Wednesday 28 July 2010

"Fame" at last, I'm in Olive!

As promised, here, in all it's "glory", is my recipe from the August 2010 edition of Olive magazine !

Monday 26 July 2010

ICCHFC: Week 44 - Caramel apple loaf

Sara's return to the baking fray bought a return to the proper voting protocol:
  • Pineapple upside down cake
  • Lemon drizzle
  • Caramel apple loaf
Fortunately the caramel apple loaf won.

The cake was packed full of apply goodness. The topping was very sweet and very sticky.

Sara's Caramel apple loaf (taken from BBC Good Food)

Ingredients:
175g soft butter , plus extra for greasing
175g golden caster sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
225g self-raising flour
½tsp cinnamon
4tbsp Greek yoghurt
2 eating apples
50g walnuts , very roughly chopped, plus 1 tbsp extra, chopped
50g soft toffees (we used Werther's chewy toffees)
2tbsp double cream

Method:
1. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease a 2lb loaf tin and line the base and ends with a long strip of baking paper.
2. Beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla until pale, then beat in the eggs, one by one. Tip in the flour, cinnamon and yogurt. Peel, core and chop apples into small chunks, then add to the bowl and mix everything together with a wooden spoon.
3. Scrape into the tin, smooth the top and scatter the walnuts down the middle. Bake on a middle shelf for 1 hr 20-30 mins until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool in the tin.
4. To decorate, put the toffees in a small saucepan with the double cream. Gently heat, stirring, until toffees have melted into a smooth caramel sauce. Cool for about 1 min while you gently turn out the cake. Slowly drizzle the toffee sauce over the top of the cake. Scatter immediately with the extra walnuts - they should stick where they hit toffee. Leave for 10 mins before serving. Best fresh but will keep in an airtight tin for 3-4 days.

Saturday 24 July 2010

Meat is murder: tasty, tasty murder!

Just came across this rather amusing t-shirt. More can be found at CafePress.

Cooking lesson: Summer risotto, lamb tagine, strawberry cheesecakes

Last night I gave my first ever cooking lesson to one of the girls from HS&E, H. We had the lesson at my place after work. One of the other HS&E girls, A, came along for the craic, and a good nosh! We only worked out what we were going to have on Wednesday afternoon:

Summer risotto
***
Lamb tagine and couscous
***
Strawberry cheesecake

Due to my hectic week that gave me slightly less time than I had wanted to prepare, which is entirely my fault.

Summer risotto

Fresh and seasonal broad beans, peas and leek in a risotto finished with lemon. Not a bad start. It turns out that H is unbelievably sensitive to onion; even the leek had her reduced to tears! Interestingly H had been told that risottos could go wrong at any moment and so were incredibly hard. I hope I convinced her otherwise.

Lamb tagine and couscous

This turned out very well with a strong aromatic depth of flavour although slightly too much chilli made it a touch too hot. The couscous was a good accompaniment. This was something H has seen on Come Dine With Me and wanted to be able to cook herself.

Strawberry cheesecake

A simple but effective dessert to finish. This was an "interesting" expereince from start to finish. A created a new way of making a biscuit base by blitzing the shortbread until the butter melted out. No need to add any more then! Making the chocolate decorations was also quite good fun although I think the alcohol may have been at the fore, see below...

Clockwise from the top A created a star, a cat, a house, herself, unknown and a perfect heart all topped off with a butterfly.

H was more conventional and did the classic snail!

Anyway it all turned out quite well, and I think I'm tempted to try out teaching a bit more formally. I just need to actually come up with some kind of plan and marketable approach.

The recipes are taken from the handout I gave H to take home with her.

Summer risotto

Ingredients:
1 onion, finely chopped
150g Arborio rice
500ml chicken stock
Seasonal vegetables (peas, French beans, runner beans, broad beans)
½ glass white wine
2oz butter
Splash olive oil
2oz Parmesan, finely grated
Salt and pepper

Method:
1. Melt the butter in the olive oil and sweat the onions until soft.
2. Add the rice, coating the grains in the fats and toast until slightly translucent
3. Add the wine and allow the alcohol to burn off
4. Gradually add the stock, a ladleful at a time. Stirring all the time. Add more stock once the previous batch has been absorbed.
5. Once about ¾ of the stick has been added and the rice has a little bite add the vegetables.
6. Once the rice has a little bite and the vegetables are cooked. Beat in the remaining butter and cheese and leave to rest for two minutes.
7. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice before serving.

