My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen...

Wild Asparagus

2008-05-13T18:12:44Z

It's asparagus season. I know it must be because you couldn't move for special asparagus menus in restaurants in Berlin last week.

I like asparagus a lot and try to make good use of it in season. I used to buy a lot of 'baby' asparagus spears and nibble on them raw as a snack while watching TV, sprinkle them on home made pizzas, toss them in salads and put them in sandwiches. I also love using the big, thick asparagus spears in soups, although I think they tend to be a bit too chunky to make a good vegetable side.

So I was delighted to see these beautiful wild asparagus spears this evening. They remind me of the seed tops on the summer grass on the village green by my primary school.

As you'd expect, I tried them raw. After all, almost all good ingredients can be eaten raw and lots of them actually taste really great that way (lamb, beef, salmon, tuna, onions, mushrooms, cauliflower, peas etc...). These wild asparagus spears are lovely raw and gently cooked. I par boiled them for a minute and tried them with a little olive oil and grated goats cheese.

The verdict? Whether cooked or raw they have a lovely gentle flavour, are crisp and fresh and just different enough from the regular commercially farmed asparagus to make an interesting change. But, one punnet of asparagus was far too much for me for the next couple of days as a vegetable side so I think I'll try and make a soup from the rest tomorrow evening and chill it down to be served as a summer soup.

Raw Wild Asparagus

Par Boiled Raw Asparagus

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Looking forward to pea dumplings

2008-04-24T13:01:52Z

I'm not normally a big fan of dumplings. Possibly because I look a little bit like one and possibly because I'm always a bit wary of any kind of food that comes with a 'wrapping' or sauce. Surely, if the ingredients are good, there's no need to coat them in pastry, dough, batter, bread crumbs or thick syrupy, creamy, unctuous sauce?

So I was surprised to find myself thinking how delicious the dumplings, that Filiz just showed me, look.

Peas? I love peas. Cheese? I love cheese. Lemon. Salt. Olive oil. It looks so simple and good. I am now a little bit disappointed that I'm leaving in the morning and won't be able to cook them for a fortnight. But it's something to look forward to when I get back home.

I looked for a photo of some peas to go with this post and could only find this picture of a strange plant I found when I went to Mt Vernon in Virginia. I'm not sure if these are actually peas or whether they are something poisonous. In any case, they look interesting.

Pea_pods

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Last of the cold weather alliums

2008-04-12T16:57:12Z

I love alliums. Leeks, onions, shallots, scallions and garlic; I love love them all. So, much as I'm happy to see that spring weather is arriving, I miss the hearty allium bases to soups, stews and roasts in the warmer months. So today I made my farewell meal: slow cooked alliums, served on a split bread roll that had been covered in grated cheese.

Allium Sandwich

Apart from making toast, this is the simplest cooking you can do. For each person, you just take about a quart of sliced onions, leeks and shallots in whatever proportions you like, add a bit of garlic, put them in a heavy pan with two spoons of olive oil, set the heat low and cover them with the lid. Set the heat very low. It should take more than five minutes for them to start heating through, because you want them to sweat and to soften, not to caramelise and burn.

Alliums

Sliced, Gently Cooking

Stir them every 10 or 15 minutes. You shouldn't need to touch them more frequently as they should take at least 90 minutes to cook, and anything up to three hours is fine. This isn't a race. After 45 minutes they should have started to soften and become pliable but should not be cooked all the way through.

After 45 minutes

After 90 minutes or more the volume taken up by the alliums should have reduced by about 75% and they should still be translucent and soft. They are ready to serve as is, or you can turn the heat up a bit and and caramelise a few to add a little colour.

It's simple (delicious) food and they're great as the main flavour in a dish. Alternatively, they make a great vegetable for a more substantial meal.

Alliums Two Ways

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Cup of Tea Cake

2008-03-09T17:59:01Z

When I was a child, my mum used to make a fantastic cake that I called "Cup of Tea Cake" because it's made with a cup of tea. When I visited her in London last weekend she had made one of those cakes for a tea party she hosted. She sent me the recipe and I made one for myself this morning. Frankly, I'm quite impressed with the cake and will be sharing it at work tomorrow.

Cup of Tea Cake - Just Out the Oven

The recipe is very simple and unlike most baking, the exact amounts aren't terribly important. It's the proportions that count. So the cups you use just need to be the same size, they don't all need to be eight US fl. oz.

You will need:

1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of dried fruit, like raisins
1 cup of good, strong tea
2 cups of self raising flour
1 egg
1 pinch of nutmeg

Start off by making a good strong cup of tea. Ideally, use a really good tea and make it stronger than you would normally drink it. Remember, it's going to be mixed up with a lot of other ingredients, so you don't want the flavour to get lost.

Soak the dried fruit and sugar in the cup of tea overnight. In the morning, pre-heat the oven to 325°F (435K if you use metric) mix the flour, egg and nutmeg into the soaked fruit. Grease a bread shaped dish, fill it with the batter and pop it in the oven.

I baked the cake for about 1¼ hours and then turned off the heat and left it in the oven for another few minutes. Every oven I've ever used has cooked at a different speed from all the others, so I expect the time it take to cook will vary. Especially if you use an Aga.

Cup of Teak Cake (Slice)

Serve the cake with a cup of tea. It's really great if you spread some butter on it, too.

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I'm sorry, I have a cold

2008-03-08T11:33:17Z

Despite copious amounts of Emergen-C in the last few days I have a cold. When I woke up today, my nose felt drier than a box of tinder, although that changed as soon as I'd had another glass of Emergen-C.

I looked in my fridge and realised I very little that was suitable for curing colds, so I turned my store cupboard and decided to make a soup with my last few shallots and red onions. I sliced them thinly, added in half a bulb of garlic (peeled but not chopped) and gently sweated them in a pan for 20 minutes or so. Then I added half a mug or orange lentils and a few mugs of water and cooked it all at the lowest heat on my stove-top for another couple of hours.

Soups are always better the next day as the flavour in them takes time to develop. But I wanted to eat something that might help fight my cold and so I tried a bowl of onion and lentil soup for lunch. It was remarkably good for something that hasn't had a chance to mature.

I'll be making this one again.

Onion Lentil Soup

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