Such a Tart!

How to make a tart:

Make shortcrust pastry: I make mine via Gordon Ramsay's recipe but you can use whatever recipe you prefer or buy it from the chilled or frozen part of the supermarket-you can even buy it in sheets these days!

Once you've made your pastry and left it to rest (or opened up the packet...remember, if using frozen or chilled, let it come to room temperature first) then get ready to roll it out, using a rolling pin and a sprinkling of flour.   I like my tarts a bit rough and ready so I use my tart tin to cut out the size of pastry I need and then give it another wee roll out to make it fit but you can use a saucer, a plate or anything round!   I then butter my tart tins...any kind of tart, pie or cake tin will do...and lay the pastry onto it, pressing down and into the tin ensuring that there will be no air bubble underneath. 

You can par bake the pastry, I usually do but only for five minutes; either pour some baking beans (specific beans for baking from good cake supply shops), rice or the easy option, a wee bit of tin foil in the middle of the pastry, where the filling will go.   Bung it into a medium oven for five minutes and then bring out to cool slightly, removing the beans/foil/rice first.

Ingredients of choice: I always fill my tarts with the same mix; a beaten egg, approx. 5 tablespoons double cream, a good handful of Parmesan and plenty of seasoning-these are all mixed together to be poured on to whatever topping you prefer.

Red onions, chopped finely and sauted in a pan with some butter and olive oil.   After a few minutes, add some crushed and chopped garlic to taste.   Cook slowly until soft but not too browned.   Let it cool and add to pastry.

Add some chopped, sliced or crumbled goats cheese (or feta, or cheddar....) and place on top of onion mix.

Add dollops of pesto and either smooth out neatly or leave in lumps....whatever way you prefer.

 Pour in the creamy eggy batter til almost full but not too full because remember, it'll rise....and add some slices or halves of baby tomatoes, a basil leaf, a grating of Parmesan and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.   I add a tiny squeeze of lemon juice too!

 Bake in oven until golden brown and puffy and remove to cool slightly.   Can be eaten hot or cold.

 

I like a shallow tart sometimes so that there is lots of crust; this one was made in a large pie tin with artichokes instead of pesto and some rocket and basil.   It was sliced into 8 and ate at random whenever anyone was hungry.

Leftover week 10

 Cassoulet Ecosse (Valentine's dinner)....or posh sausage n'beans with a bit of lamb n' haggis!

The freezer is fit to bursting with leftover this and that so this week, the shopping has been severely cut and the leftovers shall be left over no more; we shall eat what is there and come up with some weird and wonderful ways to use up the bits and bobs of fresh food tying up the 'fridgerator shelves.

Saturday's Lemon Drizzle Cheering Up Cake for Susan

We shall purchase a chicken, some fresh vegetables and the basics of eggs, butter, milk and bread.   But that is all.   By the week end, the cupboards should be bare.   The following is a mix of dinners, lunches, breakfasts and snacks and may vary:-

Roast chicken with fresh veg and mashed/roast potatoes

Chicken and rice soup

Pasta with roasted tomatoes, pesto and Parmesan

Spaghetti with garlic, broccolli and chilli

Spicy chicken noodle soup

Tuna mayo salad with baked potato

Camembert cheese and pesto tart with pine nuts

Cassoulet with potato slices

Chicken and chorizo stew

Veg curry and naan

Carrot and lentil soup

Cannellini bean soup

Chicken with gravy and rice

Thai Stir fry

Pancakes

Lemon cake

Cupcakes

Last week's one dish roast chicken dinner!

 

I have a dinner on Friday night with my friends and am looking forward to sharing one recipe with you in particular; butternut squash soup with griddled scallops and girolles.   This has got to be one of the best dishes I've tasted in a long time.  

Butternut Squash soup with girolles, griddled scallops and Parmesan;

the most divine dish on the planet....this week!

I had a trial run with it on our Valentine's meal and it was sooooo delicious.   I had the remainder of the soup without the scallops the next day and it was still divine.   I couldn't recommend a dish more but there is a story behind the scallops.....