Lamb tagine and couscous

Ingredients:
1 onion, sliced
~500g lamb, cubed (shoulder works well)
Vegetable oil for frying.
500ml chicken stock
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½tsp cinnamon
½tsp ground ginger
½tsp cumin
½tsp saffron/turmeric
¼tsp cayenne/chilli
½tsp paprika
2tbsp honey
1 tin chopped tomatoes
Dried apricots
(1 tin chick peas – optional)
For the couscous:
Chicken stock
Juice of ½ lemon
Mint
2tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method:
1. In a large pan, brown the meat in vegetable oil. Remove from the pan and reserve for later.
2. Sweat the onion until soft. Once cooked add the garlic and spices and toast for a short time to release the flavours.
3. Add the stock, tomatoes, apricots, honey and lamb to the pan and bring to a gentle simmer.
4. Cook with the lid on for about 45 minutes until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened (remove the lid for the last 15 minutes to create a thicker sauce). If using, add the chickpeas for the last 15 minutes of cooking.
5. For the couscous, place in a bowl and pour in enough hot stock to cover the couscous by approximately ½”.
6. Add the olive oil and lemon juice. Stir well and cover with cling film. Set aside for about 5 minutes, or until the liquid has been absorbed.
7. Fork through the couscous to separate the grains and “fluff” it up. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Strawberry cheesecake

Ingredients:
5oz shortbread biscuits
2oz butter
½tub mascarpone cheese
150ml double cream
1 punnet strawberries
Icing sugar
½tsp vanilla extract (or 1tsp vanilla essence)
[Optional: Dark chocolate to garnish]

Method:
1. Crush the biscuits into crumbs.
2. Melt the butter and mix with the biscuits. Firmly press a layer of the mixture into ring moulds and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
3. Hull the strawberries and cut in half. Place strawberries cut side facing outwards around each ring mould.
4. Reserve at least one lovely strawberry per cheesecake
5. Take the remaining strawberries and liquidise. Pass through a sieve.
6. Sieve in icing sugar to taste (start off with 1dsp and add to taste).
7. Whip the double cream until just stiff then mix with the mascarpone. Add the vanilla extract and add icing sugar to taste.
8. Mix in some of the strawberry purée to taste, either mix fully if you want a pink mix or fold in lightly if you want a marbled effect.
9. Fill each mould with the cheese mix and leave to set.
10. Melt the chocolate and pipe a decorative border on the serving plate. Once set fill with strawberry sauce.
11. Garnish each cheesecake with a fanned strawberry and chocolate decorations

Tuesday 20 July 2010

Bob Bob Ricard

Tonight was the first time I've been to a blogging event, namely the London Food and Drink Bloggers Dinner held at Bob Bob Ricard.

We (over 30 bloggers) had a whole section of this west-end art deco palace and had a special four course menu (including especially selected vodkas) for only £40. Not bad, on paper, the evening promised much.

Things kicked off with a bang as we had a BBR signature aperatif of a Pink Rhubarb Gin & Tonic. I can understand why this is a signature drink. A glass of baby-doll ping liquor with a delightful not too sweet taste of rhubarb. Then the food started coming.

***

Jellied Ox Tongue with Creamed Horseradish
with Vodka Imperia by Russian Standard served at -18°C

This was the served with a vodka shot. Apparently the idea of the vodka is to open up the taste buds in the mouth so that you can really appreciate the flavour of the food. I duly did as I was told and knocked back the vodka and, whilst still reeling from the alcoholic hit, swiftly followed it with a mouthful of the jellied ox tongue.

I'm not entirely sure that the vodka added anything to the experience because each subsequent mouthful was just as flavoursome as the first. A lightly savoury jelly (is this the beginning of a comeback for aspic?) containing a punch of beefy goodness accompanied by some rather delicate horseradish cream (that's the second time in one week I've had good horseradish!).

***

Russian Salad with Black truffles
With Vodka Kauffman Special Selected Vintage 2006 served at -18°C

This starter came with yet more vodka. This time I decided to intersperse each mouthful with a sip of vodka. I quickly realised this was the wrong tactic. Even though the menu described this as ‘the most delicate vodka in the world' all I got was an alcoholic slap round the face. The vodka definitely didn't do much for the salad although I'm not sure anything could. I realise that eastern European food is heavy on the mayo, but that's pretty much all I got from this dish. This made a shameful waste of the hefty smattering of truffle adorning my plate.

