A Foodie Friday reviewing and cooking from "Green" by Elly Pear

 There's nothing more annoying than a friend recommending somewhere good to eat, and the cafe closing down before you can visit. 

That's what happened a few years back when I really wanted to visit The Pear Cafe in Bristol, run by Elly Curshen, who is otherwise known as Elly Pear. Sadly, I didn't get the chance to taste her food, but now I can.

I've recently been cooking some of her recipes from this book which was published in 2019 but has only just come on my radar.

Although I do eat some meat, I  love eating and making vegetarian and vegan meals, and am always looking for something new to try. Boy, do I have some new favourites after reading and rereading "Green"

It's set out in two parts...weekday recipes and weekend food, which works out very successfully.

Let's face it, many of us want fresh food, cooked quickly or easily at the end of a weekday, and Elly Pear delivers recipes that can be frozen, or cooked in one pan and some which are ready in 20 minutes.

Rose Harissa Chickpeas with Za'atar baked feta is easy peasy and tastes divine, and so is the baked two cheese, three greens, four herb frittata. I've never cooked a frittata in a cake tin before but this was full of flavour and perfect for supper or lunchtime.  My "Writers what lunch" gang doesn't know it yet, but this is what they're going to have at our December meet up at my house. and it's perfect for cooking in advance.  

Also on the must list to make in the very near future is Elly's recipe for Roasted Beetroot, Horseradish and Amontillado Pearl Barley risotto. What a combination of punchy,  sweet and savoury ingredients ...

The second part of the book features ideal weekend food. Ideas for what to prep for the weekend and brunches, lunches and suppers that hit the sweet spot for a lazy day, alone or with friends. Recipes that ooze freshness and make you feel that they not only taste good but by golly make you feel good too. Spiced Paneer, Spinach and Pea Grain Bowl with mint yoghurt sauce anyone?

These are all arranged seasonally, but even though this cake is suggested for Spring, it's ideal for right now.

Ingredients

140g plain flour

125g ground almonds

2tspn baking powder

Half a tsp salt

225gm salted butter

200gm caster sugar

3 eggs

zest and juice of a lemon

2 tbsp raspberry jam

4 tbsp almond flakes, toasted lightly in a dry pan

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan/ 200C/400F or gas mark 6

2. Mix together flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together, then beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a tablespoon of the dry ingredients along with each egg.

3. Fold through the remaining dry ingredients and then mix in the lemon zest and juice.

4. Grease a 25cm loose-bottomed cake tin. Pir the cake mixture into the tin for 25 minutes or until the top of the cake is light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

5. Remove the cake from the oven and leave it  to cool completely in the tin. Only then remove the cake from the tin, spread the jam over the top ad sprinkle with almond flakes and serv

6. Grease a 25cm loose-bottomed cake tin. Put the cake mixture into the tin for 25 minutes or until the top of the cake is light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool completely in the tin. Only then remove the cake from the tin, spread the jam over the top, sprinkle with almond flakes and serve,

* I used my homemade raspberry and gin jam in the recipe (such a good move!) I may also have overdone the amount of flaked almonds ...actually I know I did, so will use more sparingly next time I make this delicious cake.

Elly Pear is right when she says this cake keeps well, even it is very moreish. An absolute winner according to those of us who ate it.

For me "Green is a winner of a book too, and one which I will keep cooking from.

"Green" by Ellie Pear is published by Ebury Press  and costs £22

Her previously published books are "Feast Days and Fast Days" and "Let's Eat"

Foodie Friday, - making Nigella’s chilli jam

Earlier this year, I rescued a chilli plant from "death row" at a garden centre.

You know, the few rows of plants which range from the mildly unkempt, the bone dry and drooping or the ones for all hope is lost.

This particular chilli plant was a third of its original price and had possibilities, so I thought it was well worth with a punt. I was right, it blossomed with some tender loving care, so much so, I had a slight surfeit of chillis.

I'd never made any jam from them, so spent a satisfying hour or so rifling through my cookbooks and scanning online to find the perfect recipe.

I found it, and after making my second batch in less than three weeks (that's how good this chilli jam is) , I can confirm that is absolutely delicious.

It is from Nigella Lawson and is incredibly easy.

