So, what could be so amazing about a vegetable box that it changes the whole way you cook? This past week mine contained parsnips, swede, sprouts, potatoes, pak choi, celeriac and cauliflower. None of that is particularly exciting, you might think, but what it does is allow me to do is eat tastier food, all of the time. And next I’ll explain how.

If you head to your supermarket for your food shopping you’ll see how the fruit and vegetables they have remains fairly constant the whole year round. This is because they source them from multiple places so that when something isn’t in season here it can still be sold. Unfortunately for the consumer this means it has been transported sometimes for thousands of miles across the world, losing vitamins and becoming starchy and flavourless as it does so. The types of fruit and vegetables they stock haven’t been selected for flavour, instead for regularity of appearance, long shelf-life, and high resistance to the travelling distance. Anyone who has tried a shop bought tomato against a home grown variety will testify; they taste watery and have a thick, tough skin.

When my box arrives it contains fruit and vegetables grown usually at one particular farm and always grown locally. As such the shelf life is short; the products selected have to be in season here and now. As a result I get forced rhubarb in February, Asparagus in May, Strawberries in July…you get the idea. All of it is full of flavour and healthier for it. We never have to wonder what is for dinner, instead we are led by whatever happens to have arrived in this weeks vegetable box – our dinners are therefore determined entirely by what nature has provided, not what the supermarkets have decided to put on the shelves to make the most profit.

Spiced Pumpkin Soup

This pumpkin soup almost didn’t make it to the blog. That’s not to say it isn’t delicious (it is), but it’s just so simple anyone could do it. Still, it tasted so good I just had to share it.

I’ve had a couple of small pumpkins sitting in the conservatory for a month or so now. They arrived in my weekly vegetable box and while I love pumpkin, I just hadn’t got around to doing anything with them. Still, the great thing about pumpkin is that it will last for months after picking before it starts to go bad.

Pumpkin is delicious but has a mild taste that compliments spices really well. As a result I’ve combined quite a few into here; feel free to play around based on what you’ve got in the cupboard. I used a little honey to balance the flavour – a trick which always works with squash based soups – and then finished with a drizzle of white truffle oil (if you don’t have this final ingredient, don’t worry – it’s perfect without); this latter addition purely because I received some as a Christmas present.

Recipe: Spiced Pumpkin Soup with Truffle Oil

Summary: This pumpkin soup is perfect when coming in from the cold on a winter’s day and is full of seasonal flavour.

Ingredients

• 1 Medium Pumpkin, peeled & diced.
• 1 Onion
• 1 Large Carrot
• 1 Stick Celery
• 1.5 Litres Chicken Stock
• 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Ground Coriander
• 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
• 1/2 tsp Ground Turmeric

Method

1. Start by dicing the vegetables and placing in a large pan with a little olive oil over a low heat, stirring occasionally.
2. After about 5 minutes add the spices and stir well. Continue frying for approximately 10 minutes until the onion softens.
3. Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil, before reducing the heat to a simmer.
4. Add your diced pumpkin and continue cooking until soft; this is approximately 20 minutes or so, but a bit longer certainly won’t hurt.
5. Remove from the heat and add a couple of tbsp of runny honey. Purée the soup with a stick blender if you have one, or a food processor.
6. Taste, and season as appropriate with salt and pepper. If the soup is too thick, add some water and stir in well, to achieve the right consistency.

Preparation time: 5 minute(s)

Cooking time: 45 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 12

Opening Walnuts

Last autumn Gosia went pretty crazy about picking her own walnuts. Now I’ve got nothing against foraging, but she’d spend day after day in the local park filling up buckets with so many walnuts I highly doubt we’ll ever get around to using them all.

This is the first dish we’ve made with the aforementioned nuts. We’d been watching River Cottage over Christmas when Hugh baked a Walnut and Honey Tart which looked absolutely delicious; ours – which I hope will also be delicious – is in the oven as I type this.

Walnut and Honey Tart

Christmas came and went so quickly this year we just didn’t have time to bake all of the things we’d hoped to; a few cakes made it to the table (such as the Flourless Chocolate Cake I made as my sister’s present), but little more than that. Regardless, Santa treated me nicely with food related gifts such as truffle oil / truffles, caviar, and cookbooks.

Now I only have 12 months to wait until the next one…

Recipe: Walnut and Honey Tart

Summary: This walnut and honey tart is deliciously sticky and gooey with crumbly pastry. What could be better?