After such a good start I was somewhat disappointed. However, the good company and abundant booze seemed to make up for it.

***

Veal Holstein With Quails Egg, Anchovies, Truffled Mashed Potatoes and Secret Sauce

Thankfully no vodka this time. The veal was a seemingly crazy collection of items which combined to give unique experience mouthful after mouthful. Unfortunately the truffle mash passed me by mainly because of the secret sauce: what a beauty though! A phenomenal rich savoury shiny sauce which brought untold flavour to each forkful. Just a shame that I didn't get to enjoy the truffles, again!

I wander sometimes when people experience different tastes and flavours to me. Is it my unrefined pallet? Or maybe I'm too busy eating and enjoying the food to actually dissect each mouthful. That's clearly a musing for another day.

***

Bramley and Cox Apple Jelly with Crème, Corrugated Apple and Shortbread

Pudding was a celebration of apple. A refreshing jelly which almost tasted more of apple than apple and some brilliant" corrugated apple" (I think they were apple slices run through a mandolin then dehydrated). A triumphal ending to the meal.

I must also give a quick mention to the other pudding on the menu: Chocolate Glory (Chocolate Jivara Mousse and Chocolate Brownie with Passion fruit Orange Jelly and Meringue served with Fresh Raspberries and Hot Chocolate Sauce).

This came as a golden sphere and a row of raspberries.

With a theatrical flourish hot chocolate sauce was poured over the shiny orb which began to disintegrate revealing the brownie and jelly goodies inside. Brilliant. And it didn't taste too bad either!

I think this final dish serves as a fitting summary of Bob Bob Ricard. From the moment you walk through the door, you're transported to another world where exuberance and flamboyance are the order of the day. Tables are flanked in deep leather booths. The service is impeccable (although I do wander what it would be like without a load of bloggers there...) and the food 's unique. I'd definitely go back, albeit without the vodka.

Bob Bob Ricard on Urbanspoon

Monday 19 July 2010

Curve restaurant

My first day back in London was celebrated with my first proper meal out for quite a while. With a colleague, I went to Curve at the Marriot in West India Quay for the set lunch: £15 for two courses.

***

Oak smoked salmon, capers, buck wheat blinis, horseradish-crème fraîche, shallot and red wine vinaigrette

Curve makes a point of its fresh fish selection from the nearby Billingsgate market. The smoked salmon was very good and the accompaniments did well to enhance it rather than overbear it. The horseradish was subtle and the fresh capers delightful.

***

Calamari tempura, chilli, garlic, wasabi-yuzu sauce

John's squid was OK the tempura batter rather thick and chewy rather than thin and crisp. Also the dipping sauce did not deliver that powerful punch it promised.

***

Ricotta gnocchi, creamed sun-blushed tomato and rocket


These gnocchi were simply amazing. Beautiful light pillows of carbohydrate doused in a dense cream sauce, the richness of which was perfectly punctured by juicy pieces of sun-blushed tomato. Absolutely delicious. I could have eaten a vat of this stuff, mainly because I'm a greedy bugger, but also because it was so damn tasty.

John's beer batter fried haddock, chips and mushy peas was a huge plate for a lunch dish. All parts were well cooked and very tasty.

All in all it was pretty bargainous lunch for £15. On a delightfully sunny July Monday this meal did much to quell my post-holiday back-to-work blues. For a restaurant perfectly located on the Quay in the hub of Canary Wharf offering pretty good food, it would be reasonable to expect it to be quite busy. Unfortunately for Curve, John and I were the only ones in there until will left at nearly 1:30pm when another pair of dinners arrived. I have no idea why the place is so unpopular. The service was excellent, well, I guess it should since staff out-numbered diners while we were there. I'd be happy to go back and explore a bit more of the menu, although I'd be hard pushed not to have those gnocchi again. As a gnocchi lover, I think I've found the place to come to when I need my next hit.

Curve on Urbanspoon

ICCHFC: Week 43 - Cherry and cinnamon cake

Louisa's involvement with the ICCHFC came to an end with a cherry and cinnamon cake.


English cherries have just come into season so this was a great choice of cake. The cherries were all very plump, soft and sweet. This was well balanced by the crumble top.

Although it was a round cake, I can imagine this working very well as a tray-baked slice.