 

Whizzing chillies and red peppers in a food processor is easy peasy. So is throwing some jam sugar and white wine vinegar together (Nigella uses cider vinegar but I hadn't any) and heating in a preserving pan until all the sugar is dissolved. I did use 100 ml less of white wine vinegar as I didn’t have enough

Adding the flecks of chillis and peppers isn't taxing, and neither is bringing the mixture to a rollicking boil for ten minutes, before pouring into sterilised jam jars.

It's literally that simple and the jam sets beautifully just as Nigella tells you it will. I didn't have to faff around with small plates from the fridge and trying to find out if it would set. It simply does.

I can't believe I've not found this recipe before. After all, I've adored Nigella's writing since "How to Eat" was published and have other books of hers on my bookshelves. So how did I miss it? I haven't got a copy of Nigella Christmas, that's why.

That will be remedied, after all it's only 120 days until Christmas and it would be good to have some recipes to try. 

Meanwhile, if you want to try making this chilli jam, here's the link to Nigellas's website.

https://www.nigella.com/recipes/chilli-jam

Foodie Friday - the fishmonger, buying more British fish and a fish dish..

I'd never been a fan of fish, except battered fish from the chip shop.

There, I've said it. Call me what you will, but I just didn't like it. I suppose being allergic to shellfish put me off all kinds of fish, except a piece of cod,  haddock or salmon.. You know where you are with them.

Until this year that is. 

As the covid pandemic spread and the lockdown began, most of us only left our small village to buy food or fetch medicines. 

During the first lockdown, I was cooking lots of different recipes and decided I would try cooking with fish more. A fishmonger visits the neighbouring village every Tuesday afternoon so I wondered whether he would drive a mile up the hill to our village if there was enough demand.

Paul Farrell, or Paul the Fish as a few of us call him, said yes, he would come once to see if it would be worth it. So, was it? Let's just put it this way, like Julius Caesar, he came, he saw, he conquered.

It was a sunny Tuesday lunchtime, and as he arrived by the church gates,  there were about fifteen people waiting for him in a socially distanced queue. It was very convivial as we all saw people we hadn't seen for weeks, and everyone eagerly bought fish as if it were going out of fashion.

Paul has been coming to our village ever since, and do you know what? I'm really enjoying trying different types of fish.

His immaculately clean refrigerated vehicle always has a good selection of fresh fish and shellfish. Haddock....plain, smoked yellow and plain smoked, cod, plaice, hake, halibut, salmon, dressed crab, prawns, mussels, crevettes, lemon sole, Dover sole, trout and if you want lobster, he will order it in for you.

 

 

These days he visits each house individually and has built up a devoted following here. 

Paul lives in Grimsby but can be seen whizzing around the villages in Leicestershire, and at the market in Market Harborough.  

He's busy and works long hours, but he's thankful. This year hasn't been kind to the fishing industry in this country. In March,  the beginning of the first lockdown, he wondered whether his business would survive. 

Why we should eat more fish

Now in November, fishermen are in dire straights again during this second wave of Covid. So much so that we are all being urged to buy more fish from our local fishmongers or to buy direct from many fishermen who are now selling their fish directly online to customers' homes all over the country. Spread Christmas cheer, buy more fish this year.....or even send fish this year..

So I'm doing just that and enjoying many new recipes along the way.

A favourite though is Arbroath smokies or smoked haddock gratin, whatever you like to call it. This is a fairly vague recipe which was dictated to me via a friend of mine, but it's delicious...

Ingredients

large onion, finely sliced or died

large glass of white wine

6 rashers of bacon, cuts into strips

250gms of cheddar cheese, grated 

450 gms smoked haddock, cut into small pieces

half a stock cube - (fish, or vegetable,I use Swiss bouillon powder)

300 mls of water 

300mls of double cream

How to make it

Chop the onion and bacon.

Heat a few glugs of olive oil in a saucepan, and then brown the onion and bacon.

When browned, add the wine and the stock you have made with the stock cube and water.

Reduce by about a half, then add the cream. As soon as it starts to boil turn the heat down. Add the grated cheese

 

Add the cubed haddock and cook gently for about 6 minutes, then transfer to an oven dish.

