Recipe: Speculoos (and Santa)

I had my first mulled wine of the season last week, catching up with a friend who has a four year old daughter. Talk turned to Christmas, and how her daughter had loudly announced on the way home from playgroup that Santa couldn't be real because there'd been so many books written about him. Yes, at such early age, she'd clearly started to twig that something wasn't quite right about the thought of a chap dropping down the chimney. ("But surely the dog would bark and wake us up Mummy?")

My friend had, as most parents would, looked aghast, tried not to panic, desperately changed the subject, and decided to bring it up at another point. But how do you broach the subject with a precocious four year old who runs the risk of upsetting every other child in her class?

St Nicholas. That's what we came up with.

I first heard of Sinterklaas, or Saint Nicholas, when I came to Edinburgh and moved in with a Dutch friend. A 4th century Christian bishop, he was canonised for being an all round good egg and champion of the impoverished. He is remembered for leaving sweets in the shoes of poor children - and for his most famous exploit, when he threw three gold coin pouches down the chimney of a pauper, who could not afford the dowries for his daughters. One version of the tale tells that the girls had been washing their stockings, and left them to dry by the fire and that the money dropped inside...

A facial reconstruction of St Nicholas - source

His saint day - 6th December - is celebrated across many continental European countries. In the Netherlands, it's bigger than Christmas for a lot of young children, and is celebrated the night before. On the evening of the 5th December, families eat a traditional pea and bacon soup, play games and swap gifts with little rhymes for each recipient. Shoes are placed in front of fireplaces and windows in the hope that sweets will appear inside. On the morning the 6th, St Nicholas heads off back to Spain (where he, slightly randomly given his Greek heritage, apparently spends most of his time).

He's become a controversial character in the last few years - mostly because of his attendants, Swarte Piets. Black-faced children accompany Nicholas on his arrival into town. The Spanish connection and the curly black hair implies that his servants are Moors - which makes it slightly dodgy... but politics aside, it still strikes me as fascinating how a saint who died 1600 years ago became our modern day Santa. It's believed that he travelled over to America with the Dutch West India Company. Combined there with the English tradition of Father Christmas, a friendly Yule-tide visitor who celebrates with friends (St Nicholas never quite made it over the Channel), the modern day Santa Claus was established.

Anyway. Back to Sinterklaas.

Ever since I've known my Dutch friend, we've had a Sinterklaas celebration together. It's normally a couple of days late, as she travels home to see her family - but it's become the start of my festive season. I volunteered to do some baking for our gathering, and was handed her family recipe for Speculaas, or Speculoos, cookies. Similar to gingerbread, but with less of the ginger, and with more cloves and cardamom, they are a really delicious and slightly savoury soft biscuit. I used my friend's spice mix - but if you don't have all of those ingredients, I reckon they'd be just as delicious with mixed spice as it's really similar, only without the cardamom.

Speculoos
Makes around 20.

120g butter

100g dark brown sugar 

200g self raising flour

1 tsp salt

1 egg

2 tsp spice mix 

Cream together the sugar, butter, salt and spices.

Add the egg, slowly sift in the flour and mix into a sticky dough. 

Bring into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 170C. 

Roll out the dough on a clean, floured surface, handling as little as possible to keep it cold. Ideally you want it about 7mm thick (I know, I know). Cut into festive shapes, or triangles. 

Bake for approx 20 minutes on a non-stick or lined tray. When you take them out, they will seem very soft and possibly undercooked but they'll firm up a treat as they cool.

Best eaten warm while they're still soft in the middle. Perfect with mulled wine or hot chocolate. 

Recipe: Earl Grey Gin Sours

I love gin and I love a good cocktail. When I was a student, I worked in a number of pubs and bars, but it wasn't until I started working for a boutique hotel with an award winning cocktail bar that I really began to understand what a "good" drink was.

The best bit about that job was the beautiful food and good drinks, all at a discount. We were actively encouraged to go to training and tasting sessions (even those of us not behind the bar) so that we knew what we were selling - and that's when my love of gin began.

Having never really been a fan of sugary drinks (well done mum and dad), it's not a surprise that I'm a fan of a gin cocktail. I love a good 'classic' - a Prohibition era cocktail where good quality spirits are the star, rather than fruity flavour combinations.

I don't know why, but until I made a batch of Earl Grey Gin, I'd never had a gin sour. Sours don't tend to be on menus (other than the occasional Whiskey sour) but I was a big fan for a while - and still am - of an Amaretto sour. I am now hooked.

Earl Grey Gin Sours

50ml Earl Grey Gin

25ml sugar syrup
25ml lemon juice

Lemon or orange peel twists to serve

Half fill a cocktail shaker (or jam jar, or coffee flask) with ice cubes, add in the ingredients.

Fill a small tumbler with ice.

Shake your shaker for 20 seconds. The key to shaking cocktails is to get the ingredients to hit each end of your shaker, traveling through the ice on the way there to chill them quickly, so you're aiming for an up and down, or forwards and backwards motion. 

Strain the liquid (ie, pour out the cocktail, leaving the ice cubes behind) into your serving glass.

Enjoy, with a twist of orange or lemon to garnish.

Flamingo glass optional...

Recipe: Earl Grey Gin

I drink a lot of tea. It's good for you - rehydrating, relaxing and comforting. I also drink a lot of gin. That's good for you too - especially if you drink it with tonic to keep the mosquitoes at bay.

My love for Earl Grey Tea continues, and seeing as I have been particularly embracing the gin this year, I thought I'd finally get round to trying an Earl Grey gin infusion. This is inspired by a cocktail class I went to a few years ago at Eteaket.