Saturday 17 July 2010

Cream tea

Whilst in Devon I visited Broadway House in Topsham for an amazing cream tea.

I went for the Full Cream Tea (my companions wussed out and only had the Mini Cream Tea) which meant I had two scones. The scones were served slightly warm and when slathered in clotted cream and amazing strawberry jam I was in heaven.

The tea-room is very traditional and obviously staunchly protective of the way things are done. And I agree, why mess with perfection?

It was a quintessentially English expereince: sitting in the walled garden of an old English home in the warm late summer sunshine eating scones and drinking tea. "Perfick!" as Pop Larkin would say.

Friday 16 July 2010

Course verdict

So, after 5 days of cooking in Devon, was it worth it? I think the answer is yes.

I thoroughly enjoyed being in a kitchen from 9:30 until 5:30/6 every day. I would have enjoyed doing a bit more actual coking, there seemed to be a lot of demos and group cooking. I can understand the reasoning behind it but I would have liked to do at least one desert from scratch. Also I'm not sure about cooking in pairs; a very strange experience. Saying that though, I still learnt loads of stuff from professional chefs. Things that I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have otherwise picked up. The tutors were all great, with knowledge just exuding from their pores.

I could have coped with the course above but at least I know that what I do know is all good stuff and I'm heading in the right direction. I've got a fair idea of what I need to take my cooking on to the next level. I also had a chance to help out some of the other attendees which was good. Especially as I've got my first "lesson" next Friday.

I've left Ashburton with confidence in my ability and with a desire to take it to the next level. I've got a few ideas brewing. Time will tell...

Ashburton Cookery school: Day 5

The final day was fish day.

***

Plaice fillets stuffed with red pepper with scallops and a saffron sauce

Simply divine! (even though I did manage to break one half of my double plaice fillet!). We didn't get to shell the scallops as they'd already been done. Good trick of using the red pepper sauce to tell the dinner that there's red pepper in the fish.

***

Mackerel fillet with cannellini bean and tomato stew, crispy belly pork and salsa verde


Pork belly and "posh baked bean": wonderful. Mackerel and salsa verde: delicious. But both on the same plate? I'm not convinced. Also I must learn not to be slave to my greed. Less is more when plating up. just look at the oil leaching across the plate from the vast quantity of salsa I've used.

***

Glazed lemon tart

No picture because I completely and utterly forgot. It was pretty good (I had a minor quibble with putting the lemon zest in which took away from the beautiful velvety texture).

The last bunch of tips:
  • When making pesto, add the hot toasted pine nuts to the garlic which will roast the garlic giving a more subtle flavour.
  • Use cold water to get rid of strong smells and colours when washing up.
  • Restaurants operate on a gross profit of 75%, so divide by 4 to find the true cost of your dinner!
  • Seasoned flour: add a pinch of salt and pepper for every 3tbsp flour
  • For the perfect rösti make it only a finger thick and add butter once it's flipped.

Thursday 15 July 2010

Ashburton Cookery school: Day 4

Ham and Cheddar tart

This was made with the ham hock that we cooked on day 2. The raw ingredients for this tart were so good it was difficult to make sure there was enough left for the tart.

***

Goat's cheese and red pepper tortelli with fresh pesto

A delightful combination of beautiful fresh pasta and pesto finished with balsamic vinegar and Parmesan.

***

Fillet steak with Café de Paris butter, chips, roasted tomato and mushroom

Pretty easy but tasty nonetheless and raised up a notch by some simple additions: slivers of garlic on the mushroom; thyme on the tomato and the pretty tomato base. Apparently the butter started out as a way of using up items from the larder. I'm pretty sure I'd have to go and do a special shop to get all the ingredients.

***

Crème brûlée

An incredibly silky smooth brûlée.

Day 4's golden nuggets:
  • Council stock aka water!
  • You can always add, but never take away.
  • If there's green on the board after chopping board you've gone too far (the chlorophyll hs come out and the integrity of the herb, including their flavour, has been damaged) .
  • Self-raising flour is milled finer than plain flour. Consequently self-raising is better used when rolling out pastry.
  • Pastry rings/cases are better with a curved lip as is is more gentle on the pastry as it fold over the top.
  • Shake baking powder before using it to ensure all the ingredients are mixed.
  • To stop fruit freezing solid in ice-creams soak it in alcohol or stock syrup before adding to the ice-cream and freezing (this will prevent the fruit from freezing rock hard).
  • Using semolina when rolling out pastry adds a rough surface to the pasta allowing sauce to cling more easily.
  • When making crème brûlée use a thin layer of icing sugar (add and shack off excess) to create caramel topping. This can be thickened by repeating with another layer of sugar.