Ingredients

• For The Pastry:
• 400g flour, chilled
• 250g butter, chilled
• 100g sugar, chilled
• Pinch of salt
• 1 large egg
• For The Filling:
• 250g sugar
• 200ml double cream
• 2 tbsp good honey
• 200g roughly chopped walnuts

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 180c / 355f.
2. Start your pastry similar to a crumble mix by pushing the butter into the flour. When this resembles breadcrumbs stir in the sugar and then the egg.
3. Mix this all together with your hands and form a ball with the completed pastry; cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.
4. Next make a caramel with the remaining sugar; heat it in a large frying pan on a medium heat, not stirring. As it begins to turn brown and melted you can give it a bit of a stir to help it melt.
5. Once it is all melted turn off the heat and immediately pour in the cream, stirring as you do so. Once this is mixed in add the honey again stirring well. Finally, stir in the walnuts.
6. Now it’s time to line the pastry tin. If you’ve done this before you’ll know how, but basically roll out and cut a circle for the base then press this into place. Next roll out the sides, pressing these both into place and down against the base to provide a seal. Finally roll out a circle for the top.
7. Fill the now prepared tart case with the filling and place the pastry lid on top, pressing against the sides to seal.
8. Place into the oven for 15 minutes, then poke several holes into the top to allow the steam to escape. Return to the oven for approximately 20 minutes until golden, then remove.
9. Allow to cool for just a couple of minutes and then remove from the case. Hugh recommends then returning it to the oven to crisp up the base but I found mine was cooked through OK; let your own judgement decide this.
10. Enjoy with ice-cream or a drizzle of cream.

Quick notes

You could use shop bought pastry – this will turn out just fine, but short-crust really isn’t difficult to make from scratch.

Variations

Try replacing about 50g of the flour with ground almonds for a slightly different texture and taste. This is my staple method of making sweet short-crust.

Preparation time: 45 minute(s)

Cooking time: 45 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 12

Honey-Mustard Roast Ham

We always celebrate the first day of the new year by sitting down as a family for a traditional roast dinner (no healthy eating here, at least not yet!). As yesterday was my turn I cooked red cabbage braised in red wine and clementine juice, goose fat fried potato wedges, and the delicious roast ham you see here. The photograph hardly does it justice, the meat was tender and moist and it was full of flavour.

Boiled Ham - Ready for the Oven

My joint was fairly small at just 1.5kg so I didn’t need to soak it to remove the saltiness; instead, I just put it in pan of cold water, brought it to the boil and then removed the water before starting the process. If your joint is larger it will almost certainly need soaking, ask your butcher and he will be able to advise you how long to do this for.

On a side note although I’ve suggested a 50/50 honey and mustard mix below as the glaze, I actually used the new Maille Dijon Mustard with Honey. It tastes truly delicious but I think you could do it at home just as well. I would definitely use a good quality Dijon mustard, though.

Recipe: Honey-Mustard Roast Ham

Summary: This honey-mustard roast ham is full of flavour and is so easy to make. Enjoy it hot as a Sunday roast or cold with salad.

Ingredients

• 1 Ham
• 2 tbsp Runny Honey
• 2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
• Cloves
• Salt & Pepper, to taste

Method

1. Start off by soaking your ham as recommended by your butcher. For my small joint I didn’t soak, instead placed it in a large pan of cold water, brought it to the boil and then disposed of the water before starting the process as below. Tasting a small piece will tell you if it still needs soaking.
2. The second stage is to boil your ham; don’t worry, this doesn’t take away the flavour instead leaves it deliciously moist inside. Do this for 20 minutes per pound (450g).
3. Remove the ham from the water and when cool enough to handle cut the skin away from the fat. Score through the fat in a criss-cross pattern, then grind fresh black pepper over the fat.
4. Roast in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees c before removing and coating with the honey mustard liberally.
5. Return to the oven for a further hour until the outside is golden, then remove and stand for 20 minutes before carving. I prefer the meat hot as it is deliciously moist.

Preparation time: 20 minute(s)

Cooking time: 2 hour(s)

Number of servings (yield): 4

The World's Best Chocolate Cake?

I knew I couldn’t get away with a chocolate sponge cake with the obligatory buttercream filling / topping – you can buy those anywhere. And while I could make a fancy looking Holiday Tree Bundt Cake that would be sure to look impressive, it probably wouldn’t taste like anything more than a whole lot of sponge.

Chocolate Cake - from side

So what I ended up with is the recipe you see here, one that contains a whole load of dark chocolate and butter, the texture moist and delicious, the flavour rich and chocolately. When I made this cake before I did so with flour included. This time around I skipped the flour entirely and added an extra egg to help it rise. It was still delicious!

Ready for the photo

We’ve opted to splatter the top of ours with a simple white icing; you could decorate yours however you see fit; a white chocolate frosting, formal zig-zag white lines, or whatever you feel will look nice. Play around and let your creativity out!

Recipe: World’s Best Flourless Chocolate Cake

Summary: This chocolate cake is dark and rich, full of chocolatey flavour. It’s gluten free but full of taste!

