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.

Homemade Pizza!

Pizza is something I usually reserve for the weekends - it takes a little while to prepare so it's best made with plenty of time to hand - but it can be enjoyable to make too. I put the radio or tv on while I knead the dough, grill the peppers and prepare the mozzarella.. This recipe serves four - but I quite like splitting it between three people as it allows each person a very generous slab. Perfect eaten outside on a summery day, with drinks to hand.

Ingredients:

1 400g packet of Ciabatta mix: follow instructions on pack

3 mixed peppers (the red, orange and yellow ones if possible)

1 tin of good chopped tomatoes

1 small red onion

a generous hunk of mozzarella - I use two of the smallish packets or one large bag

a handful of olives (as always I use the kalamata variety)

Olive oil - a swig used to grill the peppers and a couple of swigs to line the pizza tray with

Salt, pepper and dried oregano

Fresh basil to garnish

This is so easy to make that it hardly merits explaining. A pack of ciabatta mix works really well and should have basic, easy-to-follow instructions on the back: in this case, I simply add 350ml of warm water to the mix, knead for about ten minutes before leaving to rise in a warm place, with a tea towel lain over the bowl. Put your peppers, halved, onto a tray, rub some oil over them and grill them until the skins are completely charred and can be easily removed.

Chop all of your ingredients accordingly while the dough is rising; generously coat your chosen tray in olive oil. When it has risen, simply spread it out onto and up the sides of the tray (to form a crust); I use a very large tray so that I can spread the dough as thinly as possible. When it cooks it will practically double in size, so allow for some room. Season your dough with pepper, salt and a shake of dried oregano, before adding your chopped tomatoes (I run the tomatoes through a sieve beforehand to get most of the juices out). Throw on your grilled peppers (sliced however you like), mozzarella, olives and onion and put in the oven (pre-heated at about 200c) for fifteen minutes or until golden brown. Toss on some basil leaves and serve with a big crunchy salad and cold beers!

Sausage and Lentil Sunny Day Supper

A very good sunny-day supper of sausages, lentils and tomato sauce.

This is a variant of a Jamie Oliver recipe. According to him, sausages and lentils are the Italian version of sausage and mash. This dish offers the same substantial comfort as the British alternative, but with a lighter edge. It is also perfect for feeding a crowd as the quantities can very easily be adapted to make enough for everyone.
This is perfect served with lots and lots of parsley on a balmy evening with a glass of red wine.


Ingredients (makes enough for two:)

Lentils - allow 2 spilling handfuls per person.
1 Packet of good quality sausages (ie - 3 sausages per person.)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 diced red onion
1 glug of red wine
1 glug of balsamic vinegar
A generous amount of olive oil (or chili oil if, like me, you love it)
2 crushed cloves of garlic
Salt & Pepper
Generous amount of fresh parsley.

I shall discuss each component in turn - each is very straight forward. Prepare it all at the same time and then just bring it all together at the end.

To cook and prepare the Lentils:
I have used simple green lentils, however I have a feeling any type would work well. Cook the lentils according to the packet instructions.
Dress them with a good swig of oil (I use chili oil because I love the stuff,) a dash of red wine, salt + pepper and a generous handful of parsley.
Keep them warm until ready to serve.

To cook and prepare the sauce:
Sweat the onions in olive oil over a medium heat with the garlic. Add half a tin of chopped tomatoes and a splash of balsamic vinegar to give it a sweet, syrupy edge. Season to taste with salt and pepper and parsley. Simmer away until ready to serve.

To cook and prepare the sausages:
Cook according to packet instructions, I tend to bake sausages as it is the easiest and leanest method.

Serve each component on a plate sprinkled with lots of parsley.

Incredibly Easy (and Rich!) Chocolate Fondant

This chocolate fondant made many, many hungover University nights a whole lot better; it only has a few ingredients and there is very little physical activity involved in making it. We used to make sure that we had the ingredients on standby in case an intense sugar rush was called for... One thing I should warn y'all about is that it is probably quite (ok, very) calorific. If you are endeavoring to watch your waistline then a small sliver of this shouldn't do too much damage.. as for myself and B, well we pretty much used to split the entire thing between us over a couple of days. Which = more butter consumption than I'm proud of... I wish I could take credit for the recipe, but it actually came out of a copy of Easy Living from way back when.

The last time we made this, we shared it with friends/brothers and watched 'Psycho,' with a dollup of whipped double cream and home-made ruharb compote. If it collapses on the plate, as often happens when we make it, nevermind - it's like a giant chocolate fondant, gooey in the middle. If refrigerated it takes on the qualities of a tart and will be lovely with a spoonful of creme fraiche or some ice cream.. mmmm.

Here's the recipe:

200g Dark chocolate (Green & Blacks recommended here)

200g Icing Sugar

200g Butter

5 Eggs

1 tbsp Self raising Flour

To make, simply melt the chocolate and butter in a large bowl over a pan of boiling water; when done, add the eggs one at a time, before stirring friskily until smooth. Add the flour and icing sugar (I suggest sieving it in), and add the lot to a greased cake (or tart) tin, before putting in in the oven for about 30 mins at 180. Serve and watch it disappear!

Foodie-Movie of the Week: Marie Antoinette

If ever there was a film to make you drool, it would have to be Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst as the cake-eater herself. The film captures the indulgence and excess of 18th Century Versailles - beautiful clothes, shoes, ridiculously over-the-top wigs and, of course, incredible food. One of my favourite parts of the film is when 'Antoinette' has her (18th, is it?) birthday - champagne fountains and general debauchery. If I could feasibly afford it I would totally recreate that party in the future! If you haven't seen it, I advise getting it out on dvd ASAP; it's stunningly shot and aesthetically really inspiring.