Top with some more grated cheese and some chopped parsley.

Finally, brown under a preheated grill until the cheese bubbles. Or, like I do, put into the oven and bake for another 5 - 10 minutes before serving.

This is a very forgiving dish, and it will stay in the oven on a very low light quite happily for a while.  This week, I added mushrooms to brown at the same time as the onion and bacon, for a change, which worked well.

This serves four people and I usually serve this with some new potatoes either boiled or roasted, asparagus, tenderstem or purple sprouting broccoli, peas or french beans - whichever is in season.

Or for real comfort food on a cold, wintery night, you could just dunk a couple of hunks of good bread or toast in this tasty, cheesy, fishy dish and spoon up the rest of the sauce. It's filling.

Foodie Friday: growing and cooking tomatoes, featuring Lindsay Bareham’s "The Big Red Book of Tomatoes"

I sowed my tomato seeds in early March this year, in the days which now seem like another world away.

This year they were Sweet Aperitif from Thompson and Morgan, my favourite little tomato of all time, which I buy every year, and for the first time, a selection of tomato seeds from the Sapore Italiano range from Blumen which I was given at a press day back in 2019..

I was impressed with a 100 per cent germination rate and such vigorous growth from every single plant. 

The San Marzano tomatoes have been so successful this year -  huge tasty tomatoes which I used in gratins and sauces. I'm definitely going to grow more of these next year, and can jars and jars of them to use in winter.

Meanwhile, the scintilla cherry tomatoes were prolific and  I used them in tomato tarts and eaten raw.

Ribelle tomatoes suit soups and are also good thrown on the griddle with a splash of oil to accompany smashed avocado on toast.

I grew the tomatoes in pots on the courtyard in full sun, and also on my allotment in raised beds. All of them did equally as well in both locations. So how have I been cooking them?

My go to book for more recipes, as always at this time of the year, is  "the big red book of tomatoes" by 

Lindsey Bareham. 

This is what I call a recipe book for life. A book to lose yourself in, to sit in a chair to pore over...with around four hundred, yes, four hundred recipes to drool over. There are recipes for every occasion, from tarts, gratins, soups and stews, to salads, ketchups and preserves for winter.

I've had this book for years - it was published back in 1999 by Michael Joseph - but its one I've returned to again and again, especially since  I started growing my own tomatoes. All the recipes which I've tried work...and that's because Lindsey took three years to research , cook and then write the book.

I've still not made borani though...it's a Persian dish involving tomatoes, rice, herbs olives and more, which cuts like a terrine.That is on my list to male shortly but I have made a recipe this autumn which I somehow had missed before. A recipe which was first published in 1806 in a book called "A New System of Domestic Cookery " and which Lindsey has updated.

Here it is - Mrs Rundell's  fresh tomato sauce

It is something which I thought wouldn't work but oh boy, it does, even if the first line reads

 "Put about 900g - 1.4 kg or more of very ripe tomatoes, whole and unskinned and into an earthenware or other oven pot. Add nothing whatsoever. Cover the pot and place in a moderate oven  in a moderate oven (325 degrees F, 170 degrees C or gas mark 3)

Leave for almost an hour."

I did so, but .what about a good glug of olive oil I wondered. I did as I was told though and the tomatoes cooked away merrily in my old lidded pyrex dish.

The recipe goes on

"Press them through a sieve or mouli."

 I did do this the first time, but since then I use my liquidiser as I like to keep the seeds in. 

The recipe continues

"Heat the remaining puree in a thick saucepan, adding for every 450g of tomatoes, a teaspoon each of salt and sugar and optionally, a little ground ginger or cinnamon, dried or fresh basil or marjoram, and crushed garlic if you like.

A tablespoon of port per 450 g of tomatoes has a wonderfully mellowing effect on the sauce. For immediate use, cook the sauce as soon as possible so that it retains its freshness of flavour ad bright colour.

Use immediately or store in the fridge or freezer."

 Now I can't make a tomato sauce without using garlic and I prefer to add basil, but marjoram also works well. I couldn't find any port in the booze cupboard either, but will definitely try some next time.