Ingredients

• 250g (8oz) dark chocolate, at least 70 cocoa solids, broken into chunks
• 250g (8oz) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 250g Golden Caster Sugar
• 5 medium eggs, separated
• 50g (1/2 cup) ground almonds

Method

1. Start by pre-heating your oven to 160 degrees c (320 f), and grease a 23cm (9 inch) spring form cake tin, lining the base with baking parchment.
2. Next, put your butter and chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pan of water on a low heat. Stir occasionally until melted.
3. Meanwhile, whisk your egg whites until they hold firm peaks. In a separate bowl whisk your yolks with sugar.
4. When the chocolate is melted, drizzle this into the yolk mixture while whisking.
5. Finally, fold in the almonds.
6. The next step is to incorporate your egg whites. Begin by adding stirring spoon of the white to the chocolate mix, then fold in the remainder with as gentle a touch as possible.
7. Pour the cake mixture into the tin, and put into your oven for about 5 minutes or until it is cracked and set.

Variations

Reduce the sugar to 200g and the eggs to 4, as well as adding 50g of plain flour at the end (with the almonds) for a slightly different texture – but still just as delicious!

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 45 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 6

The Perfect Roast Goose

Unlike professional Chefs and their associated web-sites I only cook what I eat. This means I just can’t blog a Roast Goose recipe well in advance of Christmas – because it’s not what I’m eating. Regardless, this goose – which we had for our Boxing Day dinner – tasted so good that I just had to share the roasting method with you. You’ll probably still find goose in any good butcher well into January.

Remember when roasting to pour away the fat every 30 minutes or so as this will reduce the smoky smell in your house. Don’t pour it down the sink, instead pour it through a sieve into a heat proof jug ready for using to roast your potatoes all through the winter (you can store it in the fridge once it goes cold). And don’t do what I did and pour it through a plastic sieve – it melts!

Recipe: Roast Goose

Summary: This method of roasting a goose gives crispy skin, moist meat and loads of delicious goose fat for roasting your potatoes all through the winter months.

Ingredients

• 1 Goose
• 2 Clementines
• Salt & Pepper

Method

1. Start by pre-heating your oven to 220c / 430f.
2. Next, remove the giblets and loose fat from the inside of the goose.
3. Cut a criss cross pattern into the goose skin to allow the fat to melt out during cooking.
4. Grate the clementine zest over the goose skin and place the fruit inside the bird cavity. Sprinkle a generous amount of salt & pepper over the goose skin and rub in with your hands.
5. Place the goose into the oven for 20 minutes before reducing the temperature to 180c / 355f. The cooking time should now be calculated as 30 minutes per kilo. If your bird is over 3kg you may find the skin will go too crispy due to the extended cooking time, in which case cover with foil. Our goose was 2.3kg so 90 minutes worked perfectly.

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 1 hour(s) 30 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 8

Simply click a thumbnail to see a full size version of the image. To see the recipe simply click the “ORIGINAL POST…” link at the top of the photograph page.

And make sure to have an absolutely fantastic Christmas!

Christmas Cupcakes

Cupcakes are a strange thing. Some blogs are dedicated to them, whereas others – this one included – barely give them a mention. After spending an hour frosting, scraping off and then re-frosting cupcakes this evening I realised why – although anyone can make a cupcake, frosting one beautifully takes skill; one I seem to lack! Even on the one pictured you can see the tell-tale smear under the frosting where it was scraped clean and re-tried – several times. I’m blaming it on my piping bag (and yes, I know a “bad worker always blames his tools”)!

Cupcakes, ready to go into the oven

These delicious Christmas Cupcakes come via the Baking Mad website, and are fully recommended. They make a delicious, quick and easy addition to your Christmas baking!

Recipe: Christmas Cupcakes

Summary: These Christmas Cupcakes have strong Christmas flavours mixed with a subtle hint of chocolate. They’re a great last minute baking addition!

Ingredients

• 150 grams Butter (room temperature)
• 150 grams Golden Caster Sugar
• 3 Medium Eggs (beaten)
• 125 grams Self Raising Flour
• 25 grams Cocoa Powder
• 0.50 tsp Baking Powder
• 0.50 tsp Mixed Spice
• 50 grams Raisins
• FOR THE FROSTING:
• 50 grams Butter
• 200 grams Icing Sugar

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180c / 355f.
2. Start by creaming the butter and sugar with a whisk until creamy.
3. Sift your flour, cocoa and baking powder into a bowl and then add the mixed spice (I crushed a clove, cinnamon and ginger with a touch of star anise instead) and raisins.
4. Add your eggs one at a time to the butter mixture, beating as you do so until combined. I always add a spoon of flour each time, as this helps prevent the mixture from splitting.
5. Finally fold in the rest of your dry ingredients with a large metal spoon until well combined.
6. Empty into 12 cupcake cases in a tin and bake for 20-25 minutes until firm.
7. Now for your icing; simply cream your butter and icing sugar (a stand cake mixer works well), adding between 1 and 2 tablespoons of hot water to help it cream.
8. Use a piping bag and a star shaped nozzle to adorn your cakes, then decorate as you see fit with sprinkles and the like.