Lovely, hand dived scallops were on my shopping list and although they cost a lot of money, I was only buying three (you half each scallop for this dish).   Scallops are indeed expensive but even the best should not cost any more than £1.60 per shell.   Since I'd heard there was a new fish shop in our local area, I headed there first, happy in the knowledge that I'd probably be getting some first rate scallops.   

The scallops on show didn't look particularly wonderful but were fresh enough.  They were, however sitting in water rather than ice; scallops soak up water and since you get charged per weight, it's a fishmonger's trick and of course, when it's time to fry your scallops, you have the water oozing out, toughening up the skin.   I decided to try them anyway, having run out of time.   Since they were rather small, I asked for four; the lovely chap behind the counter bagged them up for me and mumbled an incoherent amount as I handed over a £10 note, distracted by the other items on view.   As he asked me if I wanted a bag, the cost had made impact with my brain and I found myself asking him to repeat how much; £6.76 came the reply.   

£1.69 per wee, water soaked, scrappy scallop?!   I don't think so.   Of course, having been brought up to behave in a way that Miss Manners herself would approve of, I kept all of that to myself and said instead "no thank you, that is way too expensive, could I have my money back please?".   Oddly enough, he didn't look that surprised.

Off to Marks and Sparks to find a packet of cloned, identical offspring for the price of a small mortgage payment so headed off to Tesco instead; their offering was frozen and at £6 for five toti wee scraps, I reluctantly decided against it, at least until Friday, when I could get to the proper fishmongers in Glasgow.   As we were passing Asda however, I popped in as their scallops are usually pretty good; they looked about the same quality as the local fishmongers however the cost was vastly different; £1.20 for four!   Yup.

"Run that past me again...." came my reply.   He smiled: "they're half price just now"...but wait, that would still have only been £2.20 for four.   "Ok, give me eight".   They were delicious.   Looking forward to some hand dived, plump, super fresh ones in their shell from the fishmongers in Glasgow for Friday though.

 Mmmm, we LOVE these breakfast cupcakes, 

sprinkled with sugar before going in the oven to give a crispy, crunchy topping.

It continues to be the coldest winter but the sun has shone that past few days, casting a lovely light over the land.   I've never been even mildly tempted by a holiday in the sun but this year...oh, this year my friends, our holiday must be filled with warmth, sunshine and swimming pools.   I'm hoping upon hope that the cold winter means a warm and pleasant summer and the deckchair can be cobwebbed off and dragged out into the garden, kicking and screaming. 

 This bizarre looking concoction was actually really tasty and was a trial run for Friday's dinner; 

Chicken Pesto Roulade on a bed of mashed potato topped with crispy courgettes and leeks, roasted basil leaves and a white wine mustard sauce.

I promise, the flourless orange cake is to come, the original recipe was torn out of a magazine and I need to find it.   The chicken goujons too!

Thank you so much to those wonderful bloggy friends who have given me awards recently; I'll be posting them up this week.

Dinner guests

My very first dinner party was many, many years ago; I had purchased Floyd's cookbook and decided upon 'paupiettes of beef with lemon stuffing'. I was excited to be making my first grown up meal and took everything Floyd said literally so when he recommended using your own beef stock and gave a recipe on how to make it, I took his advice. I soaked up everything he said completely and utterly, even phoning the butcher with my order ahead of time.

The butcher was very pleasant when I arrived, his patter constant; he handed me many bags, much to my surprise and told me the cost with a big grin. I falteringly smiled back as I paid him, dropping my purse and trying to stay calm. I walked out the door and round the corner, stumbling towards a wall, hyperventilating at the amount of money I'd just handed over. The meat alone had come to over £100. This was the 80s when I was still a teenager but one with a flat, bills and a budget.

I hadn't even thought to question the recipe, why would I... but the stock alone was enough for around five gallons and it used braising steak amongst other choice cuts for the best beef stock ever. The meal in question turned out pretty well although my kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off; pots and utensils lined not only the surfaces, but the floor too.

My guests seemed to have a lovely night but what they didn't know was that I had to walk the couple of miles into work and back every day for a few weeks and I had soup for dinner every night for ages-the only thing I could afford, once the beef from the freaking stock ran out.

