Whilst on our long weekend in London I wanted to visit Moro, the restaurant I have heard a lot about. When we arrived on the Thusday I  looked it up and to my amusement it happens to be located at the Farringdon tube stop where our hotel was.

I called them up to see if I could book a table for two that evening.  I was supprised to find it was fully booked mid week. I was told though that if I called back at half past five we may stand a chance of getting a table outside, which would be allocated to the first people that called through. I was warned that if it rained there would be no alternative options for seating even if we had our food. We decided to risk it and call back for a table outside as the weather was so good.

Come five thirty I picked up the phone to book our table, but it was engaged and I managed to get through at five thirtyfive. Unfortunately all the tables had been taken and no more were available!! We were told our only other option was to sit at the bar and order food from there. We could not book, but would be seated on a first come first served basis. We decided to arrive later in the hope that people would have moved on.

We arrived at nine thirty and were lucky enough to be able to go straight to the bar. The resataurant had such an atmosphere, people appeared to be laughing, joking and celebrating. It most definately was the loudest restaurant I have visited. Yes, there was outside seating, which I had imagined to be in a courtyard garden. But no, they were tables outside the restaurant on the pavement. It reminded me of  people eating out on holiday in Southern Europe. I was actually glad to have not got one of those tables though as to me, it didn’t seem to be the nicest street to be sitting out  in. We sat up at the bar where there were big mirrors attached beween the ceiling  and the wall which gave you full view of the restaurant behind you. To our right at the end of the restaurant was the open kitchen, this added to the bustling atmosphere in the restaurant. We settled for their tapas menu as this seemed more appropriate than a la carte for sitting up at the bar. We ordered a selection including; manchego with membrillo paste (quince paste), spiced roasted chickpeas, marinated sardines, a lentil dish and a plate of cured meats. This was served with a plate of bread, i’m not exactly sure what kind of bread it was, slightly chewey with a soft crust and a dish of extremely good quality olive oil for dipping. It all tasted as fresh as could be and was infact the best tapas we’ve ever had.

They had an interesting selection of desserts. Which I would love to have tasted but was really too full at this stage. An unusual sounding ice-cream caught my eye, rose water and cardamon. Mark was cheeky enough to ask if I could sample a teaspoon of it and amusingly they aggreed and bought over a scoopl of it in a bowl. I really liked it, however Mark was not so sure as he thought it tasted like perfume. The difference is I love turkish delight and Mark can’t bare it. I was really impressed that they seemed so willing to let us have a taste and was half expecting to be charged for a scoop when the bill came through. But we weren’t.

What a great experience, I would love to go back and eat from the a la carte menu. I have learnt my lesson now though and know that I need to be booking well in advance even midweek.

[googlemap lat="51.525862" lng="-0.108846" width="500px" height="300px" zoom="15" type="G_NORMAL_MAP"]Islington, London EC1R, UK[/googlemap]

My friend Amy is living out in China at the moment and has sent me an article about noodles that she has written and had published by Good Food magazine in the Middle East. An interesting insite into the life of noodles and time in China!

 

 

 

Last week a group of 7 gathered at my house for a Thai cooking demonstration and dinner. As they sat around the dining table  nibbling on prawn crackers I demonstrated several dishes whilst they followed what I was cooking on their copies of my recipes.

 I provided them with information on buying their ingredients, all of which are available in Cheltenham. I gave them details of equipment that I find useful, provided tips on techniques to use and shortcuts to take if time is limited. I also answered any questions that they had as we went along.

This culminated in a delicious dinner of all the dishes cooked and a dessert that I had prepared earlier. Here is a copy of the recipes and photos.

 

 

THAI GREEN CURRY PASTE

THAI GREEN CHICKEN CURRY (Keaw Wan Kai)

STEAMED RICE

GREEN PAPAYA SALAD (Som Tam)

THAI STIR FRIED VEGETABLES (Phad Phak)

COCONUT ICE CREAM

SPICED BERRIES

                                                                           

 

 

THAI GREEN CURRY PASTE

 Making your own curry paste produces such a fresh tasting curry as well as lending to a wonderful colour. This is my own version of the recipe as kaffir lime zest; an ingredient used in green curry paste in Thailand is unavailable in the UK.

