Cherry's English Kitchen

Living Is Easy

I'm quite sure that you are the same as me when it comes to the amount of time spent in the kitchen during the different seasons. I'll explain further. On a cold day in November or December I am happy to stand by the warmth of the oven and tend to a stew. I shall lovingly cut up the meat and veggies and place them in the pot. I'll happily take it out and check on it from time to time, excusing myself from the book I am reading in the kitchen at that moment. I'll bring whatever it is I am doing into the kitchen and stay there for the duration.

This is not the case when the sun is shining on a glorious day in England. I want to be in and out of the kitchen very quickly indeed so I can re-join the others in the garden. This is why I am a huge fan of very easy and quick to prepare dishes at this time of year. I adore kitchen gardens as it means that so much more can be done outside and the thought of standing by a hot oven for any length of time fills me with dread.

Having just returned from Italy I can assure you that there will be an abundance of fresh produce and big plate recipes to follow in the next few posts but I'll start with a tasty side dish that went very well with the first chicken that I roasted in my new oven.

Cherry's Anya's & Cress

Serves four as a side dish with chicken or fish

Boil 500g of the small Anya variety of potatoes. If you can't find these any baby or new potato will do but do try and stick the small ones. When the potatoes are almost soft and ready to eat place a large handful of cubed pancetta into some olive oil and saute until it's slightly crispy on the outside. When the potatoes are ready, drain and place in a large serving bowl. Add the pancetta and a little bit of the oil from the pan and mix well with a large spoon allowing the oil to slightly coat the potatoes. Add 1 chopped avocado and an entire tub of English mustard cress (alfalfa sprouts). Mix well once again and drizzle a little more olive oil over the bowl if it looks a little dry. Get it to the table as soon as you can and scoff in the sun with those you love around you.

This dish should take you no longer than 10 mins depending on how long the potatoes take to go soft. We don't use cress enough in our summer salads so you'll see the little fellas popping up rather a lot this season. What fun, I do like them!!

In The Bag: Blog Event Result

 

So this is what I came up with. Creamy Trout & Tarragon Pie.

I am one of the three food bloggers hosting a seasonal eating food event called In The Bag: Cooking The Month of May. The other two bloggers hosting the event are Julia and Scott. You can read all about the event itself here.

By way of an introduction to this dish I have to say that things couldn't have gone more wrong in the shopping and preparation of it. Instead of puff pastry I picked up filo and the flour in the creamy sauce didn't quite mix as well as I would have liked. But having said all that I have just finished my second portion of it and if it weren't fit to eat I would not be posting it as it's more than my life or work is worth, I promise!

Cherry's Seasonal Creamy Trout & Tarragon Pie - May 2007

Serves Four

Pre heat oven to 200 degrees centigrade

Boil 280g of new season Jersey Royal potatoes in slightly salted water until almost done. Once boiled and drained chop into bite sized pieces and place in an oven proof dish. Slice enough Spring Onions (scallions) to give you 75 g worth and place those into the dish also. Do the same with Asparagus, giving yourself 60g of chopped Asparagus to put into the dish. Finally add 180g grams of chopped fresh Sea Trout and place in the dish. Pour half a pint of boiling, whole (full fat) milk in to the dish and place in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees centigrade for 20 mins. Doing this will poach the fish beautifully and soften the vegetables to perfection.

While the dish is in the oven gently poaching melt 50g of butter gently on the heat then add 50g of Plain Flour. Whisk in until a paste like consistency is reached. Add two tablespoons of chopped fresh Tarragon and three tablespoons of lemon juice. Whisk  in. Gently add the other half pint of milk to the pan a little bit at a time, whisking all the while so that the flour doesn't clot (ahem!....oops)

When the sauce has been whisked throughly and the fish is done being poached pour the sauce over the fish and vegetables. Mix up a little bit but do this gently. You don't want the fish and vegetables to be crumbled away. Place sheets of filo pastry, no more than three or four sheets thick over the top of the pie and put back in the oven. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden in colour.

Serve with more Asparagus of course!!! The season is short enough as it is!

 

The Lie of the Land by Molly Dineen

A question to all British foodie readers of this blog. Did anybody see Molly Dineen's documentary last night on Channel Four called The Lie of the Land?

If so, any thoughts?

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article1686849.ece

Cherry

Cheesy Buds

I don't really have a sweet tooth anymore, it seems to have been taken over by a savory tooth. Give me salt, cheese, olives, crisps and lashings of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and I shall be quiet and happy. Well happy, certainly!