But such is life and we learn from these things, albeit slowly...my second dinner party taught me not to drink until the dessert was on the table...so, after a further 20 years, I can safely say that I'm relaxed and comfortable and have stopped calling the dinner party stress route. No more £100 stocks, no slurring my words before the starter's even begun. No crazy, six course, complicated works of feat involving scallops and jus, although scallops and jus have their place! just good food organised well.

We had friends round on Saturday evening and I decided on the following menu:

Antipasti with pesto and Parmesan bread

Braised corn fed chicken leg with honey and five spice, potato rounds, parsnip mash with honey, cinnamon & nutmeg, crispy courgettes, onion confit and a white wine cream sauce

Baked Brie with pecans and a brown sugar caramel

The bread used the hearthbread recipe and was sprinkled with olive oil before topping with homemade pesto, tomato halves and basil leaves.

Once baked, a little drop of extra virgin olive oil was drizzled over the bread and some Maldon sea salt sprinkled atop.

One hearthbread was sprinkled with olive oil, grated Parmesan and some thyme and lemon thyme. Once it was ready, extra virgin olive oil was drizzled over with a good pinch of sea salt and a fresh grating of Parmesan.

The antipasti plate; a selection of meats, slices of Parmesan and cucumber with mint and salt, oven roasted tomatoes as well as sun-dried, olives and fresh pesto.

Olive oil and balsamic vinegar accompanied the plate.

Lyn and Ken; "stop taking our freaking picture, hurry up and let us eat!"


The chicken legs were corn fed and free range; I couldn't believe the size of them though, they were huge! That was one big chicken! They were pan fried in spices before being gently braised for 45 minutes. This is a Gordon Ramsay recipe from Cooking for Friends.


Potatoes were boiled and mashed with butter and milk before being pressed into rounds and placed in the oven when we were ready for them. It makes for an easy life!

Onion confit Hilary Brown's recipe from La Potiniere; onions were cooked in butter and then simmered gently for 2 hours with sugar, sherry vinegar, creme de cassis and salt. The exact recipe to follow. I really love these; there are always loads left over and I can use some for the next week or so, reheated and some have been placed in cute little jars for gifts. It lasts ages.

The main course; the steam, my angle and the gin made for a fuzzy piccie! The parsnip mash sits under the potatoes and on top is the crispy courgettes....delicious. The stock from poaching the chicken was spooned over the plate before adding the wine and cream sauce.

A whole Brie was used for dessert; the rind was removed from the top and then baked for 20 minutes in the oven. While it was cooling...20 minutes...pecan nuts were crushed and toasted for around 8 minutes. Half of these were sprinkled over the Brie. I then made a caramel with Muscovado sugar and maple syrup although any sugars could be used.

The remaining nuts were sprinkled on the top before the caramel set and it was served with broken oatcakes.


Anyone want to come round?


I've started preparing for my hampers and below is the toffee I made yesterday, thanks to inspiration from my lovely bloggy friend, Carolyn at Backyard Eden.


You'll find the recipe on her page; I poured the toffee into rounds rather than a baking tray. I ate some....of course!! It is delicious!


The toffee, bagged up and waiting for a label. This particular bag is going with some lovely champagne.


Pesto
1 medium garlic clove, peeled
40g Parmesan, grated
50g fresh basil leaves, some stalk removed
40g pine kernels
Quarter to half teaspoon salt
3fl oz/75ml good olive oil

Place everything in blender and blend to a puree. Continue to blend whilst pouring oil through the top. Stop, scrape down and blend again. Pour into a jar; this will keep for weeks. Don't worry if it changes colour, it is the air hitting of the basil but it will still taste lovely and will be an unctuous green under the darker colour atop.

Onion Confit
40g butter
2 pounds/900g onions, finely sliced
100g demerara sugar (or other brown sugar)
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1.5 tablespoons Creme de Cassis
2 teaspoons salt

Melt butter and when it turns light brown, add onions. Stir and coat, cook gently for five minutes, stirring now and then. Add all remaining ingredients, stir and simmer uncovered for 1.5-2 hours, depending on your pan. Stir occasionally, keep your eye on it now and then, tipping the pan towards you to see how much liquid remains. When no liquid left, you really need to watch it but this will take at least 1.5 hours. The finished confit will be dark, golden and sticky. Yum.
This will keep for ages and goes great with meat, fish and cheese. Reheat gently in a saucepan.

