Pea and ham soup

The cold has set in today and we had a really nice frosty and sunny morning, this is the way November should be.  When it's cold and frosty, you can't beat a lovely bowl of hot soup and crusty bread, so I made some pea and ham soup.  There are certainly hundreds of recipes out there for this soup, but I particularly like the way this one has turned out so I thought I'd share it with you.

Ingredients
250g dried marrow fat peas, soaked overnight
2 shallots
2 sticks celery
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 unsmoked gammon steak
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Soak the peas overnight in a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and enough water to cover them completely and an additional 5cm to allow the peas to swell.   Next day when you're ready to cook them, drain and rinse in cold water.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan (big enough to hold the soup) and while this is warming peel and roughly chop the shallots and celery, then add them to the pan giving them a good stir to coat in the oil.  Peel the garlic and crush with a cooks knife and add this to the pan.  Cut the fat off the gammon, then slice into 1-2cm strips, set one aside and add the rest to the plan.

When everything is nice and golden, deglaze the pan with a little water and add the drained peas.  Add fresh water until the peas are covered and you have 1 cm of water above the surface, cover and bring to the boil.

Simmer the peas until they're cooked, about 40-50 minutes.  When they peas are soft, blend the soup with a stick blender, add salt and pepper to taste, then serve hot with some fresh crusty bread.

The best fish and chips?

I've been avoiding buying a chip pan for a long time as it's so tempting to use it far too much, but I finally gave in and bought one for two reaons, firstly I'm not really keen on shop bought fish and chips, the fish is fine, but I just don't like soggy chips.  The rest of the family like them though so if I want good fish and chips I have to do them myself.  The second reason was for croquettes.  We had them in Italy and they are marvellous, I tried making them in the oven and they're OK, but don't quite hit the spot, so a deep fat fryer was the way forward.

Anyway, while researching the fish and chips recipes I came across the articles in the Guardian from Felicity Cloake, they are excellent articles and she does a lot of research into them, so well worth reading!  Her fish batter recipe was the one for me, tis turned out to be absolutely yummy, just perfect.  Have a look and try yourself, you won't get better in my view!  Thanks Felicity :)

She has also done some research into the perfect croquette recipe ans I tried that too, again perfect.  I shall be using a lot more of her recipes from now on!

Fresh tomato soup with tapenade

Fresh tomatoes are in plentiful supply at the moment so why not make a delicious soup out of all those tomatoes whether they are lying around in the fridge or waiting to be picked?  With fresh tomatoes, the softer they are, the more flavour they get so if they've gone over slightly and really need using now, this recipe is ideal as soup freezes really well too.

My recipe is based on Rick Stein's but I found his a little, dare I say, tasteless?  That's really unusual for Rick as I love his recipes normally, but as I've also found the same effect using fresh tomatoes in pasta sauces, maybe it's really about the varieties I can get hold of around here rather than the cooking. Whatever the case, I've modified it by adding a good dollop of tomato puree and the remains of a jar of sun dried tomatoes and their oil added to add to the flavour along with a few basic vegetables and I've managed to get what I was looking for.  I hope you enjoy it, let me know how you make your tomato soup or what variations you make.

These quantities make 5 decent helpings but you can easily change the quantities to suit whatever you have.

Ingredients

For the soup
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion
1 large carrot
1 stick celery
4 large garlic cloves
A good pinch of chilli flakes
1.2 Kg really ripe tomatoes, a mix of varieties is ideal
Half a tube of double concentrate tomato puree
1 jar of sun dried tomatoes
Salt and black pepper to taste


For the tapenade
200g pitted black olives - I find Teso olives in v=brine are good enough
8 anchovy fillets - alternatively use a jar of roasted peppers to make a vegetarian version
20g capers
A little olive oil to loosen the mix

Method
Heat the oil in a large pan.  Peel and roughly chop the onion, carrot and celery and add them to the oil over a medium to low heat - you want them to soften without colouring.  Skin, crush and chop the garlic into large chunks and add these to the veg  along with the chilli flakes. 

While the veg are softening, get the tomatoes ready by washing them then chopping them roughly.  When you've prepped them all, add them to the pan with a teaspoon of salt, bring to a steady boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

While the soups cooking, make the tapenade by putting all the ingredients into a blender goblet and whizz with a stick blender until it's finely mixed.  You may need to add  little olive oil to thin the mix down but aim for a hummus like consistency that can be spread on a cracker or toast.
 


Once the tomatoes have cooked, blend everything with a stick blender.  Heat through and serve with a good spoonful of tapenade stirred in and plenty of toast or bread.

Deep fried halloumi, chips and peas

This is a recipe I've adapted from the "Terre a terre" cookbook recipe, a lovely restaurant down in Brighton that serves only veggie food.  It's a truly superb restaurant even if you're not a veggie so if you get the chance give it a go.