Makes approx. 200g (8-10 tbsp)

2 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

6 big green chillies – deseeded if you do not want the paste to be too spicy

1 stem of lemon grass, finely sliced

5 cm piece of galangal, sliced thinly

5 kaffir lime leaves

30g coriander root and 10cm of stem, roughly chopped

1 tbsp coriander leaves

3 large cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

60G (3) shallots, roughly chopped

2 tsp shrimp paste

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3 tbsp oil

 

Toast the cumin and coriander seeds in separate batches in a pan. Grind in a pestle and mortar.

Blend chillies, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, coriander root, stem and leaves along with the ground coriander and cumin seeds.

Add the rest of the ingredients and continue to blend until smooth.

 

 

 

THAI GREEN CHICKEN CURRY (Keaw Wan Kai)

 

Thai green curry is one of the most popular dishes in Thailand. This is probably one of the most authentic recipes you will find. It is a slight adaption of a recipe that I learnt whilst at the Blue Elephant cooking school in Bangkok.

Serves 1

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1tbsp green curry paste

½ tsp roasted ground cumin seeds

½ tsp roasted ground coriander seeds

150ml coconut milk

50ml water or stock

70g-100g chicken, sliced finely

2 small Thai aubergines, quartered

10 pea aubergines

2 kaffir lime leaves

3 Thai sweet basil leaves

1 tbsp chopped coriander

1 tsp caster sugar

1 tbsp fish sauce

Heat the oil in a wok until hot. Add the curry paste, cumin and coriander and fry for around 2 minutes until an aroma develops.  Lower the heat and add half of the coconut milk a little at a time. Allow to simmer for 2 minutes, add the chicken and cook until cooked through, and then add the other half of the coconut milk. Gradually add the water/stock until the curry has reached the desired consistency.

Add the green aubergines and the pea aubergines, the sugar, fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves and basil. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with the coriander.

 

 

STEAMED RICE

 

Serves 1

100ml-150ml Thai rice- measured in a measuring jug

100ml-150ml water-equal volume to the rice

 

Wash the rice well in a sieve until the water runs clear.

Place rice and water in a rice cooker and press the ‘cook’ button.

If cooking in a pan, place the rice and water in the pan and bring to the boil. Simmer gently until the water has reduced to the level of the rice. Then place the lid on and cook on the lowest heat for 15-20 minutes or until cooked.

Fluff up with a folk before serving.

 

GREEN PAPAYA SALAD (Som Tam)

 

 

Green papaya salad is a delicious traditional raw salad with mildly spicy, sweet, sour and salty flavours. Green papaya is totally unlike the fruit that we know. The texture of the green papaya is like a white crunchy vegetable.

Serves 1

70g green papaya, peeled and grated into long thin strips

½ -1clove garlic

½ -3 green birds’ eye chillies

30cm yard long beans, broken into 3cm pieces

1 tbsp roasted unsalted peanuts

1 tbsp dried shrimps

3 cherry tomatoes cut in half

2 tbsp palm sugar

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp lime juice

Pound the garlic and chillies in a pestle and mortar.

Add the dried shrimps and pound until crushed. Add the beans and peanuts and pound.

Add the sugar, fish sauce and lime juice and stir together. Then add the tomatoes and press with a pestle.

Finally add the papaya and stir until well mixed in.

Serve at room temperature.

 

 

THAI STIR FRIED VEGETABLES (Phad Phak)

 

Serves 1

Stir fried vegetables are a great accompaniment to eat alongside all Asian dishes. Or for a healthy meal, eat the dish on its own with steamed rice.

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 garlic clove, finely sliced

40g baby corn, halved

40g Chinese cabbage, coarsely chopped

50g broccoli florets

40g carrots, julienned

25ml vegetable stock

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tbsp oyster sauce

½ tsp sugar

40g beansprouts

Heat the oil until hot. Add the garlic and fry for a couple of seconds, then immediately  add all the vegetables except the beansprouts, stir fry for 30 seconds to 1minute, or until the vegetables are cooked to your taste.  Add the stock and the sauces and sugar. Mix well. Toss in the beansprouts just before serving.