Mrs Rundell's recipe is a real winner, but so is Lindsey Bareham's book. I believe it's now out of print but I have seen second-hand copies for sale on a certain internet site, and I also think you get can get it on kindle.

This book deserves a reprint though as it really is the book that keeps giving. , in fact I would be lost without my copy.

In the meantime, I'm going to be flicking through this again as I fear I may be having quite a few green tomatoes to deal with during the next few weeks. I don't quite feel up to trying the green tomatoes and zabaglione tart featured on page 333, but i shall be cooking from this bookfor a long time yet.

A day at the BBC Good Food Show Winter 2015

Well, what a day at the BBC Good Food Show Winter 2015 at the NEC in Birmingham yesterday... a day of food, glorious food. A day of watching the celebrity chefs, a day of fervent food tasting, people watching, present buying...all human life and foodie temptations are there.

 

 

There's hundreds of stalls - some large, some small and some quite beautifully staged and arranged that draw you there....

 

For example The Port of Lancaster Smokehouse

 

 







and The Garlic Farm from the Isle of Wight. I just had to buy some garlic to plant in January. I did taste a few garlicky sauces too...which were lovely but thank goodness, I was prepared . I had a tube of my mints in my bag.

 

 

 

Some stands attracted me because of the sheer beauty of their creations...like Merangz.





 

 

 

And this one, Patchwork Cutters...where a woman was decorating the most beautiful cakes

 

 

 

 

Whereas other stands caught my eye because of their name.

 

 

No, I didn't have a slug of  the sloe gin, it was before midday....but many others were knocking back the gin, prosecco, wines, cocktails, and other fairly lethal looking concoctions with gusto all day.


It's always good fun to people watch at the Good Food Show....to see those whose eyes dart here and there, their antennae on full alert as they spy free samples. In they dive, elbowing others out of the way...before moving on to the next stand.

In one hall, the World Of Cheese Awards were taking place , and I spent a fascinating ten minutes watching the judges deliberations. With around 2,500 cheese to taste, it was a slow process. Everything was tasted in a very considered manner, with nods if liked, slight shakes of the head if not, and of course there was some conferring.

The general public wasn't allowed into the area during the judging, but if I'd have stayed there any longer I would have jumped the safety barrier , fought my way in and grabbed a few of the cheeses myself. And I would have had to question the judges.

 This weekend though, you can book a cheese tour  around the judging tables and there are lots of cheese talks too.

Luckily there were plenty of cheese stands to buy from yesterday

 

 

 

It's so encouraging to see so many local producers of fine foods there, to see someone new, and to find new tastes and flavours.

But back to people watching, and there were plenty of opportunities to sit down and watch the celebrity chefs .The more I see of Michel Roux Junior, the more I like him. He talked openly and honestly on the Lakeland Interview Stage about his life, his favourite meals ..the relish in his voice and his smile as he said his favourite food is chocolate , was quite charming. And he's so good demonstrating different dishes....

And another chef who amused her audiences was Lorraine Pascale. I like her recipes because they really work. She impressed me with her relaxed cooking demo with life stories in between. I knew she had been a model. but didn't realise she had trained to become a car mechanic, (too cold in the garage), a hypotherapist (too boring) before she finally trained to be a chef and found her forte.

I also saw the ever reliable, ever lovely Phil Vickery too...but  one thing struck me  about all three...Lorraine, Michel and Phil...they're all quite skinny, which I think is decidedly unfair.


This weekend at the show, you'll be able to watch Paul Hollywood, Mary Berry. Tom Kerridge, James Martin, Brian Turner and so many more all strutting their stuff, and tempting everyone with their recipes, and their books.

And talking of being tempted, there were so many lovely gadgets and appliances on show...some which I didn't even know I needed, but it's a given  that I shall be back to buy a couple at the next show!

What's also inevitable as  I walked back to the car park, is watching others wandering around  the car parks  having "mislaid" their cars. Feeling smug, I walked straight to mine, but then disgraced myself by getting lost as soon as soon as I left the NEC exit. Again....

A foodie friday with Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros

Last Friday, there were yet more apples from the allotment. I needed another new apple cake recipe. Looking through the book shelves, I came across one of my cookbooks which I'd bought on a whim years ago, "Falling Cloudberries" by Tessa Kiros.

