The weather this past week has been fantastic, just right for experimenting with some salads. Chicory (otherwise known as endive) is a classic with blue cheese and walnuts, and this is basically just a beefed up version of the same flavours.

The potatoes are served hot; this has the effect of melting the cheese and combining it with the Dijon mustard dressing creating a really distinctive dressing.

I’m a big fan of big flavours. What other ideas do you have for original salads?

Recipe comfortably serves two in man sized portions; four as a starter. Feel free to play around with the ingredients.  This salad is also my entry to the great “Weekend Herb Blogging” being held over at Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska.

Chicory, Potato and Dolcelatte Salad Recipe - Ingredients

• 2 Heads of Chicory, leaves torn off
• Handful of boiled new potatoes per person (Jersey Royals or similar)
• 150g of Dolcelatte or similar blue cheese, diced
• 10 (ish) walnuts
• Good glug of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Salt and pepper to season

Chicory, Potato and Dolcelatte Salad Recipe - Method

(I’ll be honest with you here - there isn’t much method; its a salad, damnit. Have a play and see what happens)

1. Throw the just boiled potatoes in a large bowl with the Dolcelatte. Mix around with your hands.
2. Mix together the Dijon mustard, lemon juice and olive oil.
3. Throw in the chicory leaves and coat with the dressing. Throw around some more.
4. Serve and sprinkle with the walnuts.

And if you’re in the mood to create some more salads make sure to check out our Seasonal Food Blogging challenge, “In The Bag“!

So who fancies some Cock Soup? Nourishing, as it says on the packet; it must be from all the protein. There’s nothing like the real taste of fresh cock when you’re feeling a little empty.

Still, its great marketing. My immaturity meant that I actually paid the 49p to buy this just because it said “cock” on the packet. Damnit!

If you’ve got your own stories about “rude food” I’d love to hear them - leave me a comment!

Asparagus, eggs and parmesan; a classic combination, but what would you make with that little lot?

If you think you could come up with something original, we’d love to hear about it.

We’re running a seasonal food blogging event lasting right through to the end of May; all you have to do is create a recipe using the aforementioned ingredients and email it over to me ( scott [at] realepicurean [dot] com ) before the 31st. Easy!

I’ve said it before, but seasonal food is really where its at for freshness and flavour. Asparagus is king throughout May and has the added benefit of making your wee smell. And who could resist that?

Entry Details
Send an email with “In the Bag” in the subject line to scott [at] realepicurean [dot] com (only replacing the stuff in square brackets with real punctuation) by Sunday 31st May with the following information:

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

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

1. Participants should attempt to use all the ingredients ‘in the bag’ for that particular month, but may leave one out if they prefer. The dish should be based around the seasonal ingredient, with it acting as a central ingredient.

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”.

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

5. Participants from outside of the UK are most welcome to join in and substitute an item from their own local seasonal produce if necessary.

‘In The Bag’ is a food event run monthly by ‘A Slice of Cherry Pie‘ and ‘Real Epicurean’.

Here’s something else. When the Scots say “neeps” what they mean is a “turnip” (”tur-neep”. It’s all in the accent!). But what the Scots call a turnip is what the English call a swede - so for a lot of us it’s not a turnip at all. Got that?

I’ve taken the Scottish theme even further by drizzling the haggis with a whiskey, honey and cream sauce. It might sound odd but wait until you try it - it works really well, honest!

Oh, and I promise not to mention what haggis is made from out of respect for the faint hearted

Recipe serves 4 in ramekins as in the picture - but feel free to de construct and serve as a man size, plated up portion!

