Courgette Noodle Snack, DIY Soda and Kale Chips

Courgette Noodle Snack:
Grate courgette/s on the large hole of your grater and place in a bowl.
Add some pesto to taste, and mix together
Eat raw.

Soda:
Zest 4 oranges and 1 lime - add to a pan.
Juice the oranges and lime and also add to the pan.
Add 1 cup of sugar (or less)
Bring to the boil, then simmer for 8 - 10 mins. and cool.
Strain into a sterlised bottle or jar.
Dilute a little with carbonated water to make a fresh drink.

Kale Chips:
Toss some washed and dried kale leave in some olive oil and place evenly on a baking tray.
Bake at 180 deg. C/350 deg.F for about 15 minutes.
When done add salt and black pepper.

I found these good tips here.

Red Onion Pasties and Gravy - easy

While watching Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall the other day - he made some delicious looking Pasties using leftovers.  I had just the right stuff in my fridge! and made a couple of lovely pasties - one with chicken & veg. leftovers and the other with some roasted lamb & veg.

You can make these using any chopped up leftovers, making sure the mix is wetted with some 'gravy', sauce or a little stock. Pile the leftovers into your pastry circles, fold over, seal and bake.
I prefer shortcrust pastry*, which I make using self-raising flour.

I also thought they needed some proper gravy - and made this onion gravy :

Ingredients:
4 red onions - dont bother to peel
Olive oil, salt and pepper
knob of butter
some apple juice and a little water
honey  (or Maple Syrup)

1. Drizzle the olive oil and honey over the onions in an ovenproof dish.
2. Add the other ingredients - using enough apple juice and water to cover the bottom of the dish, plus little extra.
3. Roast the onions at about 180/90 deg. C, in their skins, until they are very soft.  (Test with a skewer.)
4. Remove the softest inside parts of the onions and place in your liquidiser, together with the cooking juices.You may need to add some more liquid/juice.
5. Liquidise until smooth, strain, and adjust the seasoning to your taste.
6. This probably wont need thickening, but if it does, use a little slaked arrowroot to the hot gravy.

This really is tasty and easy to make, and will go with lots of other dishes.

* Savoury Shortcrust Pastry - Using a food processor:
8 ozs. self-raising flour
2 ozs, butter and 2 ozs. white veg. lard (Trex)
Few pinches of dried Oregano and Basil, little salt and pepper
2-4 tablespoons of cold water - (more or less depending on your flour!)

Whizz until all the ingredients come together in a 'sort-of' ball.
Chill the pastry for about 20 mins, and roll out on Klingfilm, cut into circles.

A thing of beauty! - !Brussel Sprouts! - and a couple of good tips.

I bought this lovely Brussel Sprout Stalk a couple of days ago and thought it would be wonderful to sketch - and also eat of course.  A little tip when cooking sprouts is to put one or two bayleaves into the cooking water - it stops the horrible smell of sprouts invading your place.  (You can do this with all green veg.)

Although I love them cooked normally, you can also cook them, drain, and put them in the food processor and chop, fairly finely, but not to a mush, add seasoning, crushed garlic, knob of butter and serve.

Another good tip:  this probably works better with a smallish amount of sprouts .... just rinse them in cold water, pop them into boiling water and cook them until just tender (or how you like them).  You will find the outer leaves come off by themselves and you can just cut the bases off much more easily.  No need to pre-peel and cut the cross in the bases.

Pastry - no roll-out

Ingredients:
1 cup of sifted flour (SR or Plain)
1/2 tsp. of salt
1/3 cup of vegetable/sunflower oil
4.1/2 tsps cold milk

Sift flour and salt into a bowl.
Mix the oil and milk together and stir into the flour - all at once.
Stir with a fork until all the ingredients are blended
Place into the centre of your tart/pie dish and shape the crust by patting and tamping the dough with your fingers so that it comes up around the sides of the dish. .......... (A bit like making a pot with clay - though a little more delicate!)

Place your desired (quiche) filling in and bake until the filling is slightly browning and set.

The texture should be crumbly rather than flaky.

Tip: Before pouring your filling into the pastry case, if you sprinkle some cornmeal or semolina over the pastry before baking, this should stop the pastrycase bottom from becoming soggy.

Flat Peaches

The first time I found these delicious - "peches plat" - was in Paris - they are more fragrant than regular peaches and are absolutely delicious. You can buy them over here now, certainly in London, (UK), but not too easily.
They're only around for a very short season, but if you see them - just try one.