Wednesday 14 July 2010

Ashburton Cookery school: Day 3

Baked smoked haddock on spinach with a poached egg, Gruyère cheese and curry oil

The curry oil was a surprisingly good addition here as were the "sun-dried" cherry tomatoes. Surprisingly the cheese did go with the haddock (as the salmon did with the Parmesan in the risotto on Monday). I may have to revise my stead-fast adherence to the "cheese doesn't go with fish" rule after this.

***

Pork tenderloin en papillote with apple and mustard mash with honey glazed carrots and celeriac


A mixed bag this dish. Having medium-rare pork was a revelation (apparently now that pig welfare conditions have improved and feeding is strictly controlled, pigs no longer have ring-worm so it's OK to eat the meat less than well done). Finding out how to do the roasted vegetable was brilliant. The mash was not good: way too much mustard which killed the other delicate flavours. I'm also not convinced by deliberately mixing lumps into beautiful smooth mash. It just doesn't do it for me.

***

Coconut and lemongrass sorbet with tuille biscuits


A delightful sorbet made into a full dessert with sweet chilli sauce, hazelnuts and Chantilly cream.

Lessons from the day:
  • The water content of pastry is critical. The less water there is the shorter the pastry will be. However, water makes the pastry more complaint and easier to work with.
  • Sweet pastry can be made without even touching it (until rolling out).
  • Allowing the water to evaporate from egg whites will create stronger whites resulting in better meringues.
  • Draining spinach on kitchen paper in a must to remove excess moisture.
  • Fish is cooked when the protein start to leach out (this is evident as a white residue).
  • Freezing diminishes flavour. So frozen desserts must be packed with flavour before they are frozen.
  • -15°C is the optimum temperature for making ice-cream and sorbets.
  • Tuilles need to be manipulated while they are still hot so it's best to do any moulding in the hot air of the oven.
  • Eggs poached in red wine go well with duck.
  • Oil for heat, butter for flavour.
  • When blanching veg use 6g salt for every 1l water.
  • Keeping mash warm in a bain marie makes it über fluffy.

Tuesday 13 July 2010

Ashburton Cookery school: Day 2

Vichyssoise soup

A very taste leek and potato soup served warm garnished with chives.

Freshly made white bread rolls were had with the soup, and exceedingly well rounded were they (even if I do say so myself!)

***

Roast rack of lamb with madeira sauce and wild mushrooms

Incredibly tasty lamb with dauphinoise potatoes (which when cut out into rounds seem incredibly wasteful although are definitely a good advert for a mandolin). I wanted to show off the lamb and veg in the dish so plated up slightly differently (above) to James (below). I'll leave it to you to decide which looks better.


***

Seasonal fruit with orange sabayon and praline


A very simple, but effective dessert. Unfortunately we didn't get to make the sabayon.

Today's top tips:
  • Vegetables that grow under the ground should be brought to the boil from cold. Vegetables that are grown above the ground should be plunged into boiling water.
  • The wetter a bread dough the lighter the bread will be.
  • A humid oven gives a crusty bread.
  • Slash dough into quarters before proving increases the surface area and will speed up/increase the proving.
  • A blue steak will have an internal temperature of 37°C, rare is 50°C, medium-rare is at 55°C and medium is at 60°C. These temperatures apply to all meats. I'm not bothered about any other stages of cooking...
  • Meat should be rested for about half as long as the cooking time and as it rests the temperature will increase so cooking needs to stop before the required temperature is reached.
  • When seasoned correctly, pepper should give a gentle heat at the back of the mouth/throat.
  • A drop of white wine vinegar added to a cracked egg before poaching will help the white to coagulate (and also ensure eggs are kept separate if cooking in large batches).
  • Dried herbs and tomato purée should be cooked out (just like spices).
  • A tomato vine can be used to season.
  • Blitzed up tomato seeds and juice creates a strong liquor worthy of adding to sauces.
  • Caramelisation means flavour!
  • The size of the raw sugar crystal is vital when trying to make caramel. Soft sugars are so fine that they will burn very easily. [Hence the difficulty in making my Angel Delight!]
  • Shallots are sweeter and have a more delicate flavour than brown onions.
  • Sauces can be seasoned with salt, pepper, cream, sugar and lemon juice (arguable this should always be used).
  • As sauces are reduced the "note" of the boiling liquid will change at the crucial point.
  • Lightly season the cut side of meat just before serving.
  • A fish filleting knife can be used to prepare fruit and for carving.
  • Reheating blanched vegetables in salted boiling water with a splash of oil will season them and give them a nice shine.
  • Lamb fat can be rendered out just like duck fat by starting in with a cold pan. This also means a consistent brown skin colour should be achieved.