To be honest it was the title and the cover which seduced me all those years ago. That, and the stunning photographs that lay inside...of food, of different landscapes.

As I've said previously, I love a cook book with a back story and Tessa Kiros certainly gives the reader one of those. She was born in England - her mother was Finnish and her father was a Greek Cypriot,then, as a small child, she went to live in South Africa. Add in years of travelling, and then being married and living in Italy, she's obviously inherited and amassed a lifetime of different recipes.

We're taken back to both her grandfathers' recipes, from the fishy dishes of Finland, to Cyprus, to  sun baked South African cuisine and to her mother in law's Italian food made with love. Each recipe tells a story, gives a glimpse into a time gone by. Foodie memoirs if you like.

I've made a number of these recipes in the past - milk tart, chicken and oregano to name but a few, and I've been meaning to make the Finnish meatballs with lingonberry jam for ages. But as I flicked through the recipes gathered in South Africa, I found my new cake recipe.

Apple cake with toffee filling. That sounded good, something a little different from the other ones I've been making in this extremely productive apple season.

It's a very easy recipe, even though...wait for it....I've not made toffee before. Luckily this was a soft toffee topping, a kind to teeth toffee topping. Which was just as well, as I lost a filling last year to a rather hard sticky toffee.

But you don't want to read about my teeth, oh no, so let me tell you, this cake has a soft sponge and a caramelly, toffee coated top. But where are the apples  I hear you ask? Well, they're secreted at the bottom of the cake..

Doesn't it look pretty?  As I made it late in the afternoon, I resisted the temptation to test and taste the cake, as Mr Thinking of the days and I were off out for supper at Jenny's, our dear sister in law's house. Just as well, as we ate rather a lot. Three courses, all delicious. A lovely meal with prosecco, wine and I believe there may have been whisky later .

We all promised ourselves a bracing walk the following morning, but the sky was dark, the rain was bucketing down. So when Jenny, her partner Roger and our cousins Mike and Jane popped around, we decided to stay in for a while to see if the rain would stop. It didn't, so hot coffee and cake was required. Luckily there was one to hand....

And no, Boo and Eric, my two terriers, did not manage to get their paws on the cake, despite them looking longingly at the cake. The rest of us agreed that we liked the combination of all three layers, and it was one to make again. Oh, and yes, Jenny and Jane wanted the recipe.

So here it is....





Apple Cake with Toffee Topping

Ingredients

3 apples

100g butter

200g caster sugar

1 tspn vanilla extract

3 eggs

200g plain flour

2 tspns baking powder

60ml of milk

topping

20g butter

115g caster sugar

125m ml of single cream ( I used double and it was fine)

How to make

1.Preheat the oven to 190 degs F/gas mark 5, then grease and flour a deep 24cm springform tin.

2.Peel the apples and cut them in lengthways. Cut each half into about 6 slices, removing the core. Arrange the slices in the tin.

3.Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla essence until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, beating after each one. Sift in and beat the flour and baking powder.

4. Beat in the milk until the mixture is soft and fluffy. Put this mixture over the apples and smooth the top. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and make the topping.

5.Put the butter and sugar into a small saucepan and cook over a medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes until the sugar melts and turns light caramel. Add the cream, drop by drop initially, then in a steady stream, taking care that it doesn't splash. Lower the heart a little and simmer for another minute.

6.Loosen the side of the springform tin. Serve warm or a room temperature.

Tessa Kiros suggests serving with vanilla or crème fraiche ice cream, another recipe in the book, but we just ate it as it was.

And so, another apple cake, which I will definitely make again.

"Falling Cloudberries" by Tessa Kiros was published by Murdoch Books in 2004 and is still available.



A day of cooking from the Riverford Farm Cookbook

I usually have Fridays off. Phew...I love the anticipation of a day when I perhaps meet up with my writer friends for a lunch where we all bring a dish, have a feast, and talk about books and our writing. If not, I'm probably at the allotment or in the kitchen cooking , or at this time of year, making jam.

Now, this is an old favourite cook book of mine, published back in 2008 by 4th Estate...which I found out about when I met the team from Riverford at a local food fair shortly afterwards..

