Monday 31 January 2011

Pop-Up Afternoon Tea

What an amazing weekend - full-on food for 48 hours! Firstly it was Colin my Scottish neighbours' 50th on Saturday, so it had to be a Burns Night celebration, with haggis, clapshot (neeps and tatties together), and a recipe that came from Colin's family that consisted of cabbage with oatmeal.  We followed with one of my favourite desserts, cranachan - oats toasted with honey, double cream whisked with whisky, and fresh raspberries, all gently stirred together and drizzled with a little more honey.
Sunday was the culmination of lots of hard work, by lots of great friends, and it was a huge success - a Pop-Up Afternoon Tea at Mortlake Boathouse on the Thames.  I have never seen so much bunting and so much cake!  Sloe Gin Fruit & Nut Cake (recipe in an earlier blog), Florentines, Lemon Drizzle Cake, spiced Bread Pudding, Peach Cup Cakes, Lemon & Mascarpone Victoria Sponge. fruit scones with clotted cream........and much, much more.
Everybody was so generous too - the beautiful tablecloths and bunting were supplied by Sarah Frost, flowers by Flourish & Green, and delicious clotted cream by Robert Wiseman Dairies.
The sun was shining, the tea was flowing, and the guests were happily munching - it was perfect.
If you are thinking of having a celebration and would a Vintage Afternoon Tea, get in touch - I have the best Tea Team!

Monday 24 January 2011

Marmalade Days

Believe it or not, after all the  years I have been cooking, this is the first time I have attempted to make marmalade!  It always seemed a bit pointless when you could buy such great marmalade.  But then, every year my friends would all start to discuss the merits of different ways of making it - do you cut the oranges before you cook them or after, is caster sugar as good as granulated, do you keep it pure, or add limes or even grapefruit?  And even before the Seville oranges were available there was talk on the radio as to when they may arrive - a bit like the Beaujolia run - who can get them here first!
So, as a complete novice I felt I should follow the direction of somebody else, and started searching through my hundreds of cookery books to find who had written what I thought may be the tastiest recipe.  But as always in this instance, I started to go 'off-piste', dreaming up my own ideas (the problem with being a recipe writer is that you never want to follow a recipe written by somebody else!).
And not content with that, I also decided half-way through the process to try two versions!  Both are equally delicious.







Joy's Marmalade!
This makes both types - straight marmalade and ginger marmalade.


2kg Seville oranges
5 litres water
approx 3kg sugar
6 knobs stem ginger, diced


1.  Slice the oranges as thickly as you like them, remove the pips and pithy bit from the middle of the orange then place the slices in very large pan.  cover with water and simmer for 2 hours (until the orange rind is tender).
2.  Ladle the mixture into two non-metallic bowls and leave to cool, covered, overnight.
3.  Ladle the mixture into two separate large pans, adding a ladle of sugar for every ladle of fruit and liquid.  In one of the pans add the diced stem ginger.
4.  Bring to the boil and simmer again for around 1 hour, or until it has reached setting point.  To test for this spoon a little onto a plate and leave it for one minute.  If it wrinkles when you push it gently with your finger it is ready.
5.  Pour into sterilised jars and cover with wax paper until cool.

Saturday 15 January 2011

Hugh's Fish Fight

I think it would be impossible not to have noticed the fuss about fish that has been going on in the media this week.  But if you have been too busy doing other things, get on the internet this minute and watch Hugh's Fish Fight that has been screened every night this week on Channel 4.
If you didn't feel passionate about our fish stocks before, hopefully this will make you think a lot more seriously about it.
And to give you more inspiration to cook fish that is not endangered, here is a great recipe for mackerel that is also super healthy.   Rich in omega-3 essential fats, mackerel is not only healthy but also extremely tasty and hugely inexpensive - two large fillets from my local fishmonger, Sandys in Twickenham, cost a mere £3.50.

Mackerel with Horseradish, Fennel and Beetroot.

Serves 2

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large fennel bulb, halved and thinly sliced, tops reserved
1/2 small Savoy cabbage, shredded
2-3 tsp creamed horseradish
2 cooked beetroot, diced
2 mackerel fillets

1.  Heat the oil in a pan and saute the sliced fennel for 3-4 minutes.  Stir in the cabbage, then reduce the heat, cover the pan and let the vegetables sweat for 5-6 minutes.
2.  Finely chop the fennel tops and mix with the diced beetroot.
3.  Stir the creamed horseradish into the vegetables then cover again and leave to cook while you grill the fish.
4.  Place the mackerel skin side up under a hot grill and cook for 5-6 minutes, then turn and cook the other side for another 4-5 minutes - do not over cook it.
5.  Divide the horseradish vegetables between two plates, top with the mackerel then spoon over the diced beetroot.  Squeeze over some lemon juice, a sprinkling of olive oil and a grinding of black pepper and enjoy!

Friday 7 January 2011

A great start............

It's that time of year again - all the newspapers, magazines, TV and radio programmes are full of talk about diets - can they not think up something original for once?  And how sensible do they think it really is to start dieting and cutting out complete food groups, when everyone is suffering with coughs and colds due to their immune systems being shot to pieces after a stressful Christmas?!
So, needless to say, I will not be dieting!  But what I may be doing is thinking about how I can help my body to remain healthy throughout the cold months of winter, whilst not relying on comfort foods that may add on the pounds!
As far as detoxing is concerned, our bodies are doing this constantly, every waking hour and, impressively, even when we are sleeping!  So rather than cutting out huge amounts of food, just cut out those things that cause the liver to be over-worked (alcohol, caffeine and processed foods), and feed it lots of nutrients that may help it to support it to work better (sulphur-rich foods such as eggs and onions, the brassicas - cabbage, sprouts and broccoli, and good sources of protein - eggs, fish).
Drinking lots of water also helps to flush out toxins, and generally try to incorporate as much fresh, organic food into your diet as possible.











Cabbage Soup


Serves 4


1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 stick celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1/2 cabbage, shredded
1.5 litres vegetable stock
freshly milled black pepper
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
1 tbsp flaked almonds


1.  Heat the olive oil in a medium pan and saute the onion, carrot and celery for 2-3 minutes.
2.  Add the garlic and cook for another minute before stirring in the shredded cabbage.
3.  Pour in the stock, season, bring to a simmer and cook for 12-15 minutes.
4.  Toast the seeds and flaked almonds and sprinkle over the soup to serve.


This is also great served topped with a poached egg.