Grilled Lettuce with Goats Cheese

Grilled Lettuce , I know it sounds very very wrong but it works very very well. Really intensifies the vegetable taste of lettuce and quite a good way to use them up if they have begun to wilt slightly. Even the thick stems will soften

They work well as a dish by themselves with a little crusty bread or as an vegetable accompanimentadapted from Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall

Grilled Lettuce with Goats Cheese

Little Gem Lettuce
Goats Cheese
Olive Oil
Fresh Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper

1. Cut the lettuce in half ,
2. Lightly brush the lettuce with olive oil, and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper
3. Place under a medium grill or in a medium oven ( 180degC) for 15 minutes
4. Turning over half way through
5. Serve with a scattering of crumbly goats cheese and an extra squeeze of lemon juice

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Creamy Herbed Lentils

Further food from cooking for my mum , I served these creamy herbed lentils with trout baked in the oven .

I love these lentils they just look like beautiful little stones , called Puy , french or continental lentils , they cook in just 20 minutes . Fantastic in tomato sauce with with spaghetti or lasagne , they keep a nutty crunchiness.

Fresh herbs just cannot be beaten , especially when you find a lovely bunch of tarragon was reduced to just 20p . Either thyme or tarragon leaves mixed with a little oil and vinegar tossed over mixed beans is the taste of summer and a lovely accompaniment for fish or meat or simply eaten from a bowl with bread as a scoop

Creamy Herbed Lentils

200g of continental lentils
Dash of white wine
1tsp vegetable bullion stock powder
1tsp of dijon mustard
Handful of fresh herbs ( thyme and tarragon) stalks removed but not chopped .
2 tbsp of low fat soft cheese
Salt and Pepper to season

1. Simmer the lentils until soft in water with the stock
2. Drain the lentils and mix through the soft cheese , mustard and white wine .
3. Finally stir in the herbs
4. Season with salt and pepper
5. Serve warm but these re-heat well too. ta

More Puy/French Lentil Recipes

• Mediterranean Lamb Stew
• Lentil Leek and Potato Warm Salad

• Chicken with lentils , leeks and orzo.

• Quick Lamb and Lentil Stew- with Spelt Bread

Vodka Marinated Salmon and Beetroot Chutney Canape

Cooking dinner for my mum last night , no boyfreind and no stepdad a Girls Night in , these were starters /canapes assembled quickly eaten with some delicious white wine and a proper catch up .

I love the combination of beetroot and salmon ( used last in my Valentines dinner )I think these look fantastic there is a bit of preparation but easy to assemble.

Vodka Marinated Salmon and Beetroot Chutney Canape

Vodka Marinated Salmon
10ml of vodka
1 tbsp of brown sugar
200g of smoked salmon

1. Mix together the vodka and brown sugar and pour over the salmon
2. Leave for a few hours or overnight if you have it

Beetroot Chutney
1 medium beetroot – cooked til softened
10ml of balsamic vinegar
1tsp of crushed dried red chilli
1tsp of olive oil

1. Finely chop the beetroot
2. Mix the beetroot with the vinegar , chilli and oil
3. Leave to marinade together for a few hours

Assembling the canapes.

1. Cut the pumpernickle bread into sixth
2. Smear with soft cheese and a teaspoon of the beetroot chutney
3. Layer over a piece of smoked salmon

Other beetroot recipes

Borscht
Marinated Beetroot
Falafel with beetroot and carrot salad

Can you smell fish …. in Whitby ?

Whitby on the coastal edge of the North Yorkshire Moors is a place I visited as a child and after nixing the camping plans a few weeks ago with snow and frost coming in the long bank holiday saw another National Park of the list.

Quite often by the seaside now you don’t get a lot of fish , Whitby is a happy exception , kippers – smoked herrings abound . Top of the list though – Fortunes Kippers established in 1872 , brothers Derek and Barry are the fifth generation of their
family to run the business. Fortune’s still follow
tried-and-tested smoking methods which date back to when the
business began. First the herrings are cleaned, split and
brined for 40 minutes before entering the smokehouse where they
hang over a fire of oak chipping until gold in colour . Just £3 for two large kippers wrapped in newspaper. , We had to battle through hailstorms up the hill to get these kippers but they were worth it beautifully golden orange flesh and a skin I want to make shoes from . We gently warmed the under the grill for a few minutes they make a lovely breakfast with a little bread & butter .