That's what the cover used to look like - it has now been "customised" by my terrier Eric...who decided to rip the front cover off and chew some of the pages.





But as the saying goes, you should never judge a book by its cover, and this old battered copy is a trusted and tried favourite. Written by Guy Watson, an organic farmer who's been growing vegetables for years and years, and Jane Baxter , who seems to have worked everywhere, including the River Café, this is an immensely practical book with pages and pages of quick and easy, but above all  tasty and seasonal recipes to make the most of your vegetables.

I've made so many of these recipes time and time again...especially the delicious sweetcorn fritters on page 370 and the braised red cabbage on page 83 which is made every autumn and winter. But the whole point of these foodie Friday posts is to try new recipes from my ever growing collection of cookery books.

And so, I delved into the previously untried pages of beetroot recipes. You see, I've always hated beetroot. I can remember the yucky taste of beetroot in vinegar as a child, and I vowed with hand on heart, that when I was a grown up, and I could choose what I wanted to eat, I would never, ever eat beetroot again.

And it's a vow I've stuck to for years, until my friend Debbie made a gorgeous Ottoleghi beetroot and walnut salad. I was intrigued, this was really nice! So this year, for the first time, I grew beetroot, only three rows though...just in case, that recipe was a one off and I found out I still didn't really like it.





And as soon as they were big enough, I opened the Riverford Farm cookbook to try some new ways of cooking them.

And here is the recipe that I have tried first....and I fear this may become an addiction.

Beetroot Gratin

Ingredients

1kg of beetroot, peeled
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
100ml double cream
2 sprigs of summer savoury, chopped or rosemary or thyme (I prefer thyme)
sea salt and black pepper

How to make

1.Thinly slice the beetroot..it should be 2-3mm thick

2.Mix the garlic and cream in a small pan and bring to the boil.Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Mix well and season with salt and pepper.

3.Put the sliced beetroot in a bowl and add some seasoning. Add the cream mixture and herbs and mix thoroughly so the beetroot is coated with cream. ( I must confess I added some extra)

4. Arrange in a 30cm gratin dish, ciover with foil and bake in a  preheated oven at 160 degs/gas mark 3 for 40 minutes.

5.Remove the foil and bake for a further 10 minutes or until the beetroot is tender.

And that's it. So easy and full of garlicky goodness which marries so well with the sweet softness beetroot. You will love it! Now I know you may think that's a rather sweeping statement. OK, I suppose it is, but so many beetroot haters I know simply adore this recipe.My son for one, and his girlfriend Ellie .She had joined us for supper last Sunday night for a roast. She was starving, but when she saw the deep pink creamy dish, she said an unequivical No!

"Try a teaspoonful "we all urged. She eventually did, with the greatest reluctance I might add, and before I knew it, she was piling her plate high. And she ate every mouthful.

I'm now making my way through the other beetroot recipes in this book. Chocolate beetroot brownies anyone?

But the Riverford Farm Cook Book isn't just a collection of tasty recipes. We learn how the vegetables are grown, there's tips on storage and preparation from years of experience from an organic grower, and the connection between growing organically and we are what we eat.

Meanwhile, I 've already decided that I'm definitely growing far more beetroot next year at the allotment!

A day of fancying a fritter from the wonderful Yotam Ottolenghi

So, it's Friday again, which means I've been going through my cookbooks to try a new recipe
Something savoury I thought, something without meat.

Yotam Ottolenghi sprang to mind immediately, but then it was decisions decisions....which book of his shall I cook from? I have two, "Plenty" and "Jerusalem", and I love them both. What shines from every page  of both books is a strong narrative and a sense  of continuity though cooking. Many of the recipes have survived  turbulent times, and years of change for families and friends mentioned in the books.

Last night, I wanted something tasty, yet not too exacting. I flicked through the pages of "Plenty", and there it was, a recipe I've been meaning to make for ages. Leek fritters.

Ok, I have a feeling that some of you reading this may be turning up your noses at the thought of a fritter, even perhaps channelling your inner Lady Bracknell..."a fritter?" But at certain times they  can hit the spot in a very satisfying way. Especially when leeks are involved. Plus spices.

So let's begin shall we?

Ingredients include leeks, shallots ( I used onions), chilli pepper, spices, egg white etc.....

