another perfect sauce: hazelnut and sundried tomato pesto

hazelnut and sundried tomato pesto

A hazelnut and sundried tomato pesto will probably have Italian grandmothers from Calabria to Sicily gesticulating violently at this bastardisation of Italian cooking. But if a good idea works, what is the problem?
Perhaps the old ladies will calm down once they have tasted this pesto as the intense nutty flavour of toasted hazelnuts with sweet dried tomatoes really is delicious.

fancy a weekend food project? dosas with a pea and potato curry and paneer

dosa pancakes with peas, potato
and paneer curry

Do you fancy trying a weekend food project? Dosas, lacy savoury southern Indian pancakes made from a fermented mixture of soaked rice and urad dal lentils are not difficult, just a little time consuming. It may takes about two days, but the results are well worth the effort. If you follow the recipe for dosas by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall here, you should have no trouble at all! 

This curry is one of the simplest - it is a useful curry to have in your back pocket, particularly if you need a vegetarian one in a hurry! 

thai beef chilli noodles (neua pad prik)

thai beef chilli noodles (neua pad prik)

Following on from my post on a roast beef sandwich using up leftover Sunday roast brisket, I've got another recipe for you. This time it is a quick lunch using the cooked beef and my favourite chilli noodles. Of course, you don't have to use leftovers - in this case you could use uncooked steak, marinating it for an hour or so in the soy and fish sauce before stir frying.

sticky demerara orange and almond loaf cake

sticky demerera orange
and almond cake

I seem to be obsessed with citrus fruit at the moment. It probably isn't that surprising since apart from stores of apples and pears, British fruit isn't in season. But I am more than happy to satisfy my need for fruit by eating some that is in season somewhere else. Which doesn't strictly adhere to my intention to only cook seasonally and locally. But I've always liked bending the rules, particularly when they are my own.

So in the past few weeks, apart from gloating over my haul of citron beldi (like a fat, scaly dragon covetously protecting her precious hoard), I seem to return home every day with yet more citrus fruit, from blood oranges to minneolas. The blood oranges have to be a given really because their magic is in the secret lurking under their skin - a beautiful deep pink flesh and juice. Truly glorious stuff.

is there anything more beautiful than one citron beldi?

seven citron beldi!

what's in season: march

a few crocuses in my back garden!

March
The north-cast wind has come from Norroway,
Roaring he came above the white waves' tips!
The foam of the loud sea was on his lips,
And all his hair was salt with falling spray.
Over the keen light of northern day
He cast his snow cloud's terrible eclipse;
Beyond our banks he suddenly struck the ships,
And left them labouring on his landward way.

The certain course that to my strength belongs
Drives him with gathering purpose and control
Until across Vendean flats he sees
Ocean, the eldest of his enemies.
Then wheels he for him, glorying in goal
And gives him challenge, bellowing battle songs.
March - Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953)

another guilty pleasure: homemade pork scratchings

homemade spicy pork scratchings

Pork scratchings are something of a guilty but satisfying pleasure. Yes, they are fatty and a little greasy, but oh dear lord, they taste good. It's 6 Nations season right now, and there is nothing like watching the rugby with a pint of good ale and a bowl of these wicked salty snacks. The only problem is that they are so moreish, that one bowl is never enough!

chinese char siu barbecue pork - perfect all year around!

char siu chinese barbecue pork

Chinese New Year began a couple of weeks ago, and that Sunday I used it as an excuse to make a char siu style roast for lunch. I may not be the biggest fan of pork, but I do like it when it is marinated in an intensely sweet and deeply savoury sauce which for me can only improve pork's sweet blandness.

spicy butter bean and tomato stew with turkish sujuk (garlic sausage)

spicy butterbean and tomato stew with
Turkish garlic sausage (sujuk)

I may have been a bit bleary-eyed with sleep at sparrow-fart this morning, but it was crystal clear how the temperature had fallen sharply overnight when I opened the back door and looked out across the garden, which was encrusted with a light dusting of frost, my breath visible in the cold air. I could also hear how cold it was when I caught a strange huffing, puffing sound. The neighbour's fat young tabby, Oscar, tiptoed over to say good morning. I could almost hear him saying "ooh, ah, sheesh, it's icy out here, oh my poor fat paws!" he huffed and puffed and shook his whiskers at me dolefully. 

love your leftovers! spaghetti frittata

spaghetti frittata

There are two insights I have always wanted from Italian cooks. The first is, is there a special gadget (other than elbow grease) to remove baked on mozzarella cheese - you know those times when the lasagne dish looks like a relief map of the Moon with cheesy encrustations) and the second is, what do Italians do with leftover pasta?

I am yet to find the magic de-cheeser (and if anyone knows of one, please let me know), but I have discovered that Italians, being a thrifty bunch, have a fabulous way of using up leftover pasta by using it in frittatas including a little leftover sauce too.

claudia roden's tagine of chicken with preserved lemon and green olives (tagine djaj bi zaytoun wal hamid)

tagine of chicken with preserved lemons, green olives, coriander and parsley

There is something about the intensely savoury and citrusy smell you get when you lift the lid on a large saucepan of chicken stew infused with preserved lemons, Middle Eastern spices and fresh coriander that lifts my spirits in a way that nothing else can. It is both heady and exhilarating. 

While this is another wonderful seasonally warming dish (and a lovely taste of the sun in the depths of winter), it is one that makes a regular appearance at my table, all year around.

when is a lemon a cartoon villain? when it's citron beldi!

citron beldi (Marakech lemons)

It's a given that I liked to potter around grocery shops, to find out what they've got, what's new or unfamiliar to me. It's my favourite type of shopping and browsing.