Another thing I don't really have any more is any sort of working kitchen. My kitchen in is boxes, save for a bowl or two, cutlery and my mixer. So this past Friday I began work on a cheesy biscuit. The type of biscuit that goes great with cheese, be it Brie or Stilton, mature Cheddar or mozzarella and torn fresh basil leaves.

We spend good money on biscuits and crackers and I wanted to have a recipe in my armory that I would be able to pull out and pop in the oven should an occasion or guests warrant it.

So, people I give you these......

Herbed Cheese Bites

Whiz together 1 teaspoon of flat leaf parsley, 1 teaspoon of fresh rosemary, 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme, 2 cups of flour, 3 teaspoons of baking powder, a twist of freshly ground black pepper and half a cup of Stilton cheese. Use the blade tool on your mixer for this as you want the mixture to form crumbs while at the same time chopping the herbs very finely.

When this is done add 5 tablespoons of room temperature butter and just over half a cup of milk.  Place small balls of the mixture onto a greased baking sheet and press thinly to the sheet. Bake at 180 degrees c for between 12 & 15 mins, flipping over half way through cooking them if you have to. The great thing about these is that the shape of them really is of no consequence. I like that fact that each one was different in the batch I made. I thought they looked kinda rustic and 'Summer day picnic' in appearance!

I wanted my bites to be a golden brown in colour and in the end I got my wish. I also found these biscuits to be light enough to have with soup and cheese for lunch and LBH kindly pointed out that had I used a teeny, weeny cookie cutter I could have made bowls full of cheesy nibbles fit for any dinner party that is dedicated to Abigail's Party!

Hey ho! They satisfied my savory craving and look great in a zip lock bag that is ready for the freezer. You know, just in case you ever do fancy throwing that tribute party and have absolutely no time to prepare!

In The Bag : Cooking The Month of May

This event has already been great fun and it hasn't
even started yet! I have teamed up with Julia from A
Slice of Cherry Pie and Scott at Real Epicurean to run a
monthly,  food blogging event using only seasonal produce.

Each month we will select three seasonal products and put
them in a bag for you to create your own dish. We will
be hosting the event in rotation and Julia will be hosting the
first one, which will be held in May.

Now comes the exciting bit....WHAT'S IN THIS MONTHS BAG?!?!?!?

The May bag contains:

Asparagus
Eagerly awaited by foodies all over the country,
asparagus is surely the cream of the crop of spring
vegetables. English
asparagus is considered to be among the best in the
world so we are very fortunate to have such easy
access to it. The Asparagus season runs from May to June.

Sea Trout
This pink-fleshed fish is full of flavour and in
season from March to July.

Spring Onions
These are delicate young onions with a mild flavour.
They are perfect raw in salads and are in season from
May until September.

You'll notice that the bag contains produce that is currently in season in the UK. This is because all three of us are British bloggers and it is vital that we use these little cyber kitchens of ours to encourage folk to purchase, cook and eat seasonally. BUT, you may find that some if not all of the items are also in season where you are. If this is the case then we urge you to join, it will be especially wonderful to see what people from many different cultures and food backgrounds come up with using these ingreeds!

Entry Details

Send an email with ‘In the Bag in the subject line
to asliceofcherrypie@yahoo.co.uk by Saturday 26th May
with the following information:

• your name
• the name of your blog
• a link to your post
• the name of your dish
• a picture of your dish

I’ll post a round up of all entries by Thursday 31st May.

Rules

Here are the rather loose rules - remember the
objective is to have fun whilst highlighting seasonal food:

1. Entries must use (or attempt to use) all of
the ingredients "in the bag" for that particular month.
The dish should be based around the seasonal ingredients,
rather then just including it as an afterthought.

2. Participants can include any "extra"
ingredients that they see fit.

3. Entries should include a link back to
the host for that month, and the post should be tagged
"in the bag" and "itb".
Use of the "In The Bag" logo is allowed (and encouraged)
but not required.

4. Entries can be written any time during
the month, as long as the URL is emailed to that month's
host before the round up date.

That's all! Any deviations from the above
are at the discretion of the host. Have fun!

"In The Bag" is a monthly food event, run by Real Epicurean, A Slice of Cherry Pie, and Cherry's English Kitchen

Balsamic 'Barb Puff

My kitchen is all but packed up right now, but feeling rather bereft I felt it was essential to my wellbeing to turn something out, and sharpish!

Rhubarb (forced) is in season right now and it has always been something that I have avoided cooking with. Images of sour, bitter, long stalks have been conjured up in my mind and I felt it was time to conquer them.