 

 

 

COCONUT ICE CREAM

 

Serves 4

2 sheets of gelatine

560ml tinned coconut milk

250g caster sugar

Soak the sheets of gelatine in cold water for 15 minutes. Dissolve the sugar in half the coconut milk in a pan over a low heat. When the sugar has dissolved, remove the mixture from the heat and add the gelatine. Mix to allow the gelatine to dissolve.

Stir in the rest of the coconut milk and set aside (put in the fridge once the mixture is cool enough) until the mixture is completely cold.

Freeze in an ice cream machine or put it into a container in the freezer. If making it in the freezer, after an hour of freezing take it out and beat by hand or use a food processor, repeat this process again after another hour, and repeat until it is smooth and evenly frozen.

 

 

SPICED BERRIES

 

Serves 4

400g mixed berries

200g sugar

225ml water

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

 

Put the berries into a bowl.

Put the sugar, water, cinnamon stick and star anise into a pan and bring slowly to the boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Boil for just 2 minutes.

Cool for 4-5 minutes then pour the hot syrup over the fruit and allow the flavours to infuse for several hours in the fridge.

NB If using frozen berries, pour the boiling syrup straight onto the berries rather than allowing it to cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A friend (the one with a lovely SLR camera!) came over this weekend with a bowlful of quinces. It turned out we both wanted to make membrillo (quince paste) – so this was a joint venture! Membrillo is a Spanish quince paste which is commonly eaten and delicious with cheese. Traditionally membrillo was eaten with mature cheese that had come to the end of its year and was dry, salty and more savoury than the cheeses made in Spring.

We followed a recipe from this months Delicious magazine (kindly provided on subscription by my mother-in-law). I have always been served membrillo in slabs with cheese but this recipe stores it in a jar and it has a consistancy more like jam. I have seen recipes with lemon juice in and this would help it set more if you wanted to serve it in slabs. We sampled the results last night and it was delicious. I look forward to eating it at Christmas time- it would make a great gift too! There was a slight grainy texture in parts and this I presume was from the centre of the fruit where the flesh was extremely hard and grainy and we struggled even to cut through it! This could just be down to variety as i’m sure there are many.

Here is the recipe, I have looked through a few and there are lots of variations, some even bake the final paste, some use vanilla pods and some boil the quinces first. This was the most basic of the recipes but we had to have it done within a couple of hours. It is infact Jose Pizarros’ family recipe, head chef of the celebrated Spanish restaurant Brindisa where my Spanish friend took me on a trip to London. It must be authentic!

Ingredients

1kg quinces (skin on)
880g granulated sugar

 

 

 

 

Wash quinces well, peel and cut out any bad flesh, then core and cut into cubes. Put them in a large saucepan with the sugar, then place over a gentle heat and keep stirring while the mixture heats up. Once it’s cooking, place a lid on top to stop any water from evaporating and to prevent the sugar from burning. Stir every 10 minutes.

 

 

 

 

After about 30 minutes, the fruit should start to look sloppy (ours didn’t, but again I assume this was the variety as another recipe said to cook untill soft enough to be able to crush with a fork, which ours were). Remve lid and continue to simmer the quinces until the liquid has reduce to a light syrup and the quinces are a coppery colour. This will take approximately 45 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

Blend with a hand blender, puree until smooth. Transfer into sterilised jars. Store in the fridge where it will keep for 6 months. Once opened use within a month.

Here are just a few of the things I have been cooking in the last couple of weeks. I have been making as much as I can with all the vegetables we have growing in the garden. Including a variety of french beans, runner beans, tomatoes, lettuces, cabbages, purple sprouting broccoli, carrots, courgettes and various chilli plants. We also have a victoria plum tree that is absolutely laden with delicious juicy fruit and we have been trying to think of as many things as possible to make with the plums, as they are also proving extremely popular with the birds. (We have found that hanging CDs in the tree acts as a useful deterrent!) I feel all I need now is a couple of chickens! Or perhaps a pig or two!

VICTORIA PLUM TART: This is just one of the recipes we have made with the victoria plums. They have also been put to good use in different chutneys and even in a flapjack recipe, from this months Good Food magasine.