Uniforms, Mugdock and Mud

Mugdock Wood

There are promises everywhere of deals galore but the humble school uniform still ends up costing me a fortune. Three times everything soon adds up; it's not just the trousers and the shirts and the jumpers but then there's school bags, pencils, socks, hair bands, hats, a lung and a mummy's will to live.

The kids look forward to buying school uniforms so we make a day of it, usually involving ten shops to find Kelly the best jumper or Lucy the perfect hair band. Fraser just goes with the flow..."whatever, mum". We trawled the shop looking for just the right shoes for Kelly and school bags which could be customised. I resisted the urge to tell them that in our day a poly bag would have done and 'customised' meant graffiti, no matter what you called it.

We had grandpa to stay and quite a lot of trips planned over the past few days. The kids have had a ball and the rest of the week is just as busy. Next week, they'll attend the church summer school every morning, in preparation of getting up at a fairly reasonable hour for school. It's free, it's crafty and all three can attend....anyone up for coffee and cake next week, I'll meet you at the corner; it's on me!

In the meantime, I'm planning my trip to Canada and I'm really, really looking forward to it. I'll arrive in Toronto and fly out to Montreal for the weekend with the lovely Kate and Jill. Then I'll see Pauline, my old school friend who ran away with a tall, handsome Canadian and her lovely brood, one of which I haven't even met before and then possibly head to Niagara on the Lake for a tour of the wineries, a show at the famous Shaw Theatre and a slap up meal. After that, it's spa, shopping, walking, reading, swimming and cocktails. Happy sigh.

I've been walking daily, for miles at a time and yet these pesky pounds just don't seem to be shifting; actually, they are, but it's been so dang slow. I know it's supposed to be good for it to come off slowly but sheesh, come on! Months of walking every day, cutting down on what I already think of as a healthy diet and I've lost half a stone (7 pounds). I'd rather it was off than on, of course but come ON!! SHIFT, DAMN YOU, SHIFT!

We had a wonderful brunch for my mum's birthday on Sunday and afterwards I walked to Byres Road...a hub of activity in the West End of Glasgow...and sat outside Kember & Jones in the sunshine drinking their lovely illy coffee. I purchased some of their sunblushed tomatoes with oregano to have with pasta later on that evening. The family gate-crashed me chilling and we wandered around in the sunshine, stopping in Nancy Smillie and De-Courcy's Arcade along the way. When we got home, the kids, dad and Grandpa had an omelette with baked potato and salad whilst I cooked some spaghetti and mixed it with homemade pesto, the sunblushed tomatoes and a small handful of grated parmesan cheese.

Although I love the sun-blushed tomatoes from Kember & Jones, I've discovered that Tesco (a supermarket chain) sell them at half the price. I bought some and added my own oregano and they were delicious.
We walked through Mugdock wood yesterday, starting at Milngavie, the beginning of The West Highland Way. We headed up to the castle to catch frogs and newts and then for lunch at the little cafe in the courtyard. We got caught in the rain a few times but it was a brilliant walk, the kids not noticing how long it was as they were having a grand time with their pals. Fraser decided to see how deep some quick sand was though...eejit...and almost sunk in to the bog but we caught him just in time.

Kelly and Laura with the wee 'uns trailing behind.

Lucy with a newt.

Ciaran and Fraser as the Grim Reaper...apparently.

Lucy, Lemon and J.

Pasta Supper

Want a really quick, tasty but low fat (and cheap) pasta supper? Then try the following recipe I just made for my tea; it was really good, it took 10 minutes to cook, preparation was minimal and I couldn't eat it all as it was incredibly filling.
Pasta Supper
4 Tomatoes (or more) cut into quarters
Pesto (yes, I know but I love the stuff and I made A LOT!)
Goats Cheese
Salt and Pepper
Spaghetti (100g)

Put oven on to around 200 Celsius
Drizzle pesto over tomatoes, around a tablespoon and add sea salt & black pepper.
Crumble over a little goats cheese to taste...feta would work just as well.
Place in oven. After around 5 or so minutes, put water on to boil for spaghetti. Cook spaghetti as per instructions and drain.
Take tomatoes out of oven and blend 3/4 of them in a blender...if no blender then mash with a fork.
Pour blended mix over spaghetti and bowl up! Arrange the remaining tomatoes around the plate. Enjoy.