Earl Grey Gin.

250ml Gin
10g Earl Grey Tea leaves

Place the gin and the tea leaves in a jam jar or similar airtight container, and leave to infuse for about ten hours (or overnight). Upend the jar occasionally, to mix the flavours around.
Strain to remove the leaves, and pour into a clean presentation bottle for storage.

You can use tea bags, but loose tea tends to be a slightly higher quality. Don't worry about using your fancy stuff for this - common garden gin will do the trick.

Booze not your bag? What about an Earl Grey Tea loaf cake instead...

Recipe: Sugar Syrup

I've started experimenting with making cocktails at home, after a fair few years hiatus from making them behind a bar. Generally I like a simple classic cocktail, which makes recreating them easy - as long as you can get the ingredients.

One of the ingredients a lot of cocktails use is a sugar syrup. You can buy it - it's usually called Gomme - but to be honest, making it at home is a lot easier when you're having an impromptu play around, and it's so much cheaper.

100ml water
200ml caster sugar

Place the sugar and water into a large saucepan, and warm on a medium heat. Stir gently until the sugar is dissolved and the liquid begins to simmer.
Remove from the heat, and pour into a sterilised jam jar or glass bottle.
Allow to cool before use.

You can experiment with the sugars - dark sugar works really well with a rum cocktail for example, but will change the colour of your cocktail if it's a paler liquid.

Recipe: Earl Grey Tea Loaf

Just before Christmas I did my usual trick of buying lots of random ingredients to make something specific with (in this case, mixed peel) and then promptly running out of time to make said recipe (in this case, homemade mince for pies).
I had a vague idea of wanting to make a cake with it - but trawling through my books and googling didn't really throw up anything that inspired me, so I decided to adapt a standard tea loaf recipe instead. I'll be honest, usually this doesn't work and I end up swearing and threatening never to bake again, but I'm feeling so smug that this time it has, I'm feeling the need to share.

A note on tea loafs: apparently (at least, according to Wikipedia) tea loafs are unfashionable. This baffles me somewhat, although as a Yorkshire lass, tea runs through my veins. I think, though, that they might have gone out of fashion because they're simple and reminiscent of postwar austerity. The lack of butter, which would have made them easier to make in rationing times than your average cake, means that they're virtually fat free - so you can freely slather the butter on top instead.

Earl Grey Tea Loaf.

100g mixed peel
180g raisins and sultanas (I used a mixed bag which contained both, as well as cranberries)
1 tbsp lemon juice
250ml hot, very very strong, Earl Grey Tea
340g self raising flour
110g light brown sugar
2tsp mixed spice
1 egg

Soak the raisins and sultanas in the hot tea until the tea is cool, or for around about an hour. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C fan (or 160 non fan) and line a large loaf tin (it might stick to the greaseproof paper a bit, so line carefully!).

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and egg, add in the flour and mixed spice. Add in the tea slowly, beating well, but leaving the fruit behind for the moment so it doesn't get mashed up. Use electric whisks if you have them, it saves a lot of time and arm ache. It will be much more like a bread dough in texture than a cake batter once the liquid is all mixed in.

Add in the fruit and peel, and lemon juice, with a spoon rather than a whisk, to keep them whole.

Bake for about 45 minutes, until golden on top and a knitting needle comes out hot and clean. Take out of the tin to cool on a wire rack or breadboard. It keeps for several days in an airtight tin.

Recipe: Hot Buttered Rum (or Whisky...)

I have had one of those low level colds for a couple of weeks, and it is refusing to budge. You know the type - you don't feel 'well' but you're not poorly enough to be off work, so you spend most of your time wandering around the office feeling tired and being a little bit cranky. Anyway - as someone who doesn't get ill very often, I am rubbish at knowing what to do to make it go away faster. I have been downing hot Ribena during the day (my boss swears it had magical properties) but frankly on an evening I want something more substantial.

I have been a firm believer in a hot toddy in the past. Maybe it's the booze that sends me to sleep. Maybe it's the honey and lemon which have antibacterial properties. I don't know. But - in the last couple of weeks I just havn't managed to make them "right". And so, I turned to an alternative.  

I've called this Hot Buttered Rum, but I made it with Irish whiskey, because there wasn't any rum in the house and obtaining some would have meant going outside. It was delicious. It's also a bit of a cheat's version of the American recipes I found online, in that it has fewer ingredients. After all, if you're poorly, you want something quick and comforting without a load of random ingredients that you have to go outside for.

Hot Butter Spice Mix
Makes about 30 portions

100g unsalted butter
200g dark brown (muscovado) sugar
2 teaspoons mixed spice
1 teaspoon cardamom seeds, ground or bashed up
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric whisk or wooden spoon, then beat in the other ingredients. It's easiest if you use room temperature butter cut into cubes.
Spread the mix out into a rough line in greaseproof paper, leaving a couple of inches at either end of the paper.
Roll the mix into a sausage, twist the two ends in opposite directions so that it looks like a cracker, and roll again.

To Serve

10g of butter mix
25g rum, whisky or Irish whiskey
75ml boiled water
lemon to taste

Layer up your ingredients in a cup or heatproof glass. Sip while hot.

The mix will keep in the freezer in a tupperware, still in the greaseproof paper, for around six months - just slice off a cm or so (about 10g) with a sharp knife whenever you're in need of comfort. Don't bother using posh booze, and feel free to experiment by using hot apple juice or a dash of lemon to taste.