CHOCOLATE PECAN CAKE: I offered to make a cake for my friend Amy’s birthday BBQ,  she requested a chocolate cake. This is a recipe from Baker and Spice. It is rich and dense with an extremely chocolatey icing. In fact about 7 bars of green and blacks chocolate went into making the cake!

BANANNA AND WHITE CHOCOLATE MUFFINS: A recipe of my own. To take to my friend Leila’s birthday brunch.

STRAWBERRY TARTLETS WITH CREME PATISSIERE: A slightly labour intensive dessert, I saw something looking like these in a patisserie and decided to create my own version at home.

THREE RICE SALAD WITH COURGETTES AND GREEN BEANS: A variation on a recipe in my new Ottolenghi cook book. I used what we have in season in the garden rather than asparagus specified in the recipe. Inspite of the fact that this is a vegetarian recipe it proved extremely popular with the three meat loving men in the house!

This is just a small selection of what I have been cooking. Bread baking is next on the list….I’ll keep you posted.

On Friday night we had a couple of friends over for a curry. I spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen and cooked a lamb rogan josh, saffron rice, onion bhajis, tomato and coconut dal, popadoms and a tomato and chilli sauce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got the recipe for the lamb rogan josh from Delicious magasine and I was surprised at how authentic it tasted. The recipe for the dal came from Rick Steins new book and the onion bhajis and tomato and chilli sauce recipes were from The Ballymaloe cookery course book. The recipes and photos are below.

Lamb Rogan Josh (Being a fairly short recipe from a magasine I was assuming it wouldn’t taste so authentic, but I was pleasantly surprised, however it wasn’t as quick to cook as the recipe was short!)

800g boned shoulder of lamb cut into 2.5cm pieces

150g natural yogurt

2tbs ground almonds

1 large onion roughly chopped

2.5cm piece of fresh ginger

5 garlic cloves

5 tbs vegetable oil

5 cardamon pods

2 bay leaves

4 cloves

1/2 cinnamon stick

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tbs ground garam masala

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

2 tbs tomato puree

227g chopped tomatoes

handful of chopped coriander leaves

Marinade the lamb in a bowl with the yogurt and almonds for at least 2 hours of overnight. In a food processor, whizz the onion ginger and garlic into a paste.

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Add the cardamon, bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon and cook for 30 seconds. Add the onion paste and cook for 10 minutes until the onions are golden.

Add the lamb and marinade and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until the meat is browned. keep stirring to stop it sticking. Add a splash of water if it gets really dry.

Add the powdered spices, tomato puree and a splash of water, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Season well, stir in the chopped coriander, then serve with basmati rice cooked with a little saffron added to the water, and naan bread.

Wine Note The peachy flavours of fruity Viognier are spot on with the rich tomato of this spicy sauce.

 

Coconut dal with tomatoes and curry leaves (from Rich Stiens far eastern odyssey)

This dal is very common in Sri Lanka and tastes exactly as you might expect, like an Indian dal but noticeably flavoured with coconut, cinnamon, pandan leaf and curry leaves. As in the rest of the Indian subcontinent, you would almost always expect to have dal as part of any meal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

250g red lentils

1 green cayenne chilli, sliced

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

4 x 2.5 cm pandan leaf

200ml coconut milk

3 tbs coconut or vegetable oil

100g onions or shallots, finely chopped

15g garlic, crushed

3 dried red kashmiri chillis, broken into small pieces

12 curry leaves

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp black mustard seeds

7.7cm cinnamon stick

1 tsp freshly ground coriander seeds

150g tomatoes, roughly chopped

Put the lentils into a pan with the green chilli, turmeric, pandan leaf and 1 litre of water. Bring to the boil and simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes or until the lentils have broken down and the mixture has reduced and thickened quite considerably.

Add the coconut milk and leave to simmer, stiffing now and then, for another 15-20 minutes or until it has thickened once more.

When the dal is cooked, heat the oil in a small frying pan. Add the onion and garlic and fry gently, stirring now and then, until golden brown. Add the dried red chillies, curry leaves, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, cinnamon stick and ground coriander and fry gently for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and cook for another 1-2 minutes until they have just softened.