Haggis, Neeps and Tatties Recipe - Ingredients

• 1 Haggis
• 1/2 Swede (Turnip, if you’re Scottish. But then you’ll probably know far better than me how this should be done).
• 2 Potatoes (good mashing potatoes such as King Edwards or Maris Piper)
• 50 ml Scotch Whiskey
• 50 ml Double Cream
• 1 tbsp Honey
• Salt & Pepper to season

Haggis, Neeps and Tatties Recipe - Method

1. Peel swede and potatoes and bring to the boil in a pan of salted water until softened
2. Separate and mash separately - add butter and milk for the right consistency.
3. Cook haggis according to manufacturers instructions (I know that’s a cop out, but if it’s a good enough method for Delia, it’s good enough for me) - which for mine meant about 10 minutes in a microwave before mashing up with a fork.
4. Spoon the mixture into a ramekin - potato followed by swede then finally haggis, in roughly equal layers.
5. Meanwhile reduce the whiskey in a pan by about half. Add the cream and honey, stir well and bubble until thick and syrupy. Add a good dose of pepper and a little salt, then drizzle over the haggis.

I really don’t know why but the strong Scotch sauce (which tastes quite awful on its own, unless you really like that kind of thing) really brings out the best in the haggis. Now serve to the non believers and enjoy!

Ever become stuck in a food rut? I know that personally I go through phases; right now I’m in my “stir fried veggies” phase; one that seems to come around every time I gain a few pounds and want to make myself feel healthy again. Still, there’s only so much mixed veg’ and noodles you can eat before you need some inspiration - and that’s why I’m glad this book has come along.

It’s been a while since I’ve been really inspired by a cookbook. Sure, Jamie Oliver’s latest “Jamie at Home” was pretty good, if unoriginal. Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s “Fish” was great too, but still didn’t bring really make me itch to get into the kitchen.

So what does “Asian Bites” do different? Well, what better than fresh, vibrant Asian food when the Spring weather starts to turn around? Couple that with a fresh, easy to read yet contemporary design and you’re on to a winner.

I’m becoming pretty bored with generic cookbooks and this one manages to break the mould. How about some of the more simple yet delicious recipes; Spring onion pancakes (Pa jeon), with just a handful of ingredients, or Chinese barbecue spare ribs (Paigu) - which has to be the easiest, tastiest version I’ve ever seen?

I’ll openly admit I’m no expert on Asian cuisine but this surely has to be right where its at, right now. A perfect example of how food should be done!

Title: Asian Bites

Author(s): Tom Kime

Published: 03 March 2008

Poaching is a great way of cooking meat but for some reason not many people think of doing it. Perhaps it’s because they think that we’re boiling all of the flavour away; nothing could be further from the truth!

This recipe is a variation on one I saw on TV a year or so ago and have to say tastes delicious. It’s also a great way to use up all the ingredients I bought for this months “In The Bag” seasonal food blogging event, being held by Julia over at A Slice of Cherry Pie!

To recap quickly, the ingredients for this month’s bag are watercress, feta cheese and jersey royal potatoes.  The game is kind of like “Ready Steady Cook” - we choose ‘em, you cook ‘em.

You’ll have to excuse the small, low resolution photograph. I cooked this one round at my parent’s house a few weeks ago and didn’t take my camera (not that my photography is great at the best of times - it still tasted great though, honest). Just one tweak necessary though; I used feta cheese as per the ITB bag - but would recommend a mature white cheddar, instead.

The recipe itself is so simple…Just boil the chopped up cauliflower with half an onion until soft, drain and then puree with a little butter and cream.  Meanwhile the fillet steak is poached for 10 minutes in a good red wine, and then served atop the cauliflower cheese.

You can adorn the dish with whatever vegetables you want, but of course I had to go seasonal and chose watercress (always great with beef anyway), some carrots that were lying around and jersey royal potatoes.  For simplicity I ladled some of the poaching wine into a saucepan, stirred in a good knob of butter and seasoned.  Reduce by about 1/3 until thickened and serve.

It ain’t haute cuisine but it sure tastes good!

Regular readers of this blog will know that we run a monthly seasonal food blogging event called “In The Bag” in conjunction with a lady called Julia from A Slice of Cherry Pie. Well, Julia can be seen in all her glory (so to speak) in a video interview over at the Trusted Places blog.  You should head over there and check it out!

While we’re on the subject, this month’s In The Bag features Jersey Royal Potatoes, Watercress and Feta Cheese. If you think you could come up with a dish using that lot then head over to Julia’s before the 30th of April and let her know about it!