Share Advent: Recipe - Peppermint Bark

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I am not such a fan of Christmas presents. I've been mulling it over quite a bit in the last few weeks, thinking about what Christmas means to me. It's not the presents themselves that I object to. It's the hype that comes with it all. We seem to be moving away from the winter festivals and celebrations of light, the bringing together of family and friends, the sense of being grateful for what we have, and a quiet optimism about the coming year. That saddens me. I have really come around to the notion that maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store - maybe Christmas means a little bit more.

As I mentioned in the other post, this year I am trying to personalise presents - choosing things that are either practical or beautiful. Or tasty. Or combinations of the three.

It was in the spirit of this notion Mr F and I spent several nights this week playing with chocolate. As well as some fruit and nut concoctions, we also made quite a lot of peppermint bark.

I love the bright pink candy canes against the dark chocolate

Makes 1 large slab

1 bar good quality dark chocolate

1 bar good quality white chocolate 

3 striped peppermint candy canes

Melt your dark chocolate. Either do this in a bowl over boiling water (making sure you don't get water in the bowl), or in the microwave (making sure you do it slowly, stirring in any last few chunks of unmelted chocolate. If overheated, it'll burn and become gritty and bitter). 

Pour it into Tupperware - about 0.5cm thick. You can either do one huge piece, and break it up into shards, or a couple of smaller slabs, depending on how you like your presentation. Allow to cool for half an hour at room temperature. 

Meanwhile, bash up the candy canes. I find it easiest to put them in a sandwich bag and whack them with a rolling pin.

Melt your white chocolate. 

Drizzle the white chocolate on top. 

Sprinkle over the candy canes. 

Leave at room temperature to cool before wrapping. Store out of the fridge in a cool dark place. 

Recipe: Fifteens

I've mentioned before that Mr F is from Northern Ireland. Aside from the stereotype of eating lots of potatoes, and being partial to a decent pint of stout, foodwise there are very few things that he requests or makes to remind him of home. This occasionally strikes me as strange - Northern Ireland is (like my native Yorkshire) a land of comfort food - a land of Veda bread, soda bread and wheaten bread. It's also the land of traybakes.

Northern Ireland seems to treat the traybake like the rest of the UK treats a piece of cake. I'm only just getting used to walking into a cafe there and having to settle for a traybake over a piece of lemon or carrot cake. I'm still not completely convinced by them.

The cafe that does our event catering at work is run by a lady from Northern Ireland, and therefore specialises in traybakes rather than cakes - a frequent point of contention with some of the team. One of the things which regularly pops up on our conference lunch orders is a Fifteen slice. It's a classic, a typically Northern Irish treat, and it's incredibly easy. You don't even need an oven (or a tray). You will need a cup of tea to go alongside a slice.

Fifteens all sliced up. Not big, clever or particularly photogenic, but very easy and tasty. 

Fifteens
Makes about 25 slices

15 digestive biscuits
15 glace cherries
15 marshmallows
15g dessicated coconut
1 can of condensed milk

Firstly, bash up your digestives. Not too fine - still with a bit of texture, but grainy rather than broken biscuits. I do this with a rolling pin in a sandwich bag, doing a couple at a time. Pop them into a big bowl.
Mix in your cherries and marshmallows - you can cut them in half to make it easier.
Pour over the condensed milk. Go slowly, a bit at a time, and mix like mad. It depends how much you've bashed your biscuits as to how much you'll need, but essentially enough to make it all stick together. Don't worry if it's a bit lumpy or a little bit wet. Ideally you want it slightly under wet rather than over. I used about 300g of the condensed milk.
Roll the mixture into a long sausage shape on a chopping board, and then roll in dessicated coconut. Wrap in clingfilm (aavoid tin foil - it's a nightmare to unwrap). If it's quite wet and sticky, put the clingfilm onto the chopping board and sprinkle with coconut. Use the clingfilm to help you form the sausage shape.
Chill it in the fridge for a couple of hours (ideally overnight), before cutting into slices with a very sharp knife.

Best stored in an airtight container in the fridge, to stop it going gooey. It'll keep for 3 or 4 days. If you're feeling adventurous you could probably change the ingredients around - nuts, jelly sweets or a variety of dried berries would all be mighty tasty (although make sure you use fifteen of each!)

Recipe: Duck Dim Sum

I've probably mentioned before my love of dim sum. I adore pretty much any type of food that involves a little bit of everything, whether it's called a picnic, a smorgasbord, a tasting platter or an antipasti selection. I am irritatingly indecisive when it comes to food, so it's not really a surprise that I am a fan of   being able to avoid it.

One of the best things about living with my old flatmate was that we'd regularly share meals. She is just as indecisive as me and always game for trying something new. We still tend to get together over food - chatting and catching up while cooking together, or trying a new cafe or restaurant after work. It just so turned out that neither of us had plans for Saturday night, so we decided to resurrect the old tradition of food and a film. Dim Sum was suggested, and we thought we'd venture out of our comfort zones and attempt to make our own dumplings.
A note for the purists - I have no idea how "authentic" these are. They're probably more like a cross between a Chinese guoti potsticker dumpling and a Japanese gyoza than a true version of one or the other, but either way they were delicious, and incredibly easy to make.

Most of the ingredients are fairly easy to find in large supermarkets, with perhaps the exception of the wrappers. I found these in the frozen section of my local chinese supermarket. We bought both the large square ones and the small round ones. If you can, get the latter as they're much easier to seal the filling in. We used a food processor, as it was infinitely easier but if you're desperate you could dice the meat very finely into very small pieces with a large knife - or you could use high quality pork mince.