The original recipe is very complex so this is a cut down version of it but we all felt that it worked well.  Let me know what you think!

Ingredients
Chips
3 or 4 medium to large potatoes, I like red King Edwards
Olive oil for coating
Salt and pepper
Halloumi
1 block halloumi drained.
1 carton buttermilk (mine was 284ml)
Plain flour for coating
Batter
150g plain flour
75g self raising flour
10ml white wine vinegar
240ml cold water
½ teaspoon baking powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Lemon pickle
1 lemon, pith and peel removed
30ml lemon juice
Peel from 1 preserved lemon
50g caster sugar
1 teaspoon hot chilli sauce of your choice
1 garlic clove
3 turns of the black pepper mill
A pinch of ground coriander
1 tablespoon of coriander leaves
A pinch of salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salad tartare sauce
1 nori sheet
40g flat leaf parsley
60g capers
60g small cocktail gherkins
½ small shallot
2-3 spoons mayonnaise - see method
Quails eggs - 2 or 3 per person
Mushy peas
400g frozen peas
A handful of mint leaves
50g unsalted butter

Method
First prepare the halloumi.  Cut it into bite sized chunks and add to the buttermilk.  Try to soak this for at least a couple of hours, better still, overnight.

Heat the oven to 220°C and put a baking tray lined with foil and a small amount of olive oil in the oven.  First, prepare the chips.  Peel the potatoes and slice them length ways into 4 to get nice big chips, then boil for 4 minutes.  Drain as much water as you can off them and coat them in a little olive oil.  Take the baking tray out of the oven and add the chips in a single layer, then add a few turns of the salt and pepper mill before returning the tray to the oven on the top shelf.  The chips will take approximately 30 minutes to cook and while they're cooking, turn them and coat with the hot oil 3 or 4 times while they're cooking to get a nice, even browning.  If they're cooked before you've finished the rest, turn the oven off and keep the chips warm.

For the Lemon pickle, blend all the ingredients together using a stick blender, put into a small saucepan, bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 2 minutes, then leave to cool.

To make the sea salad tartare sauce, take the nori sheet and heat over a flame briefly (be careful as they burn really easily) to dry out, then crumble into a container suitable for blending all the other ingredients.  Chop the shallot roughly then add this and the parsley to the nori sheet.  Add enough mayonnaise so that you can use the stick blender to blend together to a smooth paste - it needs to be slightly thicker than the mayonnaise.  Now chop the gherkins and capers finely and stir into the mayonnaise mixture.

To make the much peas, boil the peas for 2 minutes, chop the mint finely while the peas boil, then drain the peas, add the butter and mint to the peas, crush with a fork or potato masher and mix everything together with a fork.  Keep this warm.

Add the quails eggs to boiling water, bring back to the boil and cook for 2 minutes.  Drain and rinse in running cold water to stop the cooking process.  When ready to serve, peel the eggs.

To make the batter, whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl to make a smooth batter, then keep in the fridge until ready to use.   Heat about 1cm of oil (I use olive oil or rape seed oil) in a frying pan big enough to take all of the halloumi pieces. Drain the halloumi and shake off some of the butter milk, then roll in the flour to coat all over, dip into the batter and fry in the oil until nicely browned.  Turn the pieces over and do the same for this side.

To serve, plate the chips, halloumi and peas on warmed plates, add a little tartare sauce and place the quails eggs on top, then add a small amount of lemon pickle on the halloumi pieces.  Serve with the rest of the tartare sauce and the lemon pickle on the table.

Chicken gumbo

I'm really enjoying cooking New Orleans and Cajun food at the moment, I love the way it uses ingredients and ideas from so many different styles of cooking and so far, it's mainly ended up tasting great.  This is my take on Gumbo, there are as many recipes as there are cooks so if you like you can leave your own ideas as a comment :)

This was inspired after seeing my friends play some blues in Camden Town at the blues kitchen and I had Gumbo there, which was very good, so I had to find a way to cook my own.  Hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients

4 chicken legs

Cayenne pepper

Salt and black pepper

100ml oil

100g flour

2 onions, finely chopped

2 red peppers, finely chopped

2 sticks of celery, finely chopped

1 litre chicken stock, at room temperature

Bay leaf

200g okra, chopped

200g smoked sausage, thinly sliced

Pinch or dried thyme

1 sweet potato peeled and cut into 5mm dice

A handful of sweetcorn, frozen

A bunch of spring onions, peeled and chopped finely

Rice, to serve

Sweet dumplings

Method

Remove the skin from the chicken and dust with salt, black and cayenne pepper. Leave to sit for at least half an hour (you can prepare the rest of the ingredients while you're waiting).