Tip the mixture into the dal, stir will and season with 1 teaspoon salt or to taste. Simmer for 5 minutes then serve.

Onion Bhajis ( From Darina Allens Ballymaloe Cookery Course)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serves 4 as a starter

110g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp chilli powder

2 eggs, beaten

150ml water

4 onions, finely sliced

2 tbs snipped fresh chives

vegetable oil for deep frying

Sift the flour baking power and chilli powder into a bowl. Make a will in the centre, add the eggs, gradually add in the water and mix to make a smooth batter. Stir in the onions and chives. Season will with salt and pepper.

Just before serving, heat the oil to about 170 degrees. Fry dessertspoons of the batter for 5 minutes on each side until crisp and golden, and drain on kitchen paper. Serve hot or cold with the tomato and chilli sauce.

Tomato and chilli sauce

Serves 4-6

25g green chills, de-seeded and chopped

200g tinned chopped tomatoes

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 dessertspoon caster sugar

1 dessertspoon soft brown sugar

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons water

salt and freshly ground pepper

Put the chilli garlic and tomatoes into a stainless steel saucepan with the sugar, vinegar and water. Season, and simmer until reduced by half.

I decided it was time to try out making puff pastry again so that it doesn”t become a forgotten skill! What I had forgotten was the amount of effort involved in making it; 6 rolls, multiple folds and turns of the pastry, as well as numerous chilling sessions in between in order to achieve 729 layers of pastry and butter! Was it worth it? The proof is in the pictures. I made cheese straws with Gruyere and Parmesan, a beef steak and kidney pie and a beef steak and mushroom pie. There is definately a skill involved in making puff pastry that I could still improve on, however I was pretty pleased for my first attempt back home.

I tried out my friends SLR camera to take the photos- I like it- I think I need one!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in 1990 on a family visit to Asia we were served CHICKEN RICE on what seemed like a daily basis. Whether it was a meal out at a restaurant, a meal from a street food stand or a home cooked meal in. It was so popular with the locals and it seemed they couldn’t get enough of it! We ate and loved it, but by the end of the long 8 week holiday we had had enough of our fair share of it! In fact we couldn’t face another bowl of it.

Eighteen years later when I returned to Asia with Mark we arrived to Singapore to be presented again with plates of chicken rice! It was delicious and brought back memories of that family holiday all those years ago. This time though we only had it a couple of times and on our return to England we had not had enough of it.

Nearly two years has past since the latest trip to Asia and we have not seen Chicken Rice available anywhere, neither restaurants or take-aways that we have been to in the UK have served this dish. The dish is deceptively plain sounding yet it is sometimes considered the ‘national dish’ of Singapore.

So i decided to recreate it at home. Having found no cookbooks with the recipe i researched the dish online and have recreated my own version of the recipe. Please do try it, it is suprisingly delicious for such a simple recipe!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHICKEN RICE

For the chicken:

1 whole chicken

2 garlic cloves

4 slices of ginger

2 spring onions

For the rice:

600g thai fragrant long grain rice

2 tbsp chicken skin and fat (removed from the chicken)

2 tbsp water

1 inch piece of ginger lightly smashed

2 garlic cloves lightly smashed

1/2 tsp of salt

3 cups chicken stock

2 pandan leaves if available

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the chilli dipping sauce:

10 large fresh red chillis

2cm piece of ginger

2 cloves garlic

1/4 tsp salt

juice of 1 lime

2 tbs chicken stock

1tsp rice vinegar

2 tsp granulated sugar

For the ginger dipping sauce:

60g ginger

4 cloves garlic

1/4 tsp salt

juice of 1 lemon

2 tbs chicken stock

For the soy dipping sauce:

1 tbs oil

1 tsp sesame oil

1 clove garlic

5 tbs light soy sauce

1 tbs sugar

3 tbs water

Garnish with fresh coriander leaves, sliced spring onion and sliced cucumber

Place the coarsely chopped spring onion, ginger and garlic inside the chicken. Place in a stock pot of boiling water and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Skim off any froth that rises to the top.

Turn the hob off. Cover the pot and let it stand for 25  minutes.