Duck Dim Sum Dumplings
Makes 35

2 duck breasts, or 3 thighs
3 spring onions, or half a leek
1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice
1 teaspoon ginger
1 medium hot chilli
2 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely diced
1 generous tablespoon hoi sin sauce
1 egg
pre-made dumpling wrappers
oil, for frying

Skin your duck breasts or thighs and remove any visible fat. If you're using thighs, pull off all the meat, leaving behind the bone, tendons and any sinew. Chop into rough pieces, and pop into the food processor.
Chop up the spring onions or leek into thin rounds, and add those in to the food processor - blitz with the duck for a few seconds, until the duck is starting to become like mince in texture and the leek is finely diced.
Add in the remaining ingredients - except for the wrappers or oil - and blitz again to mix through.
Next up: the assembly stage.
Place your wrapper onto a nonstick surface. Using two teaspoons, place a small amount - about half a teaspoon - into the centre of the wrapper. Dip the end of your finger into a mug of water and run it around the edge of the wrapper - that will help it to stick together. Fold the circle over into two, to make a half moon shape, and squeeze the edges together. Set aside and repeat.
To cook: there's a couple of ways to cook them but I find using a really good non-stick frying pan or wok with a lid (you could improvise with a wooden chopping board if needed!) is easiest and reduces likelihood of them sticking as they steam.
Heat up a small amount of oil - about half a teaspoon, tilting the pan so that it covers as much of the surface as possible.
Using chopsticks or tongs so you don't burn yourself, add the dumplings to the pot. Move them around a little so they don't stick, then fry for a minute. Carefully - throw a cup of water into the pan. It will sizzle and spit. Allow the dumplings to steam for 2 or 3 minutes with the lid on (add more water if needed) before removing the lid and boiling the water off. They will start to stick to the pan once cooked, going crispy on one side. Don't let them burn!

Best eaten straight away, but if you need to keep them warm while they are batch cooked, keep them on a hot plate in an oven at it's lowest temperature.

Serve with a dipping sauce made of half rice wine vinegar, half soy sauce, with garlic and fresh chilli to taste.

Recipe: Pea and Ham Hock Soup

I love Autumn. It's my favourite of the seasons: knitwear, boots, colourful trees, fireworks, and the promise of Christmas when it turns really cold. What's not to like? Mostly though, it signifies the start of Proper Food. I'm not a salad girl (I like my carbohydrates) and I love a comforting hot lunch on a blustery day.

This soup is a perfect autumn comforter. Ham hocks (or houghs) are incredibly cheap, mostly because they are time-consuming to cook. They've fallen out of fashion because of their association with poverty food, but like so many cheap cuts of meat, they're full of flavour. Mine was under £1.50 for an outdoor reared one (I'd strongly suggest getting a British outdoor reared, free range or organic one if you can - partly because of welfare standards, but partly because you really do want something with a high meat content for this recipe). I've adapted this recipe from half a dozen variations. If you can't be bothered faffing with the hock to make stock, then you could miss out that step, and use good quality liquid ham stock and rashers of bacon or diced gammon. If you have a slow cooker though, it's especially worth the effort, as it would quite happily bubble away overnight.

Pea and Ham Hock Soup

For the stock:
1 smoked ham hock
2 carrots
1 large onion
2 bay leaves
10 peppercorns
a bouquet garni (if you have any handy)

For the soup:

10g butter

1 diced clove garlic

1 finely chopped large onion

2 diced carrots

400g dried split peas

1 litre fresh ham stock

175g ham, finely diced 

To make the stock:
Soak the hock for about 12 hours, or overnight in cold water, changing the water a couple of times if you can. This will help to draw out some of the saltiness from the smoking. 

Roughly chop the onion and two carrots, and add to a large pan.
Add in the ham hock, bay leaves, peppercorns and bouquet garni and cover with fresh cold water, about 2.5 litres.
Bring to the boil, skim off any froth, and then simmer for an hour. Make sure that the hock stays covered, adding more water if needed (if you have a slow cooker, this would be great to do overnight).

Drain, reserving the liquid. Cool at room temperature until it stops steaming, then refrigerate for 2-3 hours (or overnight).

Allow the ham hock to cool to holdable temperature, before picking off the meat and setting aside. Discard as much fat as you can, along with the skin.

When the stock is cold, skim off the fat and strain before use.

To make the soup:

Rinse the split peas (check that the packet doesn't require overnight soaking - mine didn't but some apparently do).

In a large pan, melt the butter, and fry the onion, carrots and garlic. 

Mix in the split peas, and cover with stock. 

Bring to the boil, and simmer for an hour until the peas are soft and starting to break up. You may need to add a bit more hot water to keep the peas just covered.

Take off the heat and allow to cool before blending until smooth. You will need to add more water as you continue to blend - it's a matter of preference how thick you want the soup, but add the water slowly, blending to mix it in before adding more.

Mix in 125g of the ham to the soup and bring back to the heat.

Serve with a sprinkling of the remaining meat, freshly ground pepper, and crusty bread and butter.

Recipe: Rice Noodle Salad

I first had this kind of salad when Mr F's mum made it as a side dish for a help-yourself family lunch. I've since adapted the recipe, from a Good Housekeeping magazine, to make it a bit more interesting and it's become a favourite.

We like it in a lunch box, just as it is, or as a super quick, easy and healthy dinner with a bit of hot smoked salmon or mackerel flaked in. The edamame beans (also known as soya or soybeans) are optional, but are a great way of adding protein and keeping it veggie. Most supermarkets keep them near the frozen peas.
Because it can be prepared in advance, kept in the fridge for a couple of hours and is great at room temperature, it's perfect for taking along to a BBQ or for serving with Hoisin duck at a dinner party. 

