Nourished

Recent Vegetarian Recipes

Get your bake on…

Where to Eat…

A Few Thermomix Recipes

Baking

Dominique Ansel, The Secret Recipes…

Dominique AnselDominique Ansel’s Cronut™ – the much imitated and reinterpreted cross between a doughnut and croissant. I’ve seen Dominique interviewed many times, and he’s always at great pains to point out that his bakery makes much more than the now infamous (and trade marked) Cronut™.   And yet – the queues form every morning, for the very limited number available.

In the Secret Recipes, Dominique knows we’re going to turn straight to this one, and indeed I did! I was slightly peeved to find that the recipe here is a version “adapted” for home cooks… To be fair, it’s still a pretty labour-intense two-day process, and will still be a labour of love for some. I don’t know about you though, but I’m perfectly capable of turning out a croissant, so do feel a little cross to be given a watered-down version.. Hardly the secret recipe at all then….

The first section of the book is more anecdotal, and conveys the inspiration behind the best known recipes: Time is an ingredient | Beyond the comfort zone | Don’t listen | What’s in a name | Create and re-create | Everything but the flavo(u)r | Never run out of ideas The Recipe section is broken into:

A toast before baking

Beginner recipes:
Hot chocolate*
Chocolate pecan cookies*
Mini Madeleines
Mini me’s*
Popcorn chouquettes
Marshmallow chicks*
Vanilla ice-cream*
Apple tart tatin
The purple tart

Intermediate recipes
Cannelé de Bourdeaux
Vanilla religiuese
Cotton soft cheesecake
Paris-New York
Perfect little egg sandwich
Black and blue Pavlova*
Pink champagne macarons*
Apple marshmallow (amazing!)*
Sunflower tart
Christmas morning cereal*
“Lime me Up” tart
Frozen s’mores
Arlette

Advanced recipes:
Chocolate caviar tart
The angry egg*
Dominique’s Kouign Amanns (DKA)
Magic soufflé
The At-Home Cronut(tm) pastry
Ibérico and Mahón croissant
Sweet potato Mont Blanc
Gingerbread pinecone (also amazing!)
Baked Alaska

Additional techniques:
Cooking custard
Pâte â chop
Piping
Tempering chocolate
Lamination

*Gluten-Free Recipes

On average the recipes take two to three pages, are well documented, and with good photographs of the finished product. The book is actually pretty luscious, and does include a number of recipes you don’t often see, so it’s well worth adding to your patisserie section. But if you’re buying it only for the Cronut™ recipe, you have been warned.

 

Get your copy here:

Advert

In the Mix 2, by Dani Valent

I love using my Thermomix, as often as I can, so when I was approached by Dani Valent to contribute to her second Thermomix book, and was delighted to be able to share some recipes.
 

In the Mix 2

Baking

Great British Bake Off: Christmas… by Lizzie Kamenetzky

GBBO Christmas Book CoverDon’t let the front cover mislead you, this book contains as many savoury baking recipes as sweet…  As well as Lizzie, Mary and Paul, there are recipes from the following GBBO contestants:

Robert Billington (2011) Cathryn Dresser (2012) Miranda Gore Browne (2010) Beca Lyn-Pirkis (2013)
James Morton (2012) Kimberley Wilson (2013) Ed Kimber (2010) John Whaite (2012)
Holly Bell (2011) Ruth Clemens (2010) Frances Quinn (2013) Jo Wheatley (2011)

Recipe Index:

The Countdown Begins: Advent calendar biscuits; cinnamon and raspberry whirl wreath; gingerbread nativity; Mary’s classic christmas cake; panforte; beetroot, watercress and goats’ cheese tart; mustardy mac’n;cheese; creamy pork, apple and leek open pie; Rob’s garlic mushroom rolls; hot-smoked salmon and dill rice filo parcels; parma ham, ricotta and mushroom pizzas; Cathryn’s snowy white coconut tray bake; Miranda’s cranberry and pistachio chocolate cake; Mary’s white chocolate and ginger cheesecake; Paul’s mince pies

