Pasta with Cream and Smoked Salmon

This is a close variation of our trusty original hangover dish - this version is just as bolstering and just as easy; but is a little more fancy. It's perfect after a long week or a hard day, but since the salmon is incredibly rich this is not the most hangover-friendly meal. This is for when you are in need of a vital pick me-up after a day of stress, not a night of too much booze!

Ingredients for four: (The measurements are mere suggestions, it's an easy to throw to together pasta with wonderful results, it's very hard to get wrong.)

500g pasta (fusilli or farfalle are recommended)
100 ml double cream (or just enough to coat the pasta, not so it's swimming.)
1 onion
Handful of chopped cherry tomatoes
1 packet of smoked salmon cut into small cubes (scissors are the easist cutting tool for this)
Handful of fresh basil
Oil to fry and pepper to season.

To cook:
Cook the pasta for 12mins in a pan of salty water.
Dice the onion and gently sweat it in the oil while the pasta cooks.
Drain the pasta and return to it's pot along with the onions and any residule olive oil.
Add the cream, chopped cherry tomatoes and salmon. Heat through until hot and season generoulsy with pepper.
Stir the basil through at the last minute and serve.

Foodie-Movie of the Week: 'Waitress'

So this week's 'Foodie-Movie of the Week' has to be small but popular indie film 'Waitress', which tells the story of a small town gal who is stuck in an unhappy marriage and who gets herself through it all by baking. Ah. And it is pies, specifically, that she makes - savory pies, sweet pies, all with weird and/ or personal names (she calls one 'Bad Baby Pie' after discovering that she is pregnant with her horrible husband's babby). It's sort of a comforting film - watching someone bake is, I find, infinitely cheering. This movie is worth a watch, especially if you want to try and replicate the wacky recipes.

Happy Wednesday all!

Blueberry Pudding

(aka: a french 'clafoutis' - or to you and me, a custard-y blueberry delight.)

This pudding is perfect for a warm evenings, it is special enough to be a real treat, yet retains the lightness which warm weather tends to invite to cooking. I realise that blueberries are not the most frugal of fruits and this is heavy on the cream, though, as a once-in-a-while treat I'm sure it won't break the bank or your summer slimming regime. What's more, little more than a blender whizz and a trip to the oven is needed to create this very impressive and delicious pudding..


This recipe serves 4-6 generously, and if you can get your hands on cherries rather than blueberries, they would also work very well!

Ingredients:
4 Eggs
85g Caster sugar
250ml cream (single or double)
225ml milk (whole milk is preferable)
300g blueberries
Icing sugar and cream to serve

To cook:
Grease a large, shallow oven proof dish.
Whizz all of the ingredients APART FROM THE BLUEBERRIES in a blender (or hand held whisk.)
Pour it into the dish and add the blueberries.
Cook in a preheated oven at 200c / gas 6 for about 40mins. You can tell it's done when the batter has risen and the custard has set (ie; no longer runny)

Serve with as much cream as you dare and a cold glass of rose wine.