Vermicelli rice noodle salad

Serves 2 generously.

300g cooked vermicelli rice noodles (fresh ones from the supermarket are ideal)

125g - about 4 inches - cucumber

125g - or 1 - red pepper

125g edamame 

1 red chilli, deseeded, finely chopped

2tbsp rice wine vinegar

3tbsp soy sauce

pinch sugar

1tbsp lime juice

1tbsp sesame oil
Small handful fresh coriander, finely chopped

Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions, and allow to cool slightly.
Deeseed the cucumber and pepper, and chop into pieces about 1cm square.

Stir together the rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, lime juice and sesame oil. 

In a large bowl, and using a large spoon, tongs or chopsticks to avoid slicing the noodles too much, mix together the vermicelli noodles with the vegetables, chilli, coriander and dressing. 

Recipe: Vietnamese Spring Rolls

My obsession with the Chinese supermarkets in Edinburgh continues. Moving towards Leith has increased the amount of Tom Yum soup in our lives, and dumplings are becoming a bit of a staple alternative Sunday lunch.
We debated doing a Dim Sum evening with friends for a flat warming dinner but as the weather has been so very lovely, something a bit more summery seemed appropriate, which led us to...

They are so delicious, so healthy, and so tasty. They're also really pretty simple once you get the hang of the folding. We make ours with prawns and noodles, but you can leave the noodles out if you like to make them less filling for a starter. They'd be great as a way to use up leftover roast chicken or pulled pork. If you're veggie, marinated tofu or edemame beans would be great to add a bit of protein. Experiment, see what you like, and use what you have in the fridge.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls (gỏi cuốn)

Beansprouts
Spring Onions, very thinly slice
Carrot, julienned into matchstick sized pieces
Cucumber, julienned
Baby gem lettuce leaves or cold steamed green cabbage
Cooked king prawns
Coriander, mint or Thai basil leaves, finely chopped
Cooked vermicelli fine rice noodles
Rice papers

Large bowl filled with warm water
Plastic chopping board or large flat plate

Firstly, cover the beansprouts with boiling water to blanche them. It's worth bearing this FSA advice in mind.
Assemble your ingredients.
The rice paper wraps are the hardest part - make sure you don't over soak them. I used a bowl that was big enough to put them in whole - put one hand at the bottom of the bowl (so that it doesn't stick to the bottom!), drop the wrap in, and count to three. The wrapper should feel wet, and flexible, but still be a bit firm. It'll keep absorbing the water for a few seconds once you've taken it out of your bowl so don't leave it until it's very flexible!
Put the wrapper onto a plate or plastic chopping board. Avoid using a wooden one - they stick and are more likely to rip as the water is absorbed into the board
Layer up your wrap. Start at the edge closest to you, and take a couple of pieces of each of the ingredients. A couple of websites I read suggested using cabbage or lettuce leaves as a base, to stop the vegetables poking through the rice paper and it does seem to help. Don't get too overexcited - we're not talking Fajita's here - if you overfill them, they'll rip.

To wrap:
Making sure that you keep the filling in tightly, turn the wrap over once.
Tuck in the right hand side.
Tuck in the left hand side.
Continue rolling until the end.
Using your fingertips, dab a small amount of water on to the edge to help it stick, and place edge down on a serving plate.

Great served with satay, hoi sin or sweet chilli dips.

Recipe: Peanut Butter Biscuits

I have decided (not resolved - I don't believe in resolutions) to start enjoying cooking again. I go through phases when I am skint or tight for time where I stick to the usual spag bol/stirfry/omlette combinations. That's all very well, but it doesn't make exciting reading for the very few people that pop on to peruse my musings, so I've spared you all.

This isn't the most standard of January recipes (hello, hips and thighs!) but I chose to adapt this for my first New Thing of 2013 as it was an excuse to crack the lovely cup measures I got for Christmas...

I love them!

I can see the advantage of cup measures for drier ingredients like sugar and flour, but for peanut butter and butter, it was a slightly messy adventure. I ended up writing down the weights for future reference:

Peanut Butter Biscuits.
Makes 40 (!)

110g butter
110g caster sugar
110g brown sugar
150g crunchy peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp milk or water
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Pre-heat the oven to 180C, and line two large baking trays with greaseproof paper.
Cream together the butter, sugars and peanut butter in a large bowl.
Beat in the egg, milk or water, and vanilla.
Slowly add in the flour and baking powder (it will seem very dry to begin with, adding in stages makes it easier).
When the mixture has come together, use a tea spoon to portion into balls. Roll between your palms into a smooth ball, then lightly squash them onto the baking tray. Leave plenty of room between them and don't squash them too flat, as they will spread during baking.
Bake in batches for roughly 12 minutes (until turning golden, but still squashy to poke). Allow to cool for a few minutes before lifting off the greaseproof paper. If you lift them too quickly, then the lovely soft chewy middle bit will be left behind!

These would be really tasty drizzled with melted chocolate - or with chocolate drops mixed in by hand just prior to dividing into portions.

If you share my concerns about 'accidentally' eating 40 biscuits for dinner instead of something a little more nutritionally balanced, you could also freeze them and cook them as you fancy - portion them up on the greaseproof paper then wrap in clingfilm. Remove the cling film prior to baking, and cook for slightly longer from frozen. They should be safe for a few weeks tightly wrapped.

