves of garlic, add the butter and Parmesan and half of the stock. Process to a creamy puree. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and add the remaining stock. Check the flavour and add cream to taste. Heat gently, season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.




Pleasantly warmed through by the soup I followed this with fondue filled butternut squash served with green salad. On a Saturday afternoon bookshop browse I picked up Annie Bell's 'In My Kitchen' and was immediately drawn to this squash recipe and so, obviously, had to buy the book. I tend to fall back on favourites when I am feeding vegetarians so any appealing new recipe is great. This is delicious, easy, and can be prepared in advance. I'm a big fan of not having much left to do when people arrive so this ticks all my boxes.




Then the main event. This came courtesy of the very well connected Dorie Greenspan. I had a much easier looking Nigella recipe in 'Feast' but decided that if I was making a galette des rois I might as well make it properly so I made the almond cream, worked my non-existent arm muscles making the pastry cream, rolled out the pastry and filled it with the mix, constructed the galette, scored a pattern on the top, cut out a steam hole, and then I realised that I had completely forgotten to insert the feve so it had to be delicately pushed through the steam hole, not ideal.

I was nervous about making this. I am used to baking but this felt like more than a small step towards patisserie, very scary, but Dorie's recipe was simple to follow and has given me a boost of confidence to try some of the more complicated looking recipes from her lovely books. The galette was well risen, buttery and the inside delicious. Four of us polished it off with no difficulty and I was crowned Queen.