More piscine goodness from a tub of Whelks these little mollusc are pure muscle so not to everyones taste but for me that taste like pure sea

Lunch one day fish and chips from the Magpie Cafe , people queue for hours to get in & everyone raves about it , food not suitable for vegetarians deep fried in beef dripping. However got takeaway fish chips and mushy peas eaten on the quayside incredibly tasty , crunchy spikey batter on the fish and crispy chips .

In case I had not had enough fish we picked up some huge Oysters , the hardest I have ever opened but huge….here is a new bowl bought from the Whitby Pottery ( got egg cups too )

Burning off the food with a cold walk along the Yorkshire costal path toward Robins Hoods Bay .

Food Blogging Event London 2008 – Part Two – Borough Market and Roast

The second day of the Nokia International Food Blogging Event , I have to confess to forgoing breakfast in the hotel . Still full from yesterday , arriving with the group at Borough Market we were all immediately distracted by Neals Yard Dairy who could not be attracted to a man standing amid wheels of stilton and offering you a taste . I also enjoyed a bit of rubbernecking watching Oliver Rowe filming Market Kitchen ( I totally mistook him for Tom Parker Bowles – its the public schoolboy looks )

Eventually all the bloggers were dragged out of Neals Yard Dairy, the excellent cheese shop and we began a gastro-tour with the effervescent Celia Brooks Brown who has been doing these tours for a number of years and is an expert in vegetarian cookery . Celia is able to give you a fantastic history of the market , its development staggering amounts of food knowledge all the stall holders put on a good show with tastings.

Here is Celia blowing my mind with the news that carrots are not really orange, but grown that way by patriotic Dutch growers who bred the vegetable to make it less bitter than the yellow varieties, and then it was adopted it as the Royal vegetable in honour of the House of Orange in the 16th Century .Actually we then had some heritage carrots in yellow white and purple for lunch

The market itself is heaven and I was heartened to know from the other international bloggers it competes if not surpasses even continental markets , I tried to be smug but did have to explain it is not the same in many parts of the United Kingdom though there is a resurgence of farmers markets . Borough itself is open Thursday- Sunday from

Highlights for me the following

This vegetable stall , packed with mushrooms of every description imported this time of year cultivated from the U.S , I was wondering if we could do the same here for year round gourmet fungi – sure they wouldn’t taste quite like those in the wild . Seeing the morels reminded me of course it is shortly their season an ever illusive fungi for me . Plenty of other vegetables on the stall , I have never seen to track down and experiment with all . Happiness itself for me that the vegetables are displayed as they should be in piles without ten tonnes of packaging ( Moan over )

Shellseekers a stall selling for fresh dived scallops and other fish from the South Coast , the owners spend half the week fishing/diving and the other half up at Borough selling their produce . The other fish stall I note was Whitby- based and I was heading up there for the weekend. I though I would save buying any fish and having it sit through lunch and a two hour train journey.

Northfield Farm – fantastic rare breads meat stall , where I stocked up on Jacob Sheep Lamb steaks for the weekend.Easter weekend it has to be lamb and Jacob is my little brothers name . We also tasted pork and beef could have eaten a whole tray

England Preserves – Stunning Preserves stall and suitably graphic designy display – you could feel the vectors at work – my committment this year will be to make preserves in the meantine these were perfection, Bought picalli , quince jelly , and two chutneys

A stall selling a massive range of game and other meats where I bought a Wild Duck , a Patridge , tiny bullet black puddings

Brindisa – Spanish Foods – I feel bad for stocking up on spanish produce in a english market , but I find it impossible to find fresh chorizo at home and wanted Nick to try Spanish black pudding. Also safrron and paprika but mostly because the tins were so pretty.

Olive Oil and Vinegar stall , I bought Olive Oil and White Balsamic vinegar , like a taste explosion in my mouth . The balsamic vinegar seduced me into spending £13 on a bottle and now waiting a few months for strawberries to be in season for strawberries and black pepper salad

Sea Salt Stall – french sea salt seaso
ned with herbs or spices . This is acceptable “Cheats” food for seasoning meet etc. taking a small bag camping saves a lot of space.

I finished up Neils Yard Dairy for Stinking Bishop Cheese from close to my home and Nottinghamshire Stilton ( close the the boyfreinds home ) for the Bank Holiday weekend

I am certain there is lots I missed , I was highly overexcited but I promise recipes using Borough ingredients soon plenty .

