leek, potato & chicken soup

2 leeks, washed trimmed and finely sliced
1 small red onion and 1 small white onion, finely diced
2 sticks celery, trimmed and finely chopped
25g butter
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
olive oil
Maldon
freshly ground black pepper
1l chicken stock
200-400g diced chicken
4T cream
25g grated Parmesan
4 medium or 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
fresh chopped parsley

Sweat the onions, leeks, garlic and celery in oil and butter until translucent. add the potato and stir for several minutes. Add stock and seasoning, cover and leave to simmer for 5 minutes. Blitz with a handheld blender. Bring to a gentle simmer and add the chicken. cook for 1 minute, add cream and Parmesan. adjust seasoning to taste. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan and a scattering of parsley. Eat with some crusty, toasted sourdough smeared with cold butter.

roasted plum crumble

~filling~
lots of yummy ripe plums, sliced in half
some caster sugar

~topping~
flour
butter
sugar
Maldon
optional: rolled oats, chopped nuts

Put plums and caster sugar in a baking tray into the oven at 160C for 20-30 minutes, shaking occasionally.

Take out, cool, remove stones, add more sugar to taste.

 

Mix some flour, Italian typo '00' is good, with some cold grated butter with your fingers until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add a good pinch of Maldon and some soft brown sugar. If you like you can also add some chopped nuts and/or rolled oats, otherwise leave it plain and simple. Put plum mixture into an ovenproof dish and top with the flour/butter/sugar mixture. 

Put into a heated oven (180C) and bake until brown - about 30 minutes. Serve with whipped cream and/or ice cream.

No pic of it cooked, we ate it so fast!

nearly hugh's lemon poppy cake

170g flour

1/2t salt

1t bicarb soda

1/2t baking powder

25g poppy seeds

zest of 2 lemons

170g butter, softened

170g caster sugar

4 eggs separated

170g yogurt

2t vanilla

~syrup~

juice of 2 lemons

6T icing sugar

zest of 1 lemon

icing sugar for sifting

180C

Butter cake tin and dust with flour.

Sieve flour, salt, bicarb and baking powder. stir in the poppy seeds and lemon zest. 

Beat together the butter and 120g sugar until light and fluffy. Whisk egg yolks, yogurt and vanilla.

Beat whites with a pinch of salt to soft peaks. Add remaining sugar a little at a time until stiff and meringue-like.

Beat flour and egg yolk mix alternately into butter and sugar. Stir in 1/3 of meringue mixture first and then gently fold in the rest. 

Spoon the cake mix into the tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

To make the syrup combine the juice, icing sugar and zest in a small saucepan, stir and simmer for a couple of minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven and spike all over with a skewer, then pour over the syrup and leave to cool in the tin. 

Serve with a 50/50 mixture of Greek yogurt and whipped cream.

italian sausage ragu & silken pasta

As winter approaches, a warming rustic dish for cooler darker nights

~pasta~
4 eggs
400g 00 flour
fine semolina for dusting

~ragu~
4 or 5 Italian sausages (I used veal, pork & fennel)
handful small or cherry tomatoes
1 packet of passata (400g)
Maldon
freshly ground black pepper
raw sugar
fresh basil
olive oil
1 eggplant, diced
1 red onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
optional: red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

First, make the pasta. Mix the lightly beaten eggs with the flour until a soft dough forms, knead for 10 minutes or so until smooth and silky, then set aside under a bowl for 30 minutes. Roll the pasta by hand or machine and cut into 1.5cm wide ribbons. If rolling by hand, fold the rolled pasta sheets inward so that the two edges meet in the centre. Repeat until just a few centimetres across. Then, take a knife and cut into 1.5cm widths. Once complete, run the knife with the blade parallel to the bench under the pasta and once the blunt edge is under the line where the folds meet, turn up so that the pieces of pasta fall on either side of the knife. Give the knife a couple of gentle shakes and the ribbons should unfold. Place on a baking tray and toss with plenty of semolina to coat - this will prevent the pasta from sticking.

In a saute pan, heat a few generous glugs of olive oil and add the garlic and onion (and chilli if desired). Cook gently until the onion becomes translucent, then add the eggplant. cook gently until softened slightly. Push the contents to the edge of the pan and increase the temperature, adding a few more glugs of oil. Split the sausages open and break small chunks of the meat into the pan. Once browned, add the passata, salt, pepper and sugar (a full-fingered pinch). Cook gently for 10 minutes. Heat a large pot of water until boiling. Tear some basil leaves into the ragu and add the chopped fresh tomatoes (keep them quite chunky, cut into quarters at most). Continue to cook gently, adding water if the sauce starts to dry out.

Drop the fresh pasta into the water, stir well and cook for several minutes until done. Drain in a colander and toss with a little oil. Add to the ragu and finish with more torn basil and Parmesan.

meatballs

~meatballs~
400g beef mince
400g pork mince
1 egg
1 red chilli (finely chopped)
4 cloves garlic (crushed)
2T chicken stock liquid (concentrate)
1c fresh breadcrumbs
1T cumin seeds (or substitute 1T dried oregano)
1t coriander seeds
1t fennel seeds
Maldon
freshly ground black pepper

~sauce~
1 tin whole peeled tomatoes
1 jar/tin/carton passata
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 red onion, sliced into fine segments
2 shallots, sliced as above
zest one lemon
olive oil
Maldon
raw sugar
freshly ground black pepper
few slugs red wine
fresh basil

Toast and grind in a mortar and pestle the coriander, cumin and fennel. Place all ingredients for meatballs into a bowl and mix by hand until combined (if omitting the cumin for oregano, add the oregano at this point). Make small or large balls and brown in olive oil in a large saute pan. Remove the meatballs and set aside. Heat some olive oil in the pan, adding the chili, onion and shallots, and cooking gently until translucent. Add the lemon zest at the end. then add the tomatoes, red wine and a few slugs of olive oil, seasoning with pepper, salt and sugar. Turn down the heat and simmer gently until reduced to a thick sauce. Scatter with fresh basil and then add meatballs to the sauce for the last five minutes. Toss in al dente spaghetti with more fresh basil - if the sauce is too thick, add a little of the pasta water. Serve scattered with torn basil and freshly grated Parmesan.