James Backhouse – Leon Rhubarb Jam Expert

James and Henry are the legends behind the “Farmhouse Kitchen” which took the Stourhead Show by storm back in the soggy summer months… James is the chap in the fetching apron above.

This is just a quick post to register my surprise at seeing one of his recipes in the amazingly designed Leon Cookbook that has just found its way onto the shelves. I took a sneaky picture which shows James’s Rhubarb and Ginger Jam recipe. Nice one Backhouse!

It’s a stunningly designed book, full of fold out pages, posters and above all delicious and healthy recipes. If there was a magic wand that could turn all McDonald’s into Leons the world would be a much better place.

Pie Off

We’ve been planning to do a culinary competition for a while now. And what better food to get competitive about than pie. Puns all round.

There was an ample sur-pie of puns and banter. We all like puffing our chests out and won’t roll over easily. Oli even went to the extraordinary, and possibly illegal, level of asking the lovely chaps at Great Queen Street for their ham and chicken pie recipe. And the bastards gave it to him – hence his awesome pastry for his game pie.

The rules were simples. 2 pies per couple. One savoury and one sweet. Both made with pastry. (You wouldn’t believe how long it took to agree on these rules!)

The teams were selected carefully… but not as meticulously as the team names.

Erin and Ed: American Pie
Mariana and Oli: Paela Gavella
Cowie and Brown: Cow Pie

To clear up any name related confusion… Erin’s American and Mariana is a proud Spaniard.

The competition took place at Erin’s amazing flat in Islington. So Oli and myself were at an immediate disadvantage given that we were on foreign territory,,, albeit in the best kitchen I’ve ever had the pleasure to cook in.

American Pie opted for a highy creative opening dish – a chicken fajita pie. The likes of which I have never heard of before. If the taste of this bad boy is anything to go bye.. this pie could become a 21st century classic. Rich, spicy, sweet, creamy and smoky; the filling was exceptionally fun. Oli and I are really hoping that our new nickname for Ed, “EID”, sticks.

Delicious filling. Great decoration.

Paella Gavella’s Pie was in a different league in the pastry department. And completely stole the show from a creative stand-point. Oli nailed it. It was a game pie, cooked with pigeon, rabbit and venison with a rich gravy topped off with the most professional suet crust pastry you will ever see… probably even better than you’d find at GQS where he stole it from! But the best thing was the heat resistant board he chose to present it on. Ed and I normally try our hardest not to offer the slightest bit of praise to Oli. But unfortunately we had to eat some serious humble pie here. Fair play to Oli – this game pie was top class.

Cowie and I, in the form of Cow Pie, played it relatively safe. We concentrated on the filling. I spent 8 hours cooking a fabulous shoulder of lamb with anchovies, rosemary, bacon, red wine, dried porcini and a touch of cognac for good measure. It fell of the bone and had great depth of flavour. We topped it off with some of Sainbury’s best puff pastry and hoped for the best. We were pleased with the result. Meaty and full bodied. Just how a good pie should be.

So by this stage we were completely stuffed. What better way to push on from this than to have 3 more pies! Talk about punishment!

American Pie delivered a very flavousome all American classic Apple Pie with sultanas and cinnamon. Bursting with flavour, or should I say flavor for our American audience, it was a lot of fun.

Paela Gavella yet again pulled off a masterstroke. Their pastry was exceptional and we loved the numerical reference to Pi on the lid. It was packed full of autumnal fruit that bled across our plates like some sort of masacre on a pheasant shoot. Good pie.

Cow Pie did some last minute improvisation and rustled up a pie from no-where. Imagine how tasty a mango and pineapple strudel would taste! Well that’s what came out of the oven!

It was one of the most fun evenings I’ve had in a long time. But, the embarrassment of losing a couple of buttons from my shirt and a gentleman offering me his seat on the tube home because he thought I was pregnant mitigated against this! If oysters, sea food and sushi are good romantic foods… pie is the polar opposite!

Office Picnic

Inspired by our sushi party Ed whipped up a sushi fest for his girlfriend Erin who likes nothing better than raw fish. Quite brilliantly he arrived at work with a collection of tasty leftovers – delicious crayfish tails and white flecks of crab.

I read the other day that the average amount of time taken for lunch is around 16 minutes in the UK which is horrific. It means we all eat sandwiches, get fat and land up broke! Much better to bring in leftovers, or better still prepare food at home that is perfect for work.

We decided to use Ed’s goodies as the basis of a mini picnic. All we needed was a couple of baguettes, some pate, salad and some salami. We toasted the bread and adorned the crsipy little roundels with an array of toppings before closing the door to our office and listening to Test Match Special.

Nice.

Welsh Bank Holiday Cookoff

After a long week with work in France, Cowie and I zoomed off to Pembrokeshire for the bank holiday. I slept. Cowie drove. I got told off for farting. 7 hours after being picked up from Reading we arrived having exhausted all of the 49 junctions of the M4 and then some!

The journey to Wales is all about the road signs. From the civilisation and high brow English signs with one language and clear directions… to the multi language gobble-de-gook of the Welsh ones. Best of all near Carmarthen there is a brown road sign for McDonald’s. I rest my case.

Without going into too much detail we had signed up for a weekend of cooking with James and Henry, experimenting with easy to eat foods. James and Henry had slaved over a fabulous hunk of pork belly which made me feel like I was having a picnic in an Elysian field. Soft, warm, salty, oozey and so moreish and naughty! Well stuffed and still exhausted we slept with a view over the coast towards Ireland and America and woke to see the sea crashing against the rocks.

Saturday brought military precision and military drinking. After a well paced breakfast started the cook off. I was despatched to the second kitchen to make a leek and bacon quiche. Armed with Thomasina and a big fat reliable cook book I went to work. Bacon, onion, leek and garlic got sweated and reduced to a satisfying filling. At no point did it look like I had got the quantities right. It seemed like the contents in the frying pan would overwhelm the pastry case and splat all over the floor. With the pastry case blind baked with gravel on top and the cream, milk, eggs and cheese whisked up, all I had to do was pour. And remarkably it all fitted! There was room left for me to place an egg yolk in the centre for artistic effect! If all else failed at least we’d have an egg in the middle!

Astonishingly it worked. I might be able to rival Tamysn’s medium rare quiche afterall one day!

Meanwhile the chaps and chapesses were busy cooking, peeling, soaking, drinking and generally being what my Mum would call good “doers”.

Henry made a trout and potato cake…

Which emerged, quite incredibly, looking like this.

So far, so camp!

Henry’s tortilla was a little less gay and tasted delicious.

By this point we had burnt our way through the Welsh parsley quota, so our garnishes started to take a less prominent role.

As the gin and tonics started to flow from our charming yellow watering can…

… and Willy’s jokes began to seem funnier…

… and the drinks began to take their toll…

… everything was perfect.

Before we knew it it was time for afternoon tea. Henry, Lucy and James laid on an incredible spread of chocolate tiffin cake, fruit cake, macaroons, cookies and flapjack. All of which was fantastic. The highlight being James’s moist flapjack which got thumbs up from everyone.

Henry’s fruit cake was a little overdone. We worked out that this was because Henry had cooked it for 4 Pimms rather than 3 – which works out in everyday language to be 15 minutes too much!

Post tea we larked around playing extreme boules.

Before settling in for dinner which involved us being overwhelmed with bulgar wheat, cous cous, chick peas and a vast array of delious dishes. Highlights included a mackerel and beetroot salad, grilled haloumi and apparently, my quiche!

The day’s activities soon started to take their toll. Cowie couldn’t move for fear of farting from all the grains and pulses, Willy had a brief snooze on the sofa and James seemed to go all blurry!

We chatted well into the early hours with our creativity rising as the wine stocks plummeted. If only all of creative sessions at work involved a cook off and a small cellar of wine, we would be winning awards left right and centre!

Thank you James and Henry for a wonderful weekend. Cowie and I are in love with Pembrokeshire and can’t wait to return with more time and a surfboard!

Anna’s Mousakka

As a mini celebration of me moving house Anna and Edwin created a fantastic mousakka. It’s a cross between Edwin’s skiworld recipe and Anna’s mother’s recipe. The result was fantastic. I’m looking forward to plenty more of this!

Here’s Anna’s recipe courtesy of Mother Railton.

“Ingredients

Ragu Sauce

Lamb Mince (1 kg)
4 Aubergines
Onion
Garlic
Peppers
Heaped tbl spoon Oregano
1 can Chopped tomatoes
1 heaped tbl spoon tomato puree
Salt/Pepper
Red Wine

Optional
Mushrooms
Courgettes

Béchamel

Plain flour
Butter
Milk
Nutmeg
2 large eggs

Start off by frying the lamb mince in olive oil – when all the meat is browned put to one side to let the fat rise – which will later be drained off.

Slice the aubergines into 1cm wide slices- lay on a dish and salt. Leave for 15-20 mins. Wash off the salt and lay to one side to dry. They do shrink so I would suggest doing more than you might expect to need.

Next fry onions/garlic/peppers/courgettes etc add the chopped tomatoes/tomato puree/red wine and then add the lamb back in.

At the same time fry the Aubergines quite gently – this will need to be done by a batch process – when you have fried one batch I suggest you put them in the oven on grill to keep them warm and to allow them to crisp up slightly.

Once all the aubergines have been done- build up the dish like you would a lasagne – I ten dto start with aubergines on the bottom layer and finishing with aubergines on top.

Pop this in the oven on medium-high heat and start on the béchamel sauce.

Béchamel

Melt Lots of proper butter in a pan (a slab 1 ½ inces wide) gently sieve flour in and continue to stir until it has formed an almost cookie dough texture. Slowly add the milk whilst stirring until it is a suitable thickness – grate in about half a block of cheese and half a whole nutmeg.

Beat 2 large eggs in a mug and add to the sauce. This will help it rise so the more air you can add into the sauce the better – I would recommend a quick whisk at this stage,

After 20 mins remove the base dish from the oven pour over the sauce – grate some more nutmeg over the top and then pop under the grill for 10-15 mins.