Monday 12 July 2010

Ashburton Cookery school: Day 1

Today was the first day of the Intermediate Cookery course at the Ashburton Cookery School. My plan is to show what we cooked. I won't be listing all the recipes (I've got a whole ring binder full) instead I'll list the tips I picked up each day from the top tutors and the things that set apart good cooking from restaurant dishes.

***

Poached salmon, saffron and dill risotto


***

Griddles chicken supreme with paysanne vegetables, roasted cherry tomatoes, garlic an basil oil

The cherry tomato (semi-peeled to create "petals" then stuffed with a sprig of rosemary and a sliver of garlic, roasted with a splash of olive oil and balsamic), the deep fried basil leaf and the basil oil garnishes really elevate this dish above just a simple chicken and veg.

***

Dark chocolate pot with amaretti biscuits

Piped some "pretty" chocolate shapes to decorate, again another simple but excellent embellishment which lifts this above just a easy dessert. I like the addition of the biscuits to give some bite, but I'm not sure about having them running throughout the pot. I think I'd prefer some sort of layered approach.

Today's top tips:
  • Stocks can be reduced down (by 10:1 i.e. reduce 10litres down to 1l) and then frozen. They can either be rehydrated for use as stock (make sure you taste the stock to ensure it's not diluted too much) or used concentrated for sauces.
  • Add a pinch of salt to help speed up the sweating process and start to season.
  • Risotto should "find its own level" i.e. a heaped spoon on a plate should flow to a level.
  • Paysanne means a triangular, crescent, circular or square shaped cut of vegetable
  • When searing meat only season it with salt before cooking to avoid burning the pepper.
  • Cut a lemon around its core to give four cheeks which can be easily squeezed without the fear of pips.
  • Concasse is peeled, seeded and diced tomato flesh.
  • Whipping cream is lighter than double cream so will give a more airy whipped finish.
  • Whipping cream and single cream can be made by diluting double cream with semi-skimmed milk. In the case of whipping it is in the ratio of 2:1 cream to milk and single cream the ration is 1:2.
  • Pipped chocolate can be used as a boundary to contain sauces for desserts.

ICCHFC: Week 42 - Chocolate fudge cake

Apparently Hannah brought in a mean chocolate fudge cake...

Saturday 10 July 2010

Update (finally!)

Things have been pretty quiet on the food frontier recently, mainly because I've been gallivanting around with work and (incredibly) some non-food related antics (like going to Wimbledon). Consequently I've not been doing much cooking nor eating out.

However, there have a been a few things which I've been up to which are quite interesting and next week should be a blast:
  • I did a course in food hygiene run by the local council. It's really aimed at small businesses and was taught by an EHO from Greenwich council. Gives me a good basic understanding of the legal requirements should I ever need it...
  • My review of the Taste of London was featured on the toptable blog, which was nice, but expected: it was a condition of getting free tickets!
  • I've made it into olive magazine. My cheese and onion sandwich recipe made it in to the current reader's issue as a "show-off" starter! You can find the recipe (and my ugly mug) on page 42 of the August 2010 issue. I'll put a scan up when I get a chance so you can enjoy their most excellent food photography.
  • Finally, I'm off to Devon for the week tomorrow. I am doing the Intermediate Cookery course at the Ashburton Cookery School. I have agonised incessantly over this course and whether I've chosen the right one or not. I want to learn techniques and an understanding of flavour combinations and I'm worried that this course is too easy for me (but the next one was probably a little too advanced). Anyway, time will tell and I will tell you once I get back.

Monday 5 July 2010

ICCHFC: Week 41 - Cookies (bought)

Marianne was ill over the weekend, but still managed to bring in some cookies which she bought on the way to work.

I love the dedication to the ICCHFC!
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