Gifts and Decorations: Florentines; lebkuchen stars; stained glass tea biscuits; Mary’s gingerbread house; seedy flatbreads for cheese; homemade pretzels; Beca’s stilton and fig sablés; almod and chocolate biscotti; mini walnut and fruit loaves; James’ miniature pandori; Paul’s Saint Lucia buns; Kimberley’s babà al limoncello; chocolate and vanilla button biscuits; Paul’s panettone

Come on Over: best-ever shepherd’s pie; deep cheese and bacon tart with wholemeal pastry; beef an beer pie; chicken, sage and chestnut gratin; salmon Wellington; rich pumpkin, chilli, chard and feta parcels; caramelised onion and stilton tart; Paul’s stollen; Jamaican gingerbread loaf; Mary’s Genoa cake; frangipane mince pies; Paul’s mincemeat and marzipan couronne; mini-spiced apple doughnuts; Christmas fruit bread; Mary’s mincemeat streusel; apple and pear crumble slices; Edd’s spiced chocolate bundt cake

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day: Christmas Eve venison pie; John’s peanut butter, popcorn and chocolate fudge torte; Rudolph’s carrot cake; brioche snowman; smoked salmon soufflé omelette; potato blinis with smoked salmon; baked christmas ham; ultimate potato gratin; watercress and Gruyère soufflés; beef Wellington; Mary’s Christmas pudding; Mary’s yule log; salted caramel and chocolate cream profiteroles; Mary’s Tunis cake; Paul’s Kransekake

The Days in Between: creamy Turkey and tarragon cobbler; Paul’s hand-raised Boding Day pie; turkey chilequiles; ham and stilton pot pies; ham and parsley sauce pie with bubble and squeak mash; Paul’s turkey, stuffing and cranberry Chelsea buns; ham and chestnut pasta bake; turkey and ham pie; smoked salmon, fennel and horseradish tart with caraway pastry; apple and safe stuffing sausage rolls with crackling pastry; blue cheese, pear and walnut tart with watercress pesto; Holly’s ham and chutney leftover turnovers; St Stephen’s day muffins; Sussex pond pudding; sticky toffee pudding; panettone bread and butter pudding ; Linzertote; Mary’s galette; sticky clementine and star anise drizzle load; Ruth’s Christmas Bakewell tar

New Year’s Eve: mushroom, spinach and feta parcels; stilton and bacon muffins; Parma ham and Gruyère palters; really cheesy gougères, haggis Scotch eggs; red onion, pancetta and sage puff tart tartiflette; pumpkin and coconut tarlets; indulgent fish pie; chocolate, coffee and rum torte; Paul’s black bun; passion fruit and pomegranate pavlova layer cake; eggnog custard tart; Frangelico and roasted hazelnut baked cheesecake; macarons; trifle with homemade Madeira cake; almond, hazelnut and white chocolate layer cake; Frances’ sugar and spice stellar cupcakes; Jo’s chocolate fruit and nut bubble wrap cake

It’s not my favourite book in the series, but there’s enough interesting things here for it to survive in my library.

You can buy a copy here>

Baking

Primrose Bakery Christmas… by Martha Swift

It’s not an entirely Christmas book, but is that necessarily a bad thing? There’s a broad range of recipes, with lots of combinations I think would be popular throughout the year. However, I think with baking books particularly, it’s useful to see exactly what’s in the book, to avoid duplication elsewhere. It breaks down as follows:

Cupcakes: tea and digestives cupcakes; Crunchie cupcakes; Malteser cupcakes; Toblerone cupcakes; pink lemonade cupcakes; Liquorice Allsorts cupcakes; rum and raisin cupcakes; apple crumble and custard cupcakes; blueberry cupcakes (shown in the photograph); cinnamon cupcakes; Irish coffee cupcakes; eggnog cupcakes; s’mores cupcakes; Maraschino cherry cupcakes; red bean cupcakes; bread and butter cupcakes

Large Cakes: rainbow cake; salted caramel cheesecake; apple and butterscotch yule log; chocolate and coconut layer cake; Christmas Pavlova wreath; pineapple and coconut cake; pain d’epices bundt cake; Christmas pudding cake with mulled wine icing; Jaffa Cake cake; clementine cake with Greek yoghurt icing; chocolate and white chocolate roulade; marjolaine cake; walnut streusel cake