DO make sure you watch it though- as my sauce burnt under the grill and it will catch very quickly. If it does burn- just brush some olive oil over the top!”

Christmas Eve with Hannah and Family

Mum invited Hannah and her entire family over for dinner on Christmas Eve. We had a brilliant evening eating good food and playing silly games. After a day of fetching the goose and finishing off neglected Christmas shopping it really got us in festive spirit… to the extent that Dad did a recital of the Bird in the Guilded Cage in a throw back to his days as a choir boy.

As a present Hannah brought over some fondant fancies covered in edible glitter and psychodelic icing. They look utterly stunning and fit in well with our wallpaper! They are a huge speciality of Hannah’s and I can’t wait for her to bring another batch over.

When we collected the goose earlier in the day we asked whether they had any venison fillet and were delighted when a gigantic piece of dark, tender meat appeared. I decided to make a venison carpaccio starter with a roquette salad dressed with juniper oli, black chocolate and parmesan. Later on in proceedings after a glass or two of champagne I decided it might be a good idea to add a dollop of Mum’s 2004 vintage damson jam to the mix!

Whilst the venison was chilling in the freezer to firm up, I whizzed up loads of juniper berries with black pepper, salt, olive oil and a sprinkling of dried chilli. Mum always holds us back with chilli because it makes Dad sneeze! Having made a very fragrant oil I tried it out on Suz and Mum. Mum said it was too gritty and Suz added some lemon. So I sieved the liquid and held it back for later.

Slicing the venison was a very therepeutic experience. There’s something very soothing about taking a really sharp knife and slicing through super tender flesh. I tried my hardest to slice it as thin as possible and then layered the meat on top of the salad leaves before dressing them with the fragrant oil, parmesan scrapings, dark chocolate shavings and damson jam.

We served the venison with the delicious curry paste bread that Hannah brought with her and popped a few bowls of extra chocolate and parmesan on the table in case people wanted more. I was delighted to see 11 clean plates as well as people helping themselves to extra toppings! It made a great alternative to smoked salmon and was actually quite economical.

A delicious salad Nicoise followed the venison which made for a great alternative to turkey or ham. We were so relieved that it allowed all to breathe a sigh anticipation for the goose and turkey later in the week.

Suz slaved for hours over some delicious cinamon and white chocolate pannacottas. They turned out perfectly and looked fab. Well done little Sis.

What a brilliant Christmas Eve. Great to catch up with Hannaa and the Miles gang.

Check out Hannah’s brilliant blog here.

Harriet’s Amazing Lasagne

Harriet is an amazing cook. Cowie and I popped over to dinner with Harriet and Nick last year where Harriet cooked us a delicious pheasant and mango curry. One day I’d love to prise that recipe out of Harriet’s possession… just like I’m hoping she’ll give me her mother’s lasagne recipe.

Whilst up in the Welsh mountains at Harriet’s grandparent’s fabulous cottage we gobbled up the best lasagne any of us have ever had. We demolished it. Helped no doubt by plenty of walking and even more booze. It had been ticking over in the oven for quite a while developing more and more flavour by the minute. The key to the depth of flavour is that Harriet throws a bunch of bacon, some celery and crucially some liver into the mince and tops it off with aubergine.

The results taste stunning. This may not be the most visually stunning picture. I just wish my camera could capture taste and smell…

Here’s Harriet’s amazing lasagne recipe:

Serves 8

Ingredients:

Meat:

Approx 750 grams of mince meat
200 grams of chicken liver
4 rashers of smoked bacon
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
a good few squirts of tomato puree
a dash of Lea and Perins
1 large onion
1/4 pint of red wine
2 garlic cloves
good two handfuls of basil leaves (fresh)
two celery sticks
salt and pepper

1 large aubergine

lasagne pasta sheets

Sauce:

1/2 pint single cream
150 grams of butter
100 – 150 grams of flour (use judgement)
3 pints of milk
salt and pepper
grated chedder cheese – a large block of it!

Oven: fan = 50 min at 170 degrees – or until very hot in the middle!

Instructions:

Meat:

Fry onion and garlic until soft and clear
Add chopped bacon and liver to fry until looks cooked on outside – then
Add mince meat to fry – again until looks brown and not red
Add chopped up celery sticks
then after all the above has been cooking for 5-10 min..
Add tin tomatoes, tomato puree, Lea and Perins, red wine, salt and pepper and chopped basil – cook for approx 30 min until
reduced (don’t want it to be too liquidy!)

Mean while:

Chop aubergine into 1/2 cm slices and fry gentle in pan until 3/4 cooked – take off heat

Sauce:

A typical white source with grated cheese added – see any good cook book (Delia!) for instructions)

Putting it together:

Get a large casserole pot or dish:
Add a layer of meat
Add a layer of pasta sheets
add a layer of aubergine
add a layer of white cheesey sauce
add a layer of meat
add a layer of pasta sheets
etc etc etc until all full

On the top – must finish off with layer of white cheesey sauce and then top with grated cheese.

Pop in oven.

Cheese can brown – if getting too brown – cover top with tin foil.