Remove the chicken and rinse with cold water until cool. Then rub the skin sparingly with sesame oil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the meanwhile make the rice. Wash in a sieve until the water runs clear. In a wok add the chicken fat and 2 tbs waters. Bring to a low simmering boil until the oil is released from the fat. Add the ginger and garlic and fry well. Remove and discard the chicken fat and add the rice which has been well drained and the salt. Stir fry briskly for 1-2 minutes. Transfer the ingredients to a pan and add the chicken stock and pandan leaves. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the water reduces to the same level as the rice and when steam holes appear in the rice cover with a lid and turn to a very low heat and cook for 20-30 minutes or until the rice is cooked to taste.

To make the chilli sauce blend the ingredients in a liquidiser. Do the same for the ginger sauce.

To make the soy sauce combine all the ingredients in a small pan and heat the mixture until the sugar dissolves and then set aside to cool before use.

To serve, remove the wings (use for stock). Then remove the thigh and drumstick from the breast. Remove the breasts from the carcass and cut each joint and breast into 1 inch strips. Serve with rice and garnish.

Having rooted through boxes to find our pasta machine i decided to try out some new recipes that I learnt at Ballymaloe. This recipe is the best i have tried for pasta. It results in a delicious pasta that is not tough or chewy, which i have found has happened using other recipes. This recipe uses just plain flour rather than ‘00′ pasta flour. It is simply flour and egg.

I used organic eggs bought from Daylesford Organic. Their chickens are free roaming and feed on grass, resulting in eggs with incredibly yellow yolks and therefore a pasta with a wonderful colour.

Homemade pasta recipe

400g (140z) plain white flour

1 teaspoon salt (optional)

3-4 organic eggs

Sift the flour into a bowl and add the salt if using. Whisk the eggs together, make a well in the centre of the flour and add in most of the egg. Mix into a dough with your hand, adding the remainder of the egg only if you need it. If it is much too wet it is very difficult to get it right; the pasta should just come together but shouldn’t stick to your hand- if it does, add a little more flour.

Knead for a few minutes until smooth and then put on a plate covered with an upturned bowl for 1 hour to relax. Divide the dough in half and roll out one piece at a time as thinly as possible, keeping the other piece covered. You ought to be able to read the print on a matchbox through the pasta.

A long, thin rolling pin is a great advantage but you can manage perfectly will with an ordinary domestic rolling pin.

Pasta can be flavoured and coloured in all sorts of ways. Add anything from tomato puree for orange pasta to squid ink for designer black pasta.

I used a pasta machine to roll my pasta and made totellinis with a cheese filling. I served it with a roasted red pepper sauce. Here are the recipes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mix together 50g (2oz) freshly grated parmesan. 110g (4oz) fresh ricott, 1 lightly beaten egg or 2 egg yolks, 1tablespoon chopped fresh basil or parsley and salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Cut the pasta into 5cm (2inch) rounds put 1/4 tsp of the filling in the centre and fold in half and then place your little finger in the middle and fold the two points to cross over in the middle. then fold back the outside edge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Makes sufficient for 450g(1lb) pasta

4 red peppers

vegetable oil

50g (2oz) parmesan

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

25g (1oz) almonds

1/2 garlic clove crushed

1/2-1/4 tsp lemon zest

salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 200c/400f/ gas 6

Rub a little oil onto the skins of the peppers, and roast for about 18 minutes or until the skin is wrinkly and the peppers are slightly soft. Put into a bowl , cover with clingfilm or a tea towel for about 5 minutes. Then peel and deseed but do not wash. Whizz the peppers, Parmesan, salt, pepper, almonds, garlic, lemon zest and balsamic vinegar in a food processor. Taste and correct the seasoning. The sauce can be stored in the fridge under a film of oil. Toss freshly cooked pasta into the sauce, serve with plenty of basil and shavings of Parmesan.

This week I cooked:

Beef steak and kidney pie (using flakey pastry i made on Friday last week)

Champ

Goujons of Monkfish with aioli

Pannacotta with apricot and elderflower compote

Brown soda bread

Grilled chicken breast with tomato and basil sauce

Gratin of potatoes and spring onions

Some photos from the weeks demonstrations: