The Magic of Miso

The weather is on the turn, and whilst Autumn is mostly a majestic time of year there are some days that catch you off guard when the wind whips at your cheeks and the bones in your fingers start to stiffen – time to dig out your gloves.

I learnt about the healing power of miso last February when our boiler broke. Our new flat was very cold and I felt extremely sorry for myself, hobbling around our capacious new living room that I loved yet couldn't stand to be in – cursing the big windows that let in beautiful light come day but an icy draft come night*.

It is in this chapter that I discover lovely miso soup. I had never believed that a soup so deep could be so easy to make – it has 4 main ingredients! Last week I made the connection between miso and marmite (something I have loved forever), for they're both rich, deeply savoury and sating.

I...
heated chicken stock on the hob (n.b, stock: made the day before, luckily I had a chicken carcass knocking about). Once it boiled I added the miso (about 2tbsps) followed by a dash each of soy sauce and toasted sesame oil. Followed by some shredded cabbage, and pieces of chicken (from the aforementioned caracas), some thick 'straight to wok' noodles. I finished with a handful of coriander.

It really is as easy as that. Henceforth, this will be it the thing that happens whenever I feel run-down this winter.

*Thermal curtains have since been installed.

Miso soup

Lovely windows and pretty Autumn flowers

A Simple Way to Cook Monks Beard

Monks Beard is a rarely seen green. It's from Tuscany and has a very short season (late Jan - early Feb) and it's only around for about 5 weeks. Blink and it's gone.

Sure, like all rare things, it's expensive. But you'll likely only be able get your hands on one bunch a year anyway – so you might regret not 'getting it while you can'. I found the beautiful bunch in my local 'Natoora' in Chiswick, a gorgeous green-grocers who only sell the best produce from expert growers in the UK, France and Italy.

It looks like the spiky kind of grass that grows at the beach and it kind of tastes like a very delicate spinach.

When it comes to cooking there are limited recipes on the internet so I went with the flow and had mine as part of one my favourite week-night dinners: greens and eggs on toast.

I washed my monks beard (very hairy) and steamed it in a frying pan – (I say steamed, I put it in a pan over a low heat with the aforementioned washing water, lid on). Seasoned. And that was it.

I toasted my sourdough bread (home-made, more on this another time), rubbed a garlic glove over it, trickled over some olive oil over the toasty, garlic-y bread, topped with monks beard and crowned it all with a couple of poached eggs. What a handsome week-night dinner.

Julia Child's Egg Poaching 
The egg poaching, I have recently been experimenting with Julia Child's method. You boil the eggs in their shells for about 10 seconds, then remove them from the water, turn the boil down to a simmer, then crack the eggs into the water and cook for about 3 minutes. Sometimes the eggs aren't perfect, but it's the most consistent egg-poaching method I have found.
NB: those smart men, the Hairy Bikers do it this way too (read about it The Hairy Bikers' Meat Feasts)

Beautiful Monks Beard from Natoora - so pretty.

Eggs and Greens, the perfect week-night supper

The bountiful crop in situ at Natoora

Marzipan Crumble

Some evenings in January just demand it - a delicious fruit crumble.

My house-mate Clare came up with genius idea of adding a little marzipan to the crumble, so every few bites you get a delicious sticky, sweet, almond-y mouthful which might just cure your possible vitamin D deficiency when eaten on these long winter nights.*

There are no rules about making a crumble. This is home cooking at its best.

I chop up a selection of fruit (whatever I have lying around, on this occasion it was apples and plums), into equal sized small-ish pieces, and simmer them for about 15 minutes in a touch of water and some sugar. I don't tend to measure the sugar, you can taste if you need to add more once the fruit has cooked down.

Crumble - nowadays I estimate the amounts for the most part, once you've made a few crumbles you really get a feel for it, and in any case, it's very difficult to mess this up; just don't forget the sugar!

More or less: 100g butter, 100g flour, 50g oats, 50g sugar. Rub the oats, flour and butter between your fingers. Stir in the sugar. I feel my way around this more often than not, adding more oats, flour or sugar as I see fit.

Put the stewed fruits in the bottom of a baking dish. Then (here is the best part) cut your marzipan into little cubes and scatter over the fruit. Add your crumble topping and cook in a hot oven at 180 degrees or so for about 20 minutes. Serve in your prettiest china and with lots of cream.

Eat it, and go to bed dreaming of home...

* Not true.

Ottolenghi Aubergine pahi

OK - so picture this, it's the first Sunday of the new year. It's cold and dark outside, you don't want to go back to work after the Christmas holidays. You need something delicious, satisfying and comforting which doesn't weigh you down. You know it has to be from a bowl so that you can cradle it whilst watching repeats of Miranda on your sofa.... This Ottolenghi aubergine and red pepper Sri Lankan dry curry type thing is just the ticket. It's hot and sour and really packs a punch, the aubergine goes all silky and unctuous, and suddenly you remember: life is awesome. So. Awesome.

Ottolenghi's recipe can be handily found here: on the guardian website.  There are a lot of steps, the frying and the salting - worth it? Yes. You will be handsomely rewarded for following the steps to the letter. Do you really need to use all that oil? Yes. I used cold pressed rapeseed - very nice, and apparently it's reasonably healthy.