I cut 4 rhubarb stalks up into pieces about an inch long and placed them in to a pan. I added 4 tablespoons of aged balsamic vinegar, 1& a half teaspoons of ground cinnamon and 1 cup of packed brown sugar. I then turned the gas on to a low heat and began to cook the rhubarb down. I really does not take as long as you think and it's important not to let it burn or to cook it too fast. There is no standing there for hours stirring the stalks and waiting for sign of movement and it is one of the quickest seasonal desserts to prepare that I have come across. It also makes you look like you have been slaving over a hot pan and oven whipping up a magnificent rhubarb concoction! 

The first time around I added the cooked rhubarb to several uncooked ready- made puff pastry shells before popping it all into the oven in order for the pastry to cook around the rhubarb. This does not work and cooks the rhubarb and sugar juices hard onto your oven-ware, so much scrubbing is needed. The next time around I prepared a pizza shape of puff pastry and placed it into one half of a cake tin to bake in. I baked it and then transfered the rhubarb into said pastry shell and sprinkled with powdered sugar before serving.

I'd like to go on, but there really is no need. It is that simple.......and delicious of course!

The Purple Pal

March. Only last week I stepped out wearing but a cardigan to keep me warm. Sans coat, pashmina and any remains of thermal underwear. Then yesterday I looked out on to my future mother- in – law’s lawn and saw the whole thing was very busy indeed catering to a sudden snowfall that was starting to take place. This sort of weather takes us aback every year in this country. You can hear folk across the land lament the fact that they presumed springtime had arrived. Alas. Presumption, as we know, is the mother of all screw-ups!!
So is there anything in this mad month of March that we can depend on? Is there a faithful stalwart that is there come what may?
Yes my dears, there is…... Purple Sprouting Broccoli.

If there is one thing that will take you through March, it is this highly praised and really rather beautifully textured vegetable. I believe it’s glorified as much for its taste as for the fact that it is seemingly the only tasty vegetable around at this time. We have had our lion’s share of root vegetables and are sick of the site of them by now. Purple Sprouting Broccoli leads us gently into the lighter food of the spring and summer and also goes terrifically well with the abundance of fish that’s around. Serve it with Salmon, John Dory or Cod. Every one of those will serve this vegetable well.

This evening I did this to a portion of the PSB that is residing in my fridge…......

I boiled a pan of water and prepared to blanch the Broccoli for one minute and one minute only.

Meanwhile, I took three cloves of garlic, crushed them all and placed them into a frying pan. I then crushed a one-inch piece of fresh ginger and placed that in the pan also. I added 5 shakes of dark soy sauce to the pan as well as five glugs of E.V. Olive Oil. I ground a generous amount of black peppercorns onto the ingredients in the pan and placed it on a hob. I lit the hob turning it to its lowest level and heated the pan very slowly. After a few moments, when the garlic was gently browning but in no way burning I took it off the heat and poured the contents of the pan over my portion of Purple Sprouting Broccoli, fresh from the one minute spent in boiling water and still steaming.

Of course you needn't be content with having it as an accompaniment to a main course. As it only needs a minute to cook then it really is one of the most readily available snacks. Try it with sour cream or hummus as a rather wonderful filler between meals!

I eat this vegetable with gusto and am only sorry that a season such as this comes but once a year and is all too brief.

I should add that the PSB was from Lincolnshire. Buying British vegetables in this way, while they are in season, helps me to keep my carbon footprint super dooper low!

Bake Fest Friday & My Mum

I am finding myself baking more and more towards the end of each week nowadays. Traditionally you are meant to have fish on a Friday but my household is finding itself with a fridge full of cakes to consume over the weekend. This is great. I am far more prone to something sweet at the end of a long week than baked Salmon. I'll have the Salmon on Monday as penance!

This Sunday we celebrate Mothering Sunday in Great Britain. I am not going to be with my mum on that day as LBH and I are traveling so I felt the need to send her a little something. That something is this.......

Cranberry & Lemon Springtime Cake. (forgive the bad piping of the lettering please!)

Pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees centigrade.

Take 6oz of butter, 6 oz of caster (superfine) sugar, 3 eggs, 8 oz of self raising flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, grated rind of 1 lemon, 4 oz of dried cranberries and pop them into your food processor with the blade attachment. Whiz, whiz and then whiz some more. Making the mixture light and fluffy and chopping the cranberries into tiny speckles in the process. This is a much more desirable state for the cranberry to be in if it's going into a sponge cake.

Pour the mixture into two 8 inch cake tins and place in the oven for approximately 50 mins.