Recipe: Pan-fried Gnocci with Spinach, Cherry Tomatoes & Pine Nuts

This is easily one of my favourite week night meals - it's a Mr F concoction that has become a bit of a comfort food staple. It combines several of my favourite foods (spinach, butter and potatoes), and the act of frying carbohydrates means it is probably bad for you. I tell myself that the cherry tomatoes and spinach count as two of your five a day, so that makes it ok.

Serves 2

500g gnocci (roughly one packet, unless you can be bothered making your own)
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1 generous pinch mixed dried Italian herbs
50g butter
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 large handfuls (about 75g) baby leaf spinach
2 handfuls (about 12) cherry or baby plum tomatoes, halved

Pre-heat your oven on low (to use to keep things warm).
Cook the gnocci according to the packet instructions. Meanwhile, in a frying pan, melt half of the butter and add in the pine nuts and garlic. Toast in the butter until golden, taking care not to burn them. Add in the cooked and drained gnocci, adding more butter if necessary to prevent it sticking to the pan, and stir gently. The gnocci should fry slowly for a minute or so on each side, until golden and crispy. Transfer the gnocci and nuts into an ovenproof dish, and keep warm in the oven. Make sure you pour over any butter that's been left behind to keep the flavour!
In the same pan, pop the other half of the butter in. Stir in the spinach, sprinkle on the mixed dried herbs, and wilt away the liquid. This may take a minute or so. When the spinach liquid has evaporated, mix in the cherry tomatoes, stirring only occasionally, to soften the flesh and char the skin slightly.
Remove the gnocci from the oven, stir through the spinach, tomatoes and pine nuts, and serve on hot plates. Season with pepper, or, if you fancy, a little parmesan.

Recipe: Banana Bread for Breakfast

It's a funny thing, breakfast. I don't think I've heard anyone recall a wonderful breakfast that they had in the same way that they would recall a dinner or a lunch. It's a meal that is often skipped, frequently rushed and usually really quite boring. Although I'd like to tell you that I get up early enough to make Eggs Benedict on a daily basis, that would be a lie, and anyone who vaguely knows me will be snorting with laughter at the thought.

In an attempt to wean Mr F off cereal bars, we have been experimenting with different 'healthy' options that can be nibbled on the bus, or washed down with a cup of coffee in a more discreet manner than a bowl of cornflakes. I've been enjoying trying variations on banana bread, mostly because it means I have a use for the slightly mangled bananas that end up being left in the bottom of my bag, but partly also because "Banana and Sultana" is fun to say.

Basic Banana Bread (based on one of Delia Smith's)

75g butter or margerine
110g caster sugar
1 egg
225g plain flour
2tsp baking powder
4 bananas
1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)
2 tsp mixed spice (or variations on nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon will do)
2 generous handfuls of tasty extras

Line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
Put everything except for the tasty extras into a bowl and mix thoroughly.
Stir in the extras.
Bake for 50-60 mins, at 180C.

I blooming love this recipe. It's so easy, it takes about 5 minutes to mix, and you can add anything you want - sultanas, raisins, chopped nuts, whole nuts, chocolate chopped up, mixed peel - it's all good. You could use soft or light brown sugar if you prefer, or self raising flour if that's all you have, and it'd probably work. I've made it with low fat margerine, as well as proper butter, and it works. I've also used bananas that I've frozen when they went mushy, and defrosted a few weeks later - you don't get the banana chunks with this, but a really smooth, bready texture.It also freezes really well as long as it's pre-sliced.

Delicious.

Recipe: Pan-fried Duck with Pea and Pea Shoot Risotto

There are a lot of things that I've not cooked before. Some of them I'm too lazy to attempt (anything that involves starting it the day before), some of them I'm too stingy to mess up (lobster, truffles) and some of them I'd love to, but I've never got round to it (mussels). I have, however, ticked another thing off my list - I have cooked duck. Mr F and I treat ourselves to nice meat from the Stockbridge Farmers Market every now and then, and although I've been a bit scared of cooking the duck and left it in the freezer for a couple of weeks, I am now a convert.

We debated what to have the duck with. I had a flick through my alarming number of cookbooks, but couldn't find anything that we fancied. Although I'd usually go straight to an Asian recipe and get the 5 spice out, I wanted to get this right, and actually taste the lovely meat. In my mind, I had an image of it nestled on top of a pile of risotto, but I couldn't find a suggestion I fancied online, so I did the geeky thing and tweeted Nigel Slater. His reply? "maybe think about a classic risotto with masses of peas and peashoots in. Duck is always happy with peas". He was right, it was good.

Pan-fried Duck Breast with Pea and Pea Shoot Risotto
Serves 2

2 skin-on duck breasts (preferably free-range)
150g Risotto rice
1 leek, sliced into rings
25g butter
500ml hot chicken stock
150g peas
50g pea shoots
50g parmesan, finely grated

Firstly, prep your duck breast. On the skin side, cut through the fat with a sharp knife in a diamond pattern. Make sure you only cut through the fat, not the meat underneath. Pop the butter, and leek into a saucepan. Cook gently until the leeks start to soften and turn translucent, then add the rice. Stir through and toast the rice for a minute before adding a small amount of the chicken stock. Continue to add the stock, stirring regularly, and adding more as needed.
While the risotto is simmering away fairly comfortably, in a large skillet (if you have one), or in a large frying pan, place the two duck breasts skin side down, and cook on a meduim heat. You don't need to add oil - so much fat will come out of the duck that you'll have to spoon it out to stop it spitting and burning the sides of the duck (if you're feeling frugal, or can't bear the thought of throwing it out, stick it in a ramekin and use it to cook roast potatoes in). Cook gently for 10 minutes or so, until the skin has started crisping up - use tongs or a fish slice to check it's not burning. Turn them over when they're nice and crispy. Cook for a further 4 minutes (although this will depend on how thick the meat is, and how rare you like it. We went for pink, which was 4 minutes, but we did have to push it down a wee bit with the tongs every now and then to make sure it was cooking evenly). Turn it back onto the skin side and poke it, to make sure it's cooked. Do the thumb muscle test - you want it ideally middle finger to ring finger bouncy.
Take it out of the pan, and rest it on a wooden board until the risotto is cooked - this should be about 5 minutes. When the risotto is cooked to your liking, stir in the pea shoots and allow to wilt slightly - a bit of texture to the stalks is nice though. Mix through the cheese, reserving a little for a sprinkle on top, and add a good sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper.
Serve as you wish - to keep the duck skin really crispy, it's probably best served on the side, but it does look pretty nestling amongst the green risotto!