Cookies: chocolate caramel cookies; triple chocolate cookies; mince pie cookies; Oreo chocolate chip cookies; Smarties cookies; spice Christmas or Linzer cookies; Fresh mint shortbread biscuits; brandy snaps; Earl Grey almond and white chocolate biscotti; ginger sparkle cookies; raspberry and pistachio thumbprint cookies; Speculoos biscuit tree decoration; Speculoos cookie butter; gingerbread sausage dogs

Loaves and Slices: sticky toffee loaf; natural red velvet load; spiced fruit loaf; rocky road slice; salted caramel brownies; cheesecake brownie; Florentine blondie; orange marmalade slice; cherry ripe slice; pumpkin slice; pistachio and raspberry loaf

Pies and Tarts: Christmas trifle with caramelised peaches; banoffee pie; chocolate peanut butter pie; chocolate marshmallow pie; mint and white chocolate pie; dark chocolate and fresh mint truffle tart; Boston cream pie

Free From: GF vanilla cupcakes; GF quinoa cupcakes; chocolate vegan layer cake; GF honey and almond cake; GF spiced honey loaf

Edible Gifts: caramelised nuts; savoury nut mix; sweet and salty popcorn; mint coconut ice; salted caramel truffles; Christmas pudding rum balls; peanut butter and banana dog cupcakes (yes, for dogs!!); dog Christmas cake (again, for dogs!!); meringues; tutti frutti nougat; popcorn baubles; gingerbread house; caramel apples

 

You can buy a copy here >

Baking

British Baking… by Paul Hollywood

Paul Hollywood CoverThis book is a look at regional baking around the United Kingdom. Paul has taken recipes from all over the Isles, and broken them down into the following categories:

Southwest; South and Southeast; Midlands; North; Wales; Ireland; and Scotland

More useful for me though is the breakdown by recipe type:

Savoury pies, pastries and puddings: baked Somerset Brie; Cornish pasties; Denby dale cake; Dingle lamb pie; fidget pie; hame and goat’s leek couronne; homity pie; leek and Caerphilly tart; Norfolk plough pudding; priddy oggies; Sussex churls; Welsh onion cake; Whitby fish pie

Scones, griddle scones and pancakes: boxty pancakes; cheese and chive scones; oatmeal drop scones; pikelets; Staffordshire oatcakes; sultana scone ring; Welsh cakes

Breads: Boxty bread; crusty Swansea; Kentish huff kings; Norfolk knobs; oat bread; Sally Lunn; soda bread; stilton, pear and walnut bread; stottie cakes; wholemeal seeded load

Sweet yeasted breads: barm brace; Devonshire splits; Dorset wiggs, Isle of Wight doughnuts; Lincolnshire plum bread; mothering buns; saffron cake; Selkirk bannock; Whitby lemon buns

Sweet pies and puddings: Bkaewell pudding; Eton messl halloween pudding; Hereford apple dumplings; Leicestershire hunting pudding; marmalade cheesecake with whisky oranges; Monmouth pudding with plums; Odlbury gooseberry pies; Osborn pudding; poor knights of Windsor; rhubarb plate pie; St Fillan’s pudding; Sussex pond pudding; treacle sponge pudding

Sweet tarts and pastries: Bakewell tart; Chorley cakes; Ecclefechan butter tarts; Eccles cakes; maid of honour; Manchester tart; Northamptonshire cheesecakes; strawberry and pistachio shortcakes

Cakes and tea breads: bars brith, black burn; cider cake; Cumbrian sand cake; Dorset apple cake; farmhouse walnut cake; Guinness and black mini muffins; honey buns; Kentish cherry cake, Hevva cake; Irish coffee cake, marmalade cake, Melton Hunt cake; porter cake; raspberry crumble cake; Ripon spice cake; seed cake; white chocolate and cherry plate cake

Biscuits and tray bakes: chocolate chip petticoats tails; chocolate heavies; coconut flapjacks; Cornish fairings; Goosnargh cakes; jumbles; oat biscuits; oatcakes; parlies; Shewsbury biscuits; Tantallon cakes, Welsh gingerbread; Yorkshire parkin

I’m not sure I’d ordinarily rave about Paul’s books, and I do have several…  However the process of indexing my hundreds of cookbooks has really made me focus on content – where increasingly recipes overlap, Paul has managed to capture a number of old-fashioned recipes that aren’t listed very often these days.  It’s worth having for that alone.  I love making bara brith, so it was very useful to have some other variations – I’ll definitely try the Ripon spice cake.