How to make

After sautéing the leeks and shallots until soft, you gradually add all of the other ingredients...and at this stage the mixture is rather sloppy, as you can see by the state of the bowl....

I made eight fritters, and I'll definitely be making these again. They're so creamy, light, and the subtle spices don't overpower the lovely flavour of the leeks.

I may have eaten more than I should have, even though they're quite filling. In fact I did eat more than necessary, but my defence is M'lud, I simply couldn't resist just another bite, and then another....

There's also a coriander sauce to accompany the fritters, but last night, I just sprinkled them with a couple of squeezes of a lemon, and that was just enough for me.

Another recipe from "Plenty" I tried for the first time was a salad ,which I first encountered at my friend Debbie's house. Oooh I did enjoy it...a beetroot, walnut and orange salad - on page 15 of the book, if you're interested. The earthy sweetness of the beetroot, the crunch of walnuts and olives, and the sharpness of the citrus made a delicious combination.

So I made it, and in our eagerness to dive in and eat, no photographs were taken, but trust me, again, this recipe is a winner. But then again, for me, all of Yotam Ottolenghi's recipes are....I've not encountered one that's a dud yet.

He's also in that rare band of chefs and writers who  establishes a real connection with the reader. Whenever I read one of his recipes, I feel hungry, I need to make it...and I somehow smell the finished creation before I've even made it.

There's only one other writer who makes me feel that way, and that's the wonderful Nigel Slater.
Alas he doesn't run a restaurant, but Yotam does ,and I can't wait to finally get down to London to visit one of them. It could be dangerous though, I might decide to work my way through most of the menu and get stuck behind a table, unable to leave or waddle back to the train. But hey, that's a risk I'm willing to take.

The complete recipe for leek fritters can be found here  http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/leek-fritters-shop or in the book itself, which is so good, I refuse to lend it to anyone else.

"Plenty" by Yotam Ottalenghi ,published by Ebury Press, 2010.


 

Days of loving my cookery books.

Erm...there's 90 of them. Yes, I have 90 recipe books and books about food.

I didn't realise I had so many ....at a guess last year I thought there may be 60. Oops...
Some of them are on the bookshelves in the kitchen

Others can be found on the dining table,

by my bed, on the coffee table...wherever I sit and read, there's bound to be a book about food close by.

My collection of books holds the usual suspects that can be found on many shelves....offerings from Nigel, Nigella and Jamie. There's two from Otam Ottalenghi, a couple from Skye Gingell, a tattered , original old copy of Elizabeth David's French Food as well as several paperback copies of her others, there's quite a few books on Italian cookery, Australian fusion food, thai food, books on fruit,and mother and daughter Jane and Sophie Grigson put in a couple of appearances. And if you want to read a book about cowboy food, well I have one right here.

There's even one that I helped to produce with Kim Hall....a book compiled of 25 years of recipes from Miranda Hall which was published by the British Red Cross to raise funds.

Reading a cookery book isn't just about the recipes, the best , for me, give  an insight into the culture of the country where they came from, and I'm a sucker for personal stories which accompany the recipes themselves.

There's something so comforting about being able to nestle down and read about food. There's something exciting about planning a different meal, to search for inspiration. Plus, there's something so satisfying about looking for a recipe to make  something delicious from fruit and vegetables I've grown myself.

The thing is, I do have my favourite books and my go to recipes of dishes I know and love. Especially if friends are coming around. Better be safe than sorry is my motto.

I also tend to use what I've got...sometimes I'm not organised to select a recipe and make sure I've got all the ingredients in advance!

However, in the spirit of being more organised, and trying out some different recipes , I've decided that each Friday I'm going to be taking two of my favourite or two completely new recipes from a different book in my collection and making them. I'll share them with you.....and let's see where it takes us. Here on this blog, Friday will be Foodie Friday!


In the meantime, why not listen to this?

It's a broadcast from a couple of Fridays ago on BBC Leicester. My friend at work Ed Stagg invited himself around for a late lunch...he wanted to record me making an easy peasy recipe.

So here is what I made....and this is what it sounded like! Go on, you know you want to listen....and the recipe is there too.

 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02wqp92