When they are baked right through and golden in colour take the tins out of the oven and transfer the cakes to a wire cooling rack. When they are cool you can begin to decorate. I spread lashings of Strawberry jam on to one of the sponges, placed the other on top to make a jam sandwich cake and then made some vanilla frosting for the top. After much trial and error I manged to get my frosting to a beautiful duck egg blue colour although I doubt very much if I will ever manage it again!

Butter-cream Frosting.
Whiz 8 oz of icing sugar, 1 oz of butter (at room temperature), 1 teaspoon of a good quality pure Vanilla extract and two to three tablespoons of milk together using the blade attachment on your food processor. The lighter you are able to get the frosting the better but don't mistake lightness for it being too runny. You don't want runny! If it's too drippy keep adding the icing sugar.

Happy Mothers Day to mums across the land. Don't forget to let me know if your babies make this for you. I'll be sure to tell you what my mum thought of hers.

Finding A Way To Bake

It seems like ages ago that I broke my food processor. I was about to make some biscuits and I put the butter into the processor bowl and switched it on. I'd forgotten that the butter had only just come out of a very cold fridge and while the motor could cope with the butter's consistency the utensil couldn't and snapped right off.

Being sans processor didn't stop me from baking a wonderfully moist fruit cake on Friday afternoon however. I simply needed to find a way to blend all of the ingredients that I would usually pop into the mixer. So I heated them up!

Here is my recipe for a wonderfully simple, traditional fruit cake. It's perfect with your afternoon cup of tea and wonderful with a big blob of strawberry jam!

Cherry's Classically Simple Fruit Cake

Put 4oz of butter, 6 oz of caster (superfine) sugar, 7 oz of seedless raisins, 7oz of sultanas, 1tsp of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon, half a teaspoon of ground nutmeg and 2 eggs (whisked) into a pan. Heat the ingredients gently on a moderate heat letting it bubble for approximately two minutes after reaching the bubbling stage.

Pour the heated ingredients into a mixing bowl and place into the fridge for twenty minutes, allowing it to cool off a little bit. After twenty minutes remove the bowl from the fridge and add 4 oz of plain flour, 4oz of self raising flour and a pinch of salt. Mix into the melted mixture, slowly but throughly, with a wooden spoon. Ensuring that all flour bubbles disappear.

Pour the entire mixture into a loaf tin and bake in the middle of an oven for between 1 hour 10 minutes and one hour twenty minutes on 180 degrees centigrade. Test the inside of the cake by placing a knitting needle into the loaf and observing to see if it comes out dry or covered in wet mixture (you know all this, why am telling you?!). A fruit cake such as this should be allowed to go a shade darker than you would allow a sponge to go, so remember that when you want to rescue it from the clutches of the oven.

Enjoy it with a pot of tea made from loose leaves. I recommend Taylor's, Yorkshire Tea. It's the only tea I drink nowadays!

After The Fat.....Fennel!

Now don't get me wrong here! I made those Vanilla Squishy Kisses in order to eat them, and eat them I did. In fact, I ate so many that LBH came in from work one night and said "but you've been baking all week. Where are the cakes??"

However after all that fat and sugar I needed a little injection of freshness and a few vitamins to top up my supplies. I know that Fennel is not supposed to be available right now so I can only assume that I was able to get hold of two organic, British bulbs of the stuff due to the very mild Winter we have recently lived through.

It has also been a week of fish. Lots of fish in fact. Salmon, among other fish, is in season at the moment, and this is a new recipe of mine that I tried out earlier this week.

Topped Salmon with Baked Fennel

Serves Two

Take a generous handful of pine nuts, 12 black olives, half a red chili (de-seeded) and a large handful of flat leaf parsley and throw them in a blender. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil into the blender and whiz until it looks like the picture above and share two thirds of the mixture with the tops of two Salmon fillets. If you whiz the mixture for too short a time then the mixture will be too chunky to stay on top of the Salmon and if you whiz it too much it will be too much like liquid to stay on the Salmon. So, you can see the importance of getting this just right.

Slice one bulb of fennel into slices and place in a baking tray with the topped Salmon for approximately 20-25 mins at 160 degrees. As you can see in the picture I have placed some of the salmon topping onto the fennel also. This is important and will give the fennel a wonderful, additional taste as well as cutting down on the amount of olive oil you have to use due to the oil in the pine nuts seeping out during baking. If however it looks like the fennel is turning a little dry in the oven then drizzle with a small amount of olive oil.

Serve with brown rice or lentils.