Further ideas:
* To make a vegetarian risotto, use a veggie parmesan-style cheese and vegetable stock.
* This would be a great base for pan-fried fish, using a fish stock instead - a sustainable white fish with a crispy skin would be great.
* If you're feeling frugal but fancy the idea of having it with fish, smoked salmon trimmings or smoked mackerel are both very cheap, and are both delicious flaked with this risotto towards the end.

Inspiration: Soda Bread

I love fresh bread. The smell, the spongey texture, the warm filling - a good fresh loaf with butter is not far off perfection for me. It's brilliant.
Mr Foodie is from Northern Ireland - a land where bread is Different. Good different. Soda bread is hard to get hold of in Scotland. Actually, I should clarify - it's not hard to get hold of, but it's not "right". Apparently, Soda bread should be simple and white, unlike this, which Mr Foodie reckons is more like Wheaten Bread. Are you as confused as me? I hope so... I was nervous when I decided to make my own.

I'm not a natural baker. I get frustrated at the size of tins (how and why do I never have the size specified in the recipe?) I don't understand how you can magically tell if you've kneaded dough enough, and the hundreds of types of flour overwhelm me. The last time I made bread rolls, they were more like hockey pucks. I was not optimistic about Soda bread - it doesn't rise until it's in the oven, it seemed very wet, and putting soured milk in bread seemed - well - wierd. But it worked!

I used this recipe by Rachel Allen, the Queen of Irish cooking and baking. Really easy. I didn't bother with the 'floured' surface, mostly because I couldn't find the antibac kitchen spray. It took about 5 minutes to mix in, and was ready by the time I'd showered and dried my hair - perfect emergency breakfast bread. Particularly good with....

Eggs, crispy bacon and spinach

 Scrambled eggs, spinach and smoked salmon

Bank holiday weekend brunch heaven.

Recipe: Pork, Sage and Apple Meatballs in a Creamy Cider Sauce

Mr Foodie and I recently combined freezers, which has resulted in an epic amount of sausages. We're talking a kilo of organic sausagemeat, and four or five packets of sausages. I have no idea how, seeing as we're not massive meat eaters, but there's only so many bangers and mash and toads-in-the-hole that a girl can eat, so I've started to diversify.

Pork, Sage and Apple Meatballs in a Creamy Cider Sauce.
Serves 4.

For the meatballs:
500g sausagemeat or minced pork, blended until smooth in texture
generous teaspoon dried sage
1 egg
1 small cooking apple
salt and pepper

For the sauce:
1 onion, finely sliced
300ml dry cider
100g crème fraiche
teaspoon plain flour (if needed)
2 teaspoons grain mustard (or more to taste)
salt and pepper

For the meatballs:
Peel and grate the apple. Squeeze out as much liquid from the gratings as you can - setting the juice aside for the sauce. Pop the meat into a large bowl, along with the egg, sage, and apple. Mix through thoroughly - this will take a while and a fair amount of arm effort. If you think that you've got a bit much egg in to begin with, keep mixing, it'll blend through.
Using two teaspoons to help, break up the sausagemeat into mouthsized balls. Place them onto a lightly floured chopping board while you do this.
Next up, fry the meatballs in a wide non-stick frying pan. Use about a tablespoon of oil - don't forget that pork can be quite fatty so it'll let out some more fat as you fry. You might have to do it in batches if you've only got a little pan, just pop them in the oven in an oven-proof bowl to keep warm if you want to. Try not to move the meatballs around too much as you cook them, or they run the risk of breaking up. When the meatballs are bouncy, rather than squashy, and browned all over, cut one in half to check they're cooked. If no pink remains and they're hot in the middle, they're done. Avoid overcooking, or they'll go dry.

For the sauce:
In the same pan that you cooked the meatballs in, and without washing the pan, fry an onion until transluscent.
Slowly and carefully tip in your cider and any apple juice you may have saved from the squeezing, stirring the bottom of the pan to release all the sticky burnt on bits. Sprinkle on the flour and mix in the crème fraiche.
Add in the meatballs to the sauce and wait for it to simmer down until thickened.
Season with salt and pepper, adding a pinch of sugar to counteract any tartness if you wish, and serve.

 It's hard to make brown food look appetising, but it is, honest.

 Tips:
* I'd suggest serving simply, with potatoes and steamed veggies because the sauce is rich. We went for spinach and lightly fried mushrooms, which was great.
* If you want to bulk out the sauce or stretch your meat for more people, you could add sliced mushrooms - just make sure you fry off any mushroom liquid before adding the cider and cream.
* The sauce would be great with pork of any type - especially chops.
* Cooked meatballs are great in the freezer. Just make sure that they're well cooked and cooled completely before portioning and freezing.
* If you're making for non-alcohol drinkers, you could use a crisp, fresh apple juice. Cloudy type would be best - not too sweet.