I'm not a calorie counter...life is too short, right? However, I'd say I'm more aware these days and for future reference, I've worked out that this pasta comes to 458 calories for the full serving. See the following breakdown:
350 calories for 100g uncooked spaghetti
0 calories for tomatoes
58 calories in pesto although as you are all well aware, mine was made without pine nuts!
50 calories for the goats cheese (the creamy kind, used around 25g)
Total calories 458 which is pretty good going; I didn't finish mine tonight as it was too much. The amount of sauce was enough for 2 so if you were to add another 50g pasta then the total for two would be 633 or 316 per serving. No wonder I'm losing weight.

The approx. cost of this per serving is 55 pence. Yup, you heard right.
Asda Spaghetti on offer at 2 for £1, 1kg pasta. Per 150g therefore is 15 pence.
Tomatoes approx. 14 pence each x 4=56 pence
Goats cheese cost 25p (Asda £10 per kg)
Pesto I'm just going to estimate at 15 pence per tablespoon although it could well be less.
Total Cost=£1.11/2= 55 pence per serving!! Goodness...who says you can't eat well for less?

Food for thought.

I realised immediately that my resolve for not drinking too much would be put to the test by who turned up and how good the band were. I'm not for a minute attributing blame for my gin habit to those friends who buy double measures (you know who you are) but it can and does add to the quantity consumed; add a good band with excellent covers and you never know what could happen.

As it turned out, the band were good, including a particularly well versed Pink Floyd rendition (although the Frankie Goes to Hollywood cover kind of threw me off track, despite taking me right back to my youth) and a Kasabian number. The people were not the kind to force feed anyone and in fact, in that particular crowd, I'm probably the imbiber. This was no bacchanal evening however and a few gin and tonics with a glass of wine thrown in met our needs.

I was unsure beforehand of course and took the precaution of having scooby snacks ready in the fridge, lots of bottled water and a low fat, tasty dinner just an hour before going out. Cannae take that hangover, girls.

I opted for a undyed smoked haddock fillet and having quantities left of pesto sans pine nuts, I decided to try it with the fish. Pesto goes amazingly well with lemon sole and that is in fact one of my favourite dishes: lemon sole with pesto, crispy courgettes, spinach and sauce verde. More on that later! I placed the fish on foil, smothered it with the pesto and squeezed a little lemon juice atop alongside a few thin slices.

I packaged up the foil and placed it onto a tin, ready for the oven. I then chopped up a selection of tomatoes, spring onions and red pepper, mixed it all with a little pesto, added some fresh thyme, salt and pepper and placed in the tin alongside the wrapped fish.

The fish and salad veg was placed into a hot oven, bottom shelf as the chicken was cooking for the kids and Brian on the top shelf, for 10 minutes. I served it on a bed of mixed leaves including watercress and spinach as well as some rice and green beans.

T'was yummy!

The kids and Brian had roasted lemon and thyme chicken, roasted pearl potatoes, thrown into the chicken 30 minutes before the end. Once the chicken was cooked, it was plated and wrapped in foil to rest. The heat was turned up on the oven and the potatoes put back in-they start to caremalise at this stage because of the lemon juice and chicken gravy still inside the dish. That was served with rice and green beans.So, today, I awoke with only a very mild sore head, thanks to the water, toast and butter and sleep I had last night. It was all go today with parties, walking and the likes so the traditional rolls and bacon were consumed with some frozen yoghurt and berries as an afternoon snack. I felt in the need for some stodge but needed to get it from somewhere other than the chippy! So I made my own version of fried fish and chips....calamari. The recipe for this is as follows and it really was perfect, not too high in fat and I'm full and happy.

Salt and Pepper Calamari with Mixed Rice
A handful of calamari, washed and dried. Calamari is incredibly cheap, the amount I used costing around 70 pence.
Sesame oil
Flour
salt and pepper
Chilli flakes
Vegetable oil for frying
Cooked Rice (I used yesterday's leftovers)
Chopped peppers, cucumber and spring onion and whatever else takes your fancy.
Green Beans

Drizzle over the calamari a small amount of sesame oil, salt and pepper, and mix. Roll in the following mixture: two tablespoons flour, lots of freshly ground black pepper, a good pinch of sea salt, chilli flakes to taste.