Quick notes

The original recipe states between 1 and 2 tsp of water in the frosting recipe – I found this far too low so recommend using tbsp instead.

Variations

To make beautiful stars to adorn your cakes (not pictured) simply roll out some Ready to Roll Icing, cut to shape and leave overnight to dry before using. You can mix in some red food colouring for a festive look.

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 25 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 12

Treacle Sponge Pudding, with a delicious syrupy sauce.

The past couple of weeks have been eventful to say the least. The temperatures have finally dropped, and ice and frost cover the street outside my window. Our dog Angel had to have an emergency operation, and even Gosia has been ill. To top it off we decided to go Christmas shopping yesterday on the busiest day of the year which is just asking for stress.

So, it’s with no regret that for a little comfort I’ve turned to this warming Treacle Sponge recipe. It’s gooey and sticky but really easy to make. There’s no skill involved in the mixing and no matter how rough you are the sauce still forms perfectly at the bottom of the sponge while it’s baking. What could be better than that when it’s chilly outside?

Recipe: Treacle Sponge

Summary: There’s no skill involved in the mixing and no matter how rough you are the sauce still forms perfectly at the bottom of the sponge while it’s baking. What could be better on a cold Winter’s day?

Ingredients

• 125g Plain Flour (sifted)
• 120g Golden Caster Sugar
• 3 tsp Baking Powder
• 200ml Full Fat Milk
• 1 Egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• Pinch of Salt
• 140g Brown Sugar
• 4 heaped tbsp Golden Syrup
• 250ml Boiling Water

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180c / 355f.
2. Combine all the ingredients except the last 3 on the list into a bowl and mix well.
3. Pour into a buttered oven proof dish.
4. Put the brown sugar, syrup and water in a pan over the hob. Bring to the boil on a moderate heat and simmer for a minute.
5. Pour the syrup mixture slowly into your baking dish; try to distribute it fairly evenly.
6. Place the dish into the oven for approximately 45 minutes or until the sponge is nicely firmed.
7. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving with custard or ice cream.

Variations

The recipe I’ve based this on (http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/516685) adds a mashed banana with the initial ingredients for a different texture and taste. I far prefer it without, but you might like it.

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 45 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 6

Celeriac Gratin - food of the gods?

You might think celeriac is a bit boring; it is after all just a nobbly root vegetable which happens to taste a lot like celery – if you’ve even heard of it at all. But you’re missing the point; Celeriac when cooked into a gratin makes on of the most delicious dishes out there, even surpassing the mighty macaroni cheese – and if don’t believe me, give it a go. You’ll be amazed at how good this tastes.

I’ve cooked this a handful of times in the past year and each time done it slightly different, so what I present to you here is the most delicious version out there, tried and tested.

Some of the recipes I’ve tried call for single cream but even if you’re trying to be healthy I urge you not to do this. The thinner the cooking liquid the more the celeriac begins to take on a “boiled” texture when cooked which, although not entirely unpleasant, is far from the luxuriousness which the double cream in this version brings.

As a final note, don’t be tempted to over fill your gratin dish. I did so once – probably because I’m greedy – then went out to walk the dog. When I got back the kitchen was full of smoke as the sauce had been dripping constantly onto the bottom of the oven and had set on fire!

Recipe: Celeriac and Potato Gratin

Summary: Celeriac Gratin is one of the most comforting dishes out there. You’ll be amazed how good it tastes.

Ingredients

• 1 Celeriac, peeled and cut into thin slices
• 1 large Potato, peeled and cut into thin slices
• 2 Cloves Smoked Garlic (you can use normal), thinly sliced
• 250ml Chicken Stock
• 250ml Double Cream
• 1 tbsp Plain Flour
• 1/4 tsp dried red chilli flakes (optional)
• Salt & Pepper, to taste

Method

1. Start by pre-heating your oven to 190c / 375f.
2. Place your celeriac, garlic, chilli, flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl and toss around with your hands until well combined.
3. Layer the celeriac and potato into a heatproof dish such as that pictured. Don’t worry about being neat or about separating the celeriac / potato. Leave a couple of cm at the top of the dish so that the sauce doesn’t bubble over the sides.
4. Mix the chicken stock and double cream together in a jug and then pour evenly over the gratin, then place into your oven for approximately 90 minutes or until golden brown and the celeriac is tender.
5. Serve as is or as a perfect side dish.

Variations

You can try this with just celeriac instead of using potato. You could also give it a go with another root vegetable such as swede for a unique taste.

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 1 hour(s) 30 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 4