Here are some cheats: I used dry curry leaves, still good. I made the spice paste without the use of a blender, just a good old garlic press and a grater for the ginger. Blender = so much fiddling and tricky washing up!

This is most wholesome and delicious served at room temperature and with brown rice. Also, wonderful eaten cold the next day for lunch with a little pitta bread - take that Monday blues!

This curry really is just the tonic - so ready to kick January in the ass now*!

* Partly true. Mostly I will be lounging in my pjs with my new Ottolenghi.

Winter's Night Mushrooms on Toast

Perfect for a dark night when you want something quick and delicious. This is a Nigel Slater recipe, and it is fabulous.

Ingredients:
A generous handful or two of sliced mushrooms
Lots of olive oil
2 cloves of crushed garlic
Chopped parsley
Some good bread - sliced into thick rounds

To cook:
Fry the sliced mushrooms in lots of olive oil over a medium heat for about 4 minutes. Add the crushed garlic and good for a further 4 minutes.
Meanwhile, pour a little olive oil over the bread and toast under the grill.
Add the chopped parsley and season the mushrooms at the last minute.
Heap the mushrooms over bread and accompany with a glass of cold beer.

Winter's Day Muffins

These are actually Nigella's Christmas morning muffins, (with a few small alterations.) But, when it's icy outside it seems a shame to bypass Cinnamon and cranberries just because it's not Christmas; these cosy flavours which are still very much needed at this time of year!

Ingredients:
250g Plain Flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb
100g caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
Grating of nutmeg
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 Orange
125ml full fat milk
75ml vegetable oil
1 egg
175g dried cranberries
A little demerara sugar for the top

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200 / gas mark 6. Line a baking sheet with muffin cases
2. Mix all of the dry ingredients into a bowl. Add the zest of the orange last.
3. Squeeze the orange juice into a measuring jug and add the milk until it comes up to the 200ml mark. Add the egg, and oil and whisk. Add this to the dry ingredients and fold in (you may need a little more milk, a wet, lumpy batter is what you want.)
4. Fold in the cranberries.
5. Transfer the mixture to the muffin cases, sprinkle over the demerara and bake in the oven for about 20mins.

Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin soup is so seasonal and warming that it makes a great lunch or supper during the colder months. It is especially good when eaten with fresh bread and butter.. You can make it plain, although I often add some dried chili flakes or a whole red chili pepper, de-seeded or not depending on my mood. The addition of double cream is also very welcome and highly recommended for an especially cold or windy night.


Ingredients
1 pumpkin or squash (de-seeded and cut into chunks.)
700ml (or there abouts) of chicken or vegetable stock.
2 onions

Optional:
1 knob of fresh ginger
Tea spoon of dried chili flakes / 1 red chili

To cook:
Fry the onions until translucent and add the pumpkin and turn in the oil for 10 minutes until it starts to soften (add the chili / and or ginger at this point as well.)
Add the stock and leave to simmer for about 20 minutes until the pumpkin is very soft.
Whizz with a hand blender and serve with a good few grinds of black pepper and your fresh bread.

Nigels Lentil Stew for a Wet Day

This is a great dish for a chilly autumn day and is especially great for cheering you up when it's wet outside and the crisp autumn leaves are turning to mulch. This is a good cure for extreme tiredness as the spices and bacon are likely to warm you back to rights.

Ingredients: (to feed 2)
1 roughly chopped onion
1 roughly chopped carrot
2 / 3 rashers of bacon (cut into pieces)
2 spilling handfuls of lentils (any kind, but puy are great.)
500ml of stock
Chopped parsley
1/2 tsp of: smoked paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg

To Cook:
Fry the chopped onion in bacon, add the carrot and put the lid on.
Add the spices, then the lentils and stock and leave to bubble away until the lentils are cooked, which should take about 30mins.
Add some of the parsley towards the end of cooking and sprinkle the rest on top when you serve.

Plum Crumble

Yet another comforting /frugal/British dish.

Sunday evenings seem to beg for some kind of pudding which could well have have been made in a war-time kitchen. Tonight is no exception; this dish is oh so comforting and homely. Plus, of course, exceedingly easy, the measurements are guidelines, there are no rules and regulations with dishes such as this!


Ingredients:
A punnet of plums
Spoon (or 2) of sugar
125g plain flour
100g butter (room temp)
50g rolled oats (optional)
50g sugar (any kind.)

To Cook:
1. Cut the plums and remove their stones.
2. Place them in a saucepan with a splash of water and the spoon(s) of sugar- sweeten to taste. Heat over a medium flame, stirring occasionally until soft and approaching a jam-like state.
3. In the mean time, make the topping by rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients until it forms a bread-crumb like consistency.
4. Put the plum mixture on the bottom of a deep, oven proof, dish. Cover with the crumble top and sprinkle a spoon of sugar over it.
5. Place in a moderate oven (170/180) for about 30mins until the topping starts to brown.
6. Serve with cream or custard and alleviate your woes.