Walking aound the market our tour guide bumped into Lawrence Keough the chef at the restaurant where we would be eating lunch Roast which sits above the Market is owned by Iqbal Wahhab ( founder of the Cinamon Club ) who popped over at lunch to say hi . And here endeth the name dropping . Roast uses many ingredients from the Market especially the fresh vegetables for seasonal British Cuisine

I ate Warm duck liver and bacon salad with chicory bacon and grain mustard ,Nine times our of ten I order a warm salad , I just like the word warm salad .. its onomatopeaic warm like a hug that salad the sticatto spikiness. This did not disappoint very tasty with tonnes of duck liver salty bacon and a peppery dressing

For my main I had baked celeriac – one of my favourite vegetables , it came as half a whole celeriac roasted half the size of a football ,which I think was halved baked the the centre scooped out and mixed with butter seasoning and maybe some cheese, it was topped with a poached egg , served with pea shoots and wild mushrooms . Only time I have ever not finished a restaurant meal it tasted lovely and is probably a recipe I will be borrowing with a smaller celeriac .

Lugging a tonne of purchases, I had managed the forsight to take a large number of cotton shopping bags and with a train to catch up North apologies to anyone who shared the tube/train carriages with me and my smell cheese and slightly leaking pheasant. I had a happy journey gently craddling my purchases to begin a Bank Holiday weekend in another foodie pilgramage site Whitby, Yorkshire .

For now bye bye Borough , promise to be back soon

See also Foodblogging Event London 2008 – Part One
Girl Interrupted Eating Gets Mobile

Foodblogging Event London 2008 – Part One

I have just indulged in a truly bizarre experience on Monday I opened my email to find a last minute invitation from Nokia to participate in a 2 day workshop for international food bloggers in London . With an itinerary featuring London restaurants and a tour of Borough Market, I confess the true draw was the chance to spend time with people as as obsessed with food and food blogging as I am . My boyfriend is consummately understanding waiting patiently as his dinner cools and happily explaineing to worried restaurant owners and deli managers I am just a strange obsessive. However some of these people follow my compulsion for professional reasons and it was too good an opportunity to pass off I begged two days off work ( thank you thank you ) and packed my bag & camera .

Meeting in the morning we introduced ourselves to eachother and our new Nokia 95s most people had had theirs to play with a few days so were more competent I was moe gobsmacked to be surrounded by other people who were busy taking pictures of the muffins on the table , they were

Laollasuiza a Swiss writing from Spain http://laollasuiza.blogspot.com/ and http://kochtopf.twoday.net/
Mercotte from France the queen of macaroons http://www.mercotte.fr
Just Hungry from Switzerland a english language food blog about Japanese food http://www.justhungry.com/
Milsabores from Venezuela la Maria Luisa Rios with a spanish language blog http://www.milsabores.net/
Cooking Diva from Panama another spanish language blog http://CookingDiva.net
Cavoletto Bruxelles , a belgian living in Rome , Italy http://www.cavolettodibruxelles.it

We all discussed the joy of blogging about food , recipes and how we all got started. How anonmyous we like to keep our blogs ,then there was a little geekery around tools mac VS pc , SLR etc . I think we all agreed that the new technology will really help , certainly it might be less embarassing getting out my mobile phone to take a picture of dinner in a restaurant ( and will satistfy the perfectionist in my because 5mp is definitely high enough quality for the blog ) the GPS on the phone should help with tagging the locations of those edible fungi ( which with my bizarre sense of direction will be a massive help ) . I am going to do a lot of comparisons over the next few months so may let readers be the judge .

However this is a food blog so back to the food Lunch at The Larder which has a seasonal menu had swordfish with anchovy butter purple sprouting broccoli and new for the venezuealn bloggers Jeurusalem Artichokes a big hit across the language barrier. I am going to try and send some seeds and see how they do in foreign climates. Totally lovely and relaxed atmosphere

After lunch we were thorough tested in our culinary knowledge by Sudi “The Foodie ” Piggott with a food quiz, who taught me a scary number of inane facts I can drop into daily conversation/ this blog for example the people who built the pyramids ate rich diet of watercress ( just like me and my wild foraging )

Joe Warwick Restaurant gossip columnist for the Independent gave us a fantastic insight guide to London restaurants probably a number worth keeping in my phone .

In the evening we all met again for a lovely dinner at Northbank right by the Millenium Bridge

I had a warm salad of Guinea Fowl and Figs again much joy trying to explain what a Guinea Fowl was but could show this recipe from my blog on my phone … such geekery, afterwards Salmon with Fennel and Chive Salad , lovely and light since dare I say it I was beggining to get fooded out !