This is a Greek restaurant I spotted in Crouch End (London) - really pretty, but couldn't see the name properly as it was covered in flowers!

Medicinal Uses of Basil & Tomato & Mozzarella Salad

This herb is very easily available everywhere -
it tastes good and apparently has medicinal properties.

Try the lovely classic Tomato and Basil salad:

Ingredients:
Fresh basil leaves - (the smell is gorgeous)
A little dried Basil and Oregano
several 'good' tasting tomatoes - sliced
Mozzarella (sliced) or crumbled Roqfort are also good with this salad.
Little chopped spring onion (scallion) if wanted & little crushed garlic, but not necessary.
Sprinkle of Sugar
Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar (if you can get the Balsamic Vinegar in Syrup form - this is delicious)

Place your sliced tomatoes (on a pretty plate)
If using Mozzarella, alternate the tomato slices with the cheese slices
Sprinkle the dried basil and oregano over, olive oil, balsamic, and sugar
Season with salt and black pepper
(Add your crumbled cheese if using Roqfort or other blue cheese - dont add too much salt when seasoning the salad, as blue cheese can be salty. You can use the blue cheese instead of the mozzarella - or both!)

Either make a vinaigrette or drizzle some olive oil over - can also add a few drops of Balsamic.

Vinaigrette in a jar, screw on lid, shake well and pour over salad:
4 tbls. olive oil
1 tbls. (I use cider vinegar) - vinegar of choice or lemon juice
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
Salt and Pepper
You could also add a little sugar to your Vinaigrette if you like it sweet.


Little Tip: If you have a bought basil plant from the Supermarket - you can keep it for ages by putting the pot in a small bowl and topping up with water regularly - they are very thirsty plants so you will probably need to replace the water every few days - but the plant will keep for ages.

Philadelphia Cheese Sauce - quick tip

100g Philadelphia (Light or regular) + 5 tbls. milk
mix together till smooth, adding some salt and pepper
 This makes a really simple and tasty sauce
for a quick pasta dish.
Either add to the pasta and heat it through gently in the micro,
or heat it separately in a jug and pour over before serving,
plus some grated cheese.

Three Little Kitchen Tips:

1. When boiling or steaming any green vegetable - put a couple of bayleaves in your saucepan - this will stop that awful boiled cabbage smell that seems to get everywhere!

2. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to the water when boiling your potatoes. This keeps them white and you wont have to add salt to the water either.

3. When hard boiling eggs - to keep them white (and not have the black rimmed yolk) - once they are hard-boiled - rinse them under cold water and  hit them with the end of a knife to break the shell. This, I believe, will release a gas, and stop the yolks going black. Cool slightly, then peel off the shell.

Lemon Tips

1. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and the piece of lemon to your peeled potatoes, when you boil them, this keeps them white and saves you adding salt.

2. Use a small piece of lemon under nails, to whiten them.

Sausages

Going from one extreme - Health & Beauty - to another! but who doesn't love sausages? (apart from Vegetarians of course).
There are some good tips on this site too.

Sedgemoor Honey Farm, Somerset.

This is just the most delicious honey from Sedgemoor Honey Farm and is available (apart from Somerset and Devon) at
Borough Market, London from
Wild Beef of Dartmoor.

Rosemary

When roasting or casseroleing meat - if you love the taste of Rosemary but dont like eating the spikey and stalky bits of the cooked herb - here is a solution ............... hang a bunch up to dry

......... take a nice bunch of Rosemary and wrap a rubberband around the stalks and hang it up in your kitchen - I usually hang my herbs on to the top bolt on my kitchen door to the garden (see photo) - they look pretty there and also keep the flies away (so I believe). Just leave the bunch of herbs several days to dry, then strip off the dried leaves and put them in your coffee grinder and grind them to a fine powder. Pour into a very (recycled of course) clean glass jar and screw the lid on.

This will keep for an absolute age, and you can use the rosemary powder to flavour steaks, chops, chicken and lots of your dishes, getting the lovely flavour without the spikey leaves getting stuck in your teeth.

Thyme & Marjoram (Oregano) also dry well, but wont stay as aromatic for quite as long - if you're air drying them from the fresh herbs. Bay Leaves also dry and powder very well. You could also make your own mixed dried herbs ..... mmm nice.