Pour oil in pan to cover bottom. Get really hot and add the calamari in batches...don't crowd the pan. The secret to tender, tasty calamari is to treat it like meat: you either cook it very quickly over a high heat or stew it slowly for a long time over a low heat. Cook quickly until the outside turns brown and then turn over. This should only take a few minutes. Place on kitchen towel to dry.

Mix chopped veg into the rice, sprinkle over some soy sauce and place the calamari on top. Eat with chopsticks and enjoy. Hangover, begone!

Drive by posting...

...because I'm going out to see a band, have a few drinks and enjoy the setting sun. I made roast chicken for the kids tonight, along with rice, roast potatoes, roast carrots and steamed green beans. I did not partake of the chicken however, oh no...I instead opted for a lovely undyed smoked haddock fillet, smothered in pesto (got lots to use up!) with a medley (ooh, get me!) of salad vegetables, fresh leaves, rice and a pesto dressing. I've taken pictures to prove it!

Picture and recipe posting to follow....I know my friend Agnes was looking for a fish recipe from me so this might be the one although lemon sole works better.

I finally shopped today having not needed to because of the weekend's festivities and the remaining food. I spent £36.79 today and that included, along side dinner, lots of fruit, salad, juice, ice lollies (Skinny Cow triple chocolate lollies, 90 odd calories per bar......mmmmmmmmmm), mousse, yoghurt and nutella.

Have a wonderful Friday night!

Sunshine and Sandals.

I've not been shopping this week yet as there seems to be plenty of food left over from the weekend's celebrations. I can't seem to sit still even though it's been so busy; my energy levels are fluctuating between very high and crash and burn so I'm thinking a slow and steady pace all week will keep me going.

Yesterday, I took most of the remaining basil I had left and made a pesto by blending together garlic, Parmesan, salt and olive oil. I didn't have pine nuts, yet again because I can't seem to find them anywhere! It's like they've suddenly become extinct or as rare as...well, a rare thing; the labels are there in the shops, taunting me: 'pine nuts', 'organic pine nuts', 'not quite organic but still ok pine nuts'. Yet the shelves are empty. Has there been a national shortage, a crisis I'm unaware off? Is it something to do with the disappearing bees? Who knows? Any thoughts? So, yes, back to the point, my pesto had no nuts but still tasted delicious.

I also had a good pile of tomatoes left so yesterday I slow roasted them as I did for the brunch, with basil, Parmesan, salt, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and placed them in the fridge, once cooked (after eating some straight from the oven and burning my tongue...greedy wench).

When I was hungry later on, I boiled up some fusilli and added a spoonful of the pesto, a handful of the tomatoes and a wee amount of olives to the cooked pasta.....talk about a taste sensation! It is so true that the simplest dishes are just the best...it was wonderful.

After such a great meal, Kelly, Lucy and I walked to the park whilst Fraser was at his last 'Beavers' meet. It took us around 40 minutes and Kelly took her bike; she is becoming really confident and was very safe which was good to see. After a play around the park, we wandered down to MacDonalds for ice cream...the extra ten minute walk in the sun was lovely and I only had a spoonful of the white stuff.

Today, as usual, I had a mad dash out the door to get to yoga in time and was buoyed along by the sunshine and sandals; there is something wonderful about having your feet out in the sun, not something we get to experience too often in Scotland! Yoga was wonderful and really instructive; I learnt a lot about my breathing and bandhas and felt great, if in dire need of coffee and lots of it. Afterwards, I walked down to meet Ann for our usual activity which instead of leading us all the way to Milngavie, a town a few miles away, led us instead to the Burnbrae for a plate of their wonderful antipasti and an afternoon of chat.

I shall come up with some inventive pasta for the return of the clan from swimming and give it some name which sounds Italian and like I've been cooking it for years...as long as it tastes good and is said with authority, they should believe but there are too many dishes with 'a la Helen' these days.....