Back to the hotel and more later on Borough Market and Roast …… or as it shall henceforth be known heaven………..

More at Girl Interrupted Eating Gets Mobile

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Girl Interrupted Eating Gets Mobile

Sorry for the gap in posting , I have been in London for two days meeting up with international foodbloggers to learn more about using mobile technology to support blogging organized by Nokia . It feels like the technology has finally got to a great place , I am particularly excited about the geo-tagging for wild food finds and with a 5mega-pixel camera and Carl Zeiss lens there are some fun times ahread We have had a packed few days eating , drinking and food shopping and I will post much more later

In the meantime here are the foodbloggers some might require some translation but they were all highly knowlegeable and each has taught me something

Laollasuiza a Swiss writing from Spain http://laollasuiza.blogspot.com/
and http://kochtopf.twoday.net/
Mercotte from France the queen of macaroons http://www.mercotte.fr
Just Hungry from Switzerland a english language food blog about Japanese food http://www.justhungry.com/
Milsabores from Venezuela la Maria Luisa Rios with a spanish language blog http://www.milsabores.net/
Cooking Diva from Panama another spanish language blog http://CookingDiva.net
Cavoletto Bruxelles , a belgian living in Rome , Italy http://www.cavolettodibruxelles.it

Food bloggers on a tour of Borough Market with the lovely Celia Brooks Brown who was very patient with our obsessive photography .

Off to Whitby for a few days now …..back soon

Read more Foodblogging Event London 2008 – Part One

Leek, Pea and Feta Fritatta

Long long days and 3/4hr wait on a very cold train platform got home a little grumpy with ingredients for some easter cup cakes but also needing something to eat for dinner

Heading off for the bank holiday weekend so eating down the vegetable stocks which meant a big pile of leeks and carrots . The carrots are going into carrot cupcakes a “healthy” treat for my step-neice who is being babysat by my mum and stepdad this weekend . However the need to also use the additional eggs not on cupcake duty just screamed posh omlette – fritatta -even the word makes me smile .

The leeks combined with some frozen peas and feta cheese make a lovely fritatta ( have made Courgette Fritatta which is really lovely too ) on this coldest of days it just looked so summery . Feirceness of leek sweet popping peas and the saltiness of the feta which only seems to improve when warm.

Leek , Pea and Feta Fritatta

3 medium leeks – roughly chopped
3 sprigs of thyme
1 cup of frozen peas
20g of feta – cubed
cube of butter
4 eggs – well beaten

In a oven proof frying pan sweat the leeks with the butter til softening
Toss over the peas and feta
Pour over the eggs salt and pepper
Place the frying pan under a medium grill for approx 3 minutes keeping a eye until the egg is set and gently browned
Serve with salad with a tangy dressing (white wine vinegar, wholegrain mustard , honey )

Wild Garlic and Wild Watercress

It feels like spring is just around the corner with an early Easter we are heading back up to Yorkshire, the site of many a happy childhood holiday and where I first introduced Nick to the joys of wild garlic this prolific wild herb is beginning to send up its first tender leaves and coming soon to a woodland near you making a stroll in the woods smell like a visit to the local pizzeria .

This weekend we also found wild growing watercress amazingly near a site called Cressbrook in the Peak District . If you are harvesting it yourself be sure to wash it well.

I am never happier than when foraging and cooking with the results by myself the watecress and garlic would probably have been fine as a salad but it was Saturday night and we had scored some lovely mature steaks and as ever trying to get through the vegebox potato mountain so made a warm potato salad with the wild garlic and let the peppery watercress speak for itself on the side.

Warm Potato and Wild Garlic Salad

10 potatoes freshly boiled
15 wild garlic leaves torn into strips

Dressing this looks like a lot but the potatoes will really suck it up
3 heaped tbps honey
1tbps of mustard
10ml vinegar
10ml olive oil

Mix together the dressing with the torn garlic leaves
After draining the freshly boiled potatoes toss while still piping hot in the dressing and garlic leaves and serve . If you use cut potatoes they will suck up more of the dressing

I have also used wild garlic to make a pesto fantastic in soups , on pasta or potatoes

Wild Garlic Pesto

Finely chopped wild garlic leaves with olive oil, walnuts & roasted lemon ( I half lemons and drizzle them with olive oil baking in the oven on a medium temperature for 30 minutes and then keep them in the fridge covered in oil for up to a few weeks – roasting intensifies and mellows the flavour)

Spinach Soup with Wild Garlic Pesto