Paul Hollywood Ilustration  Paul Hollywood Muffins  Paul Hollywood Pastry

You can buy your copy here >

1 Michelin Star

Fera, at Claridges

I’m an unashamed fan of Fera – I’ve been several times now, and it’s one of my favourite places to eat.  Though the dishes are multi-dimensional and intensely flavoured, there’s complete clarity of flavour.  As a cook, I can also appreciate the variety of techniques employed, and though Mr Rogan is keen on his gadgets, their use never overshadows the dish.

Absurdly, even though it’s just won its first Michelin star, it’s easy to get a table at lunch time – do try an early walk-in.  Fera is required to keep a number of tables free for the hotel, so it’s highly likely that you’ll be successful.

Benjamin Hofa was running the pass on this particular visit, and my pescatarian spanner barely caused a hiccup in service.  For meat eaters, there’s plenty of variety in the menu, but the test of a decent kitchen, is coming up with suitable alternatives – and my dishes were comparable to Hubby’s.

Indeed, for me the joy of the menu is the sheer variety of vegetal ingredients.  A kaleidescope of herbs have different effects on the palate, combinations can be combined to create lightness and vivacity, to cleanse the palate, or provide a hit of intense, savoury umami… Flowers aren’t just there for decoration, mushrooms can mimic flesh, and vegetables, pudding.  I can feel that I’m losing some of you with that last statement, but ultimately the dishes are more than gimmicks, they’re simply delicious.

The proceedings always kick of with a selection of very tasty morsels…

P1010478P1010482P1010484P1010490P1010493P1010495P1010499P1010512P1010502P1010514P1010519P1010523P1010528P1010531P1010538P1010536P1010541




Baking

Sweets Made Simple… by Miss Hope and Mr Greenwood

Hope and GreenwoodI have all of the Hope and Greenwood books, their kitsch and charming approach to confectionary always make for a good read. However, be under no illusion that this is all style over substance, there are a substantial number of techniques in the books, and this particular one includes more grown-up recipes.

There are individual pages on each of the following, providing useful tips about confectionary-making:

Hello The Rules!     How and why to temper chocolate     Storage

Then the following sections, with recipes listed…

Fudge, Caramel and Toffee:
Black Forest fudge
Peanut butter fudge
Honey & almond white chocolate
Cheats
Gingerbread latte
Pulled butter toffee
Salted liquorice caramels
Penuche
Chocolate orange caramels
Cinder toffee
Seashell caramels
Chipotle
Almond & sea salt toffee

Chocolatey:
Peppermint crackers
Cherry chapel hat pegs
Very bad smores
Coffee creams
Rose and violet creams
Syrup sponge nuggets
Matcha and white chocolate truffles
Mango truffles
Malted nougat
Gin and lime truffles
Chilli and lime kisses
Nougat clusters
Tequila chillies
Limoncello creams
Sherry trifle cups
Garden mint ‘peas’
Rose hip iced gems
Devon strawberry truffles
Chilli and lime shards

Fruity:
Twinkly blackcurrant flowers
Fig and cassis truffles
Toffee apples
Candied peels
Peach and apricot pastilles
Maple walnut pears
Raspberry marshmallows
Passion fruit hearts
Sour lemon travel sweets
Pavlova islands
Blackberry cups
Strawberry and cream lollies
Pear and ginger coins
Will berry jellies
Sherbet lemon marshmallows
Sherbet dipper
Rock sugar stirrers
Cherry Bakewell shards