Review: Kitchen Porter Supper Club

Last night I was brave. Or foolish, depending on your sense of adventure. I went for dinner with 19 people I don't know, in a stranger's house.I discovered the Edinburgh Cake Ladies via a blog, and last October went along to a meeting, clutching my cake nervously. I was welcomed warmly, given advice on how to stop my frosting melting, and went away feeling inspired. Since then, I have kept an eye on their events and been disappointed that I have been too late in applying for places... until the invitation to the supper club arrived in my inbox.

I arrived nervously, clutching my bottle of wine, and was welcomed in by Mark, the chef and host at Kitchen Porter. We collected in his living room, where we sipped Prosecco and nibbled canapes.

Delicious cheese pastries, olives, and Parmesan baskets with pine nuts, basil and tomatoes.

After some chatting, laughing, and mingling, Mark introduced himself and told us a brief history of Kitchen Porters. As a professional chef who has turned to teaching catering students, he missed the buzz of cooking for guests, and along with his wife, decided to set up a supper club.

We were ushered through the kitchen, to our places at the table. We ate...

 Cream of Artichoke Soup

Delicious brown bread rolls

Pan fried red mullet, with pickled vegetables, spinach and fennel puree

   

 Borders Lamb two ways, with creamed potatoes, peas, garlic wild mushrooms and a beautiful jus 

 Deconstructed Carrot Cake - complete with candided carrots and a refreshing sorbet

 Our meal finished with tea and coffee...

 ...served with delicious chocolates

Earlier on during Saturday morning, I'd been looking at another post by the Cake Ladies, which mentioned a pudding club hosted by The Inside Out Chef. I had a look at the website, thinking that an evening of puddings sounded like a dream, but too nervous to put a deposit down on a ticket. I decided to see how Kitchen Porters went first. On her website, Wendy described her first experience of a supper club, which alleviated my worries. Until I was on the bus, clutching my bottle of wine, desperately trying to work out where to get off.

I needn't have worried. The food was lovely and the company warm, fun and chatty. At one point, I ended up having a lesson about twitter, after confessing that I wasn't entirely sure how it worked. Someone commented that it was rare to get 20 women in a room without bitching - there was none, only laughter and chatter. And - it turned out that to my left was Wendy herself. Needless to say that by the end of the evening, I'd handed over my cash and was excitedly planning a car share to Supper Club experience number 2!

Kitchen Porter Supper Club, Edinburgh

http://kitchenportersupperclub.blogspot.co.uk/

twitter: @kitchenporteruk

Recipe: Mushroom Soup

Mushrooms are funny things. They are unappetising in colour, smell and texture, but big and tasty on flavour. I feel a bit sorry for them in a way. Like many people - I can't stand a slimy mushroom. I've never understood the 'stuffed mushroom' fad that refuses to go away. Although on reflection, this may be because I hate it when people give them to vegetarians and expect them to be excited.
I am still ploughing on with my eternal battle to Empty The Pantry. It's going well - the looming threat of having to move house is spurring me to eat some interesting combinations, try new things and revisit ingredients that I wasn't convinced about first time round.

When I was a student, I went through a phase of eating huge amounts of mushroom risotto. I'm not entirely sure where this fad came from, although I think it may have had something to do with the oil store on Borough Market, and the truffle infusion that I was persuaded to buy, and then didn't know what to do with.

I always have a packet of dried mushrooms in my cupboard. Their texture and colour is so much more appealing than fresh. The smell makes me think of camping - wet, damp, woody and earthy. But now that the risotto fad has disappeared for the moment, they have been neglected. Until now. This soup takes ages, but tastes wonderful.

Mushroom Soup
Serves 4 as a main

300g mixed dried mushrooms
600g fresh mushrooms
1 large onion
1 clove garlic
50g butter
250ml hot water
500ml chicken or vegetable stock

Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for about half an hour. Stir them occasionally.
Meanwhile, roughly chop the fresh mushrooms and finely slice the onion and garlic.
After the dried mushrooms have been soaking for half an hour, start cooking. Don't drain the dried mushrooms!
Sautee the onions and garlic in butter until they start to turn transluscent. Add the fresh mushrooms and stir in with the onion, garlic and butter to sautee a little. If they stick to the pan, add a tablespoon of hot stock. They should start to brown, and the liquor from the mushrooms should start to come out.
Stir in the dried mushrooms, and their juice, and cover the mixture with the stock.
Simmer for an hour - half an hour with the lid on, half an hour with the lid off.
Blend the soup. This will be time consuming, mushrooms have a slightly wierd texture when blended. The aim is to break up all of the fibres, to get a creamy but thick texture. If you think you need more liquid - add a tiny, tiny amount at a time.
Serve with buttery crusty bread, a generous swirl of cream, and a sprinking of fresh thyme or rosemary.

Adaptations:
You could make this recipe dairy free by using olive oil instead of butter.
To make it more suitable for small children, use water instead of stock. Add a dollop of mushroom ketchup if it needs an extra kick.
Sauteed fresh wild mushrooms sprinkled on top would be stunning.
Blend in blue Stilton cheese, or crumble on top to serve.

I'm blogging this recipe for Save The Children's Recipe Challenge. Their aim is for thousands of recipes to be collated into an e-book, to be sold as a fundraiser. It's not about increasing aid, or bullying developing countries - it's about encouraging our politicians to get together to actually *do* something about a problem, rather than throwing money at it in the hope that it will go away. You can read more about it at The Pink Whisk.