Set the flour, onion, pepper, celery and stock out beside the stove. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pot over a medium-high heat and then brown the chicken well, in batches if necessary. Set aside.  Turn the heat down slightly and scrape any bits off the bottom of the pan, then stir in the flour. Stir over a medium-low heat until it reaches a deep, rich brown colour, about the shade of melted milk chocolate. (the darker it is, the more bitter the flavour.)

Add the onion, pepper and celery and cook, stirring, for a few minutes until softened.  Gradually stir in the stock, little by little, until you have a smooth sauce, scraping the bottom of the pot as you do so.

Add the chicken back into the pot, along with the bay leaf and thyme, and bring to a simmer. Turn down the heat, cover and simmer for an hour and a half.

Add the sweet potato, okra, sweetcorn and sausage, stir, replace the lid and simmer for a further 45 minutes.  Remove the chicken (keeping the pot on the heat) and, when cool enough to handle, strip the meat from the bones and put it back into the pot, along with the Tabasco sauce and salt and pepper to taste.

Pecan Roulade with Caramel mousse

This is a recipe I got from the Susan Spicer cookbook, Crescent City Cooking.  Highly recommended if you want to cook Cajun and Louisiana food from New Orleans, though be careful as it has US weights and measures.  I've made a few changes to the recipe, but not that many.  It's really excellent, but maybe make it a day ahead if you're cooking lunch!

Ingredients
Cake
100g pecan nuts
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs, separated
50g golden granulated sugar
Unsalted butter for lining baking paper
Caramel Sauce
200g white caster sugar
60ml water
200ml double cream
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon rum or brandy
Mousse
100g cream cheese
220ml syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3/4 teaspoon powdered gelatine
200ml double cream, whipped

Method

Sponge
Heat the oven to 180C.  Line a 22.5cm x 30cm baking tray with buttered baking paper.  Toast the pecan nuts in a dry drying pan until they are just starting to brown further, then grind them to a medium fine flour - don't make it too fine as the coarse texture works really well in this recipe.  Add them to a large bowl and add the baking powder and give it a good stir to mix.

Whip the egg yolks with half of the sugar until they turn pale and creamy, then add the nut mixtre and stir to mix well but down whip.  Clean the whisk and now do the whites (if you get any yolk into egg white they won't whip) in a large bowl until peaks begin to form, then add the rest of the sugar while still beating.  When stiff peaks form (stop the beater and withdraw the beaters, if the peaks remain, you're good to go) the whites are ready.

Gradually fold the whites into the nut mixture until well combined, then spread the mix out evenly in the baking tray.  Bake for 10-15 minutes until the top is browned but not burning, cover with a layer of tinfoil and a tea towel and leave to cool.


Caramel mousse 
First, make the syrup.  Add the sugar and water to a small saucepan and bring to the boil, then swirl to mix and turn the heat to medium.  Keep an eye on this as it will take some time (10-15 mins) to start caramelizing, but once it starts to brown it turns really quickly.  While this is boiling, put the cream into another pan and heat until it starts to bubble, then take off the heat before it boils and place on a cool surface. 

Once the caramel syrup is a light to mid brown (about the colour of light oak furniture) tske it off the heat, stir briskly and set aside.  Now add the cream to the sugar, whisking briskly as you go ideally with a balloon whisk (careful, this is really hot, you'll burn yourself if you splatter it about)! 

Pour off 220ml of the caramel sauce and put into the 'fridge' to cool.   Add a teaspoon of vanilla essence and rum or brandy to the remaining mix and keep this for your sauce.

Now make the mousse.  Dissolve the gelatine in a tablespoon of warm water.   Put the cream cheese to a large bowl and lightly whisk, then while whisking slowly add the caramel sauce, beating all the time to mix everything evenly.  Now add the vanilla essence and gelatine to the mix, making sure it's all well combined.  Finally, fold in the whipped cream gently until you have a gorgeous caramel cream mousse!

Assembly
First, turn the cake over and remove it from the tin carefully by turning it upside down on the tea towel and foil, tea towel on the bottom, then the foil.   If it sticks, ease the edges away from the paper with a blunt knife.  Spread the caramel mousse evenly on top of the cake, then take one of the sohrt edges and gently start rolling it over.  Slow and steady is the watchword here, if you bend t too fast or too tightly it will crack, so take care.  Once you've done this, put the sponge on to a plate, dust with icing sugar and put the cake in the 'fridge' to cool and set. 

To serve, tidy the edges with a sharp knife (make sure you slice it with a sharp knife and try not to saw too much as it will mix the cream and cake together), cut into generous portions and don't forget the caramel sauce you set aside.   All you need to do now is to sit back with a tipple of your choice and wait for the admiring oooh's and aahhh's to roll in.