Nutty:
Proper peanut brittle
Marzipan sandwiches
Pear and chestnut truffles
Maple syrup, pecan and bacon lolly
Coconut ice
Coffee walnut whips
Squirrel nibbles
Mr Greenwood’s buttered brazils
Jewelled Florentines
Chocolate and pistachio palters
Peanut butter and jelly truffles
Pistachio katli
Peanut butterflies
Sisin

Chewy:
Unicorn mallow pops
Rose and pistachio turkish delight
Lemon and blueberry nougat
Cherry and almond nougat
Salted caramel mallow teacakes
Sweet sushi
Salty dogs
Blueberry aniseed diamonds
Apricot leather belts
Popcorn espresso macchiato balls
Ice-cream oysters
Candied peel and white chocolate nougat

Yes there are a few duplications from the earlier books, but they are probably the most popular recipes, so deserve to be included here too.

You can buy your copy here >

FrontPage

Giant couscous, vegetables, herbs, pea-shoots

This dish is based very loosely on another Ottolenghi dish from Plenty – in it he combines rocket, onions, couscous and herbs.  It struck me that it’s the perfect sort of dish to adapt based on what you love, or have available.  Whilst rocket is peppery, for me pea-shoots impart a sweet freshness to the dish, that echoes the sweet and savoury shallots and cumin.  I rustled Hubby up some blackened chicken to go with his dish, and the whole thing was done and dusted in the time it took to roast – no more than 25 minutes from beginning to end.  This is one dish I’ll make dozens of variations of, and will treat as a method, rather than a recipe to adhere to rigidly.
Ingredients:

2 shallots
1 medium courgette
100g giant couscous
200g boiling water
1 tsp ground cumin
1 large clove of garlic
A handful each of parsley, mint, chives and chervil (whichever you have to hand or love)
80g pea-shoots
50g dried cranberries
olive oil, to fry the shallots in
Juice of one lemon, to dress
Extra virgin olive oil, to dress

Method:

  • Measure one mug of giant couscous into a bowl, and measure two mugs of boiling water, at the same level, pouring into the bowl.  Cover the bowl with cling film and set to one side (the couscous will cook in the residual heat of the boiling water – this method is sometimes called the absorption method, and will take around 15 minutes).
  • Finely slice two small shallots, and add to the pan with the olive oil.  Gently fry until they are golden brown.  Add a scant teaspoon of cumin powder, and lightly toss the mixture together.
  • Add the crushed garlic to the pan and soften without browning.
  • Cut the courgette into diagonal slices (if it pleases you), and if large, cut those slices in half.  Cut the broccoli into manageable sections, and add both the broccoli and courgette to the pan.  When lightly cooked, set the pan aside to cool a little.
  • Finely chop (or mince) a large handful of mint, parsley, chives, and chervil – or whichever herbs you prefer.
  • When everything is ready, combine your pea-shoots, drained couscous, herbs and vegetable together in a bowl.  If you don’t mind fruit in your couscous, and I realise it’s not for everyone, add around 50g of dried cranberries, or sour cherries.
  • Drizzle with a little good virgin olive oil, and the lemon juice

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Cheese

Butter and Sage Gnudi

I’m such a lucky gal, I’m so lucky to have a Hubby who likes to cook as much as I do.  Normally it’s curry (and he makes fabulous curry), but he was recently captivated by Jamie Oliver’s gnudi recipe.  He likes the combination of multiple cheeses, and lemon particularly.  So lucky me, he undertook the two day task as earnestly as I would have done.  Don’t let the fact it’s a two day recipe put you off, you really need the drying out time to allow the gnudi to set-up.

Ingredients (for 3-4 portions):

500g best-quality ricotta
50 g Parmesan cheese
½ whole nutmeg, for grating
Zest of one lemon
fine semolina, for dusting

Method:

  • Put the ricotta into a bowl with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then finely grate in the Parmesan and a few scrapings of nutmeg, along with the lemon zest. Beat it together, then have a taste to check the balance of seasoning is right – you want the nutmeg to be very subtle.
  • Generously cover a large tray with semolina, then roll the ricotta mixture into 3cm balls, rolling them in the tray of semolina as you go until really well coated. You should get around 20 gnudi from this amount of mixture. Shake and cover really well with the semolina and leave for 8 hours or preferably overnight in the fridge (don’t cover the tray) – the semolina will dehydrate the ricotta, giving the gnudi a lovely fine coating.
  • The gnudi will only take 3 minutes to cook, cook them in 2-portion batches to take care of them. Shake the excess semolina off 2 portions-worth of gnudi and cook them in boiling salted water while you melt a large knob of butter in a frying pan on a medium heat and pick in about 10 sage leaves to crisp up. Remove the crispy leaves to a plate and scoop the gnudi directly from the water into the frying pan, adding a spoonful of the cooking water. When the butter and water have emulsified, take off the heat and grate over a layer of Parmesan, add just a few drops of lemon juice, then toss together. Serve in warm bowls straight away with an extra grating of nutmeg and Parmesan and the crispy sage leaves, while you get on with the next batch, wiping the frying pan clean between batches.

Notes:

  • Do not place the gnudi in boiling water – bring it to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, carefully put the gnudi in, so that they don’t break up
  • The size of Jamie’s gnudie is a little too big, in our opinion, we think they should be about half the size.
  • Jamie doesn’t include the zest of a lemon in his recipe, though he did on the TV episode.  Hubby included the zest, and we do think it’s necessary, to offset the richness of the ricotta
  • In his new book, My Perfect Pantry, Geoffrey Zakarian has a gnudi recipe with mushrooms – that looks amazing!
  • They are quite rich, but they’d make an amazing starter…  We’re already trying to work out combinations… It would seem sensible to have a category of variations that were light and herby, others that were meaty and full of depth, like the mushroom, and others that might include spices and a little heat…  Think of it as your new pasta..

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

FrontPage

Crusted pumpkin wedges, with soured cream

This dish is from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty, and he’s quickly becoming my go-to chef… Though I still blog meat and fish dishes, I’m increasingly eating vegetables, and you can guarantee his recipes still pack enough punch to make up for that.  For some reason, an onion squash has appeared in my kitchen… No doubt one of the children has spotted it somewhere, and convinced that halloween is on the way, coerced Hubby into buying it.  Little do they know it’s just become my supper… Well, after all, they can always buy another…  Though the recipe calls for a larger squash than mine, it still tastes magnificent.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

700g pumpkin (skin on, or any other squash)
50g Parmesan, grated
20f dried white breadcrumbs (panko in my case)
6 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
2½ tsp finely chopped thyme
grated zest of 2 large lemons
2 garlic cloves, crushed
60ml olive oil
120g soured cream
1 Tbsp chopped dill
salt and white pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/Gas Mark 5.  Cut the pumpkin into 1cm thick slices and lay them flat, cut side down, on a baking sheet that has been lined with greaseproof paper.

To make the crust, mix together in a small bowl the Parmesan, breadcrumbs, parsley, thyme, half the lemon zest, the garlic, a tiny amount of salt (there is salt in the Parmesan) and a little pepper.

Brush the pumpkin generously with olive oil and sprinkle with the crust mix, making sure the slices are covered with a few millimetres of the coating.  Gently pack the mix down a little.

Place the tin in the oven and roast for about 30 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender: stick a knife in one wedge to make sure it has softened and is cooked through.  If the topping starts to darken too much, cover loosely with foil.

Mix the soured cream with the dill and some salt and pepper.  Serve the wedges warm, sprinkled with the remaining lemon zest with the soured cream on the side.

Notes:

  • If you have a combination of herbs you prefer, do feel free to use them.  On my counter I had chervil, parsley, dill and thyme, and as I like that aniseed hit, I went with that
  • It would have been nice to use a larger squash to give a larger surface area, but the onion squash worked perfectly well.  It also has the advantage of having a delicious skin when cooked
  • The smell of the garlic and lemon, as soon as this hits the oven, is ridiculous.  It’s worth doing as a side-dish for that alone, your kitchen will smell amazing…  For vegetarians, this is enough of a dish to satisfy your taste-buds
  • We dressed ours with a little extra-virgin olive oil, and some lemon juice

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA