Thyme and Asparagus stuffed chicken thighs

Whenever we had chicken or turkey at home I'd always go right for the darker leg meat - with my absolute favourite being the oyster mmmmm.  I tend to find the white breast meat a bit bland and dull even if it is well cooked and seasoned, and that the legs, thighs and wings have tons more flavour with much less effort.  Plus - if you are buying chicken pieces its also about half the price - more tasty + less money = bloody brilliant in my world.

This isn't terribly innovative I suppose - its just something I wanted to try out and an adaption of something an ex-boyfriend used to make as his cooking-to-impress-people dinner - and it worked!  It was delicious and simple - create a pocket in a chicken breast, stuff it with cream cheese and herbs, wrap it in foil and bung it in the oven - et voila - guests impressed and pats on the back all around.  I've rather destroyed the simple bit with this recipe, but I had time on my hands on a Sunday and a very clear idea in my head of what I want to achieve.

The end result should be a tasty mix of flavours, textures and colours - from the meaty cut of chicken, a crispy Serrano shell, a creamy and crunchy interior and a lovely fragrance from the thyme.  I went off piste and this time it turned out pretty well!

Ingredients:

Serves 2 or 3 depending on how hungry/greedy you are

• 4 chicken thighs
• 1 tub of garlic and herb cream cheese
• 6 fresh asparagus spears
• 4 slices Serrano ham (or other similar finely sliced proschiutto)
• bunch of fresh thyme

I served it with parpadelle with green vegetables and thyme but you could serve it with new potatoes and green veg - whatever you fancy really. 

• Remove the skin and bone from the chicken thighs so that you end up with one piece of meat - of there is a very thick bit then butterfly it out a bit.  I'm not going to attempt to describe how to do this - this vid is a pretty good demonstration:
• Wash the asparagus and snap and discard the thick part of the stalk.  Cut the asparagus in to pieces that are approx the same length as your chicken thigh bones.  Place in a container with a lid, cover in boiling water, replace the lid and leave for 2 minutes.  Drain and plunge into ice water to cool.  This part cooks the asparagus and helps it maintain its bright colour. 

 

• Drain the asparagus and leave to dry.  Strip the thyme leaves from the stalks and discard the stalks.
• Lay one slice of Serrano ham on its packing cellophane, some greaseproof paper or some cling film. Sprinkle with some of the thyme leaves

• Lay one of the thighs length way along the ham.  Spread a heaped dessert spoon of cream cheese over the central third, add a few more thyme leaves and lay three pieces of asparagus across the centre of the thigh.

• Now its rolling time.  Take hold of one end of the cellophane and use it fold over the edge of the ham and chicken.  Using the plastic, roll the chicken up like a swiss roll so that you have the asparagus in the centre - keep it as tight as you can.  Repeat this for all four thighs.

      

• Wrap you little meaty parcel tightly in cling film and chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.  This helps the roll to set in to its new shape and for the chicken to take on more flavour from the thyme, cream cheese and Serrano ham.  It also means that you can easily do this fiddly bit in advance.

• When you're ready to cook, pre heat the oven to C180 for a fan oven, slightly hotter for a conventional oven.  You now need to change your wrapping - remove the cling film and wrap in foil.  I found that putting them in the centre of a square of foil and then folding the sides in so that the overlap was at the top worked the best.  I tried rolling it and twisting the ends like a Christmas cracker but there was definitely more leakage this way.
• Place on a baking sheet in the oven for about 25 minutes.  While they are cooking, prepare your pasta or what ever you've decided to serve it with.

• After 25 minutes remove from the oven, open the little parcels and carefully pour the liquor into a bowl or jug.  If you are making the parpadelle recipe then pour the liquor into the pasta sauce.
• Leave the chicken sat in their parcel but pull back the foil.  Pop them back in the oven for 5 minutes to crisp the outside slightly.
• Remove and put all four pieces on to a board or warmed plate to rest for a moment.  Again collect any of the juices from the parcels or that appear while the meat rests.
• Either serve your rolled, stuffed chicken thighs whole or slice them into 4 or 5 pieces each, and   lay out prettily on top of your pasta or beside your chosen accompaniments if you are feeling fancy. If not using the reserved cooking liquor in the pasta sauce, then keep it warm and serve as a jus with your finished dish.

• Devour with alacrity and marvel at your skill!

Parpadelle with green vegetables and thyme

Despite being a bit on the messy side, Parpadelle is one of my favourite pastas.  It's broad, flat strips allow the sauce to cling to them and coat them turning them into delicious silky ribbons -  I prefer it with a creamy, oily or really meaty sauce, rather than say a tomato based sauce. Apparently the name comes from the Italian for "to gobble up" so just watch you don't end up with that sauce coating your chin as well!

Parpadelle has become fairly ubiquitous now - I got mine in an Italian promotion at Marks & Spencer, and its in most supermarket pasta aisles, any Italian Deli worth its salt or very easy to track down online.  If you don't have any, then Tagliatelle would be my next choice - or you can use cooked or fresh lasagne sheets and cut them into nice thick strips.  But that is a bit of a faff - so any pasta will be fine - I'd try and get a long one out of preference.

This recipe was actually something I made completely on the fly to go with another dish - the scrumptious stuffed chicken thighs (pictured).  But, when it came to eating it, I thought it was good enough to stand on its own.  I've given a couple of variations below that really help it stand alone, depending on what you have available.  Its really very versatile - so just go with it!



Ingredients:
These amounts will serve about 4.

• Parpadelle - enough for the number of people you are feeding
• 3/4 cloves Garlic - crushed or very finely chopped
• Half a leek or 2/3 spring onions
• 2 tbsp Good Olive Oil - or a good slosh in the pan
• Selection of green vegetables, I used:
• handful of fine green beans, topped and tailed, and cut in half
• 6 Asparagus spears, cleaned and cut in to 2 inch chunks
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 big handfuls of kale - or a leafy green veg like spinach, rocket or chard
• 1/2 glass of dry white wine
• Salt and pepper
• Cream cheese - any kind except the chocolate one!  I used Garlic and herb medium fat Philly.
• Fresh Thyme leaves - I used about half a pack of the ones you get in the supermarket

Option 1 - serve with the stuffed chicken thigh recipe

Option 2 - Pancetta/smoked bacon - cubed

Option 3 - Prosciutto - Parma/Serranno/Black Forest etc - finely sliced preserved ham from the country of your choice.  Tear each slice into 2 or 3 pieces.

Method - for option 1.  The others will be explained at the end.

1. Drop the parpadelle into a big vat of boiling salted water, cook to just shy of the manufacturers instructions.  You want it to finish off its cooking in the sauce. 
2. Take a large frying pan or saucepan (the bigger the surface area on the heat the better) and warm the olive oil over a low-medium heat (3 or 4 on my cooker).  Add the garlic, a big teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves and the chopped leeks or spring onion and soften gently until translucent.  You aren't frying these - you aren't looking for colour so if they start to turn golden or brown, turn down the heat.
3. Turn up the heat to medium and add the asparagus and fine green beans to the garlic mixture, toss them in the oil and season with a good grind of salt and pepper. Cook for about two minutes - keep it moving to make sure the garlic doesn't catch.
4. In a bowl - cover the peas in boiling water and set aside.  
5. Add the wine to the pan and turn up the heat so that it bubbles then add the leafy green vegetables and cover the pan.  Obviously use a lid if it has one, other wise cover with foil - we want to trap the steam and use it to finish cooking the harder vegetables and wilt the leafy ones.  You can turn down the heat if its all getting too excited under there.
6. Allow too cook for another 2 or 3 minutes then take off the lid and see how its doing.  The kale should be softened and have reduced in volume significantly.  Reduce the heat and allow some of the liquid to boil off - but you don't want this dry, its the basis of your sauce.
7. Drain the peas and stir into the veggie mix along with a couple of tablespoons of the cream cheese and another spoonful of the fresh thyme leaves.  If you are making the chicken thighs too, then this is the time you'd add the juice from the parcels.  Let the cream cheese melt and then taste for seasoning.  It will small amazing at this point!
8. Your pasta should be done by now, so lift it straight from its cooking water into the vegetable pan with a pasta spoon.  Stir together well and continue cooking for another minute of so.  The ribbons of pasta should be getting a nice lustrous sheen from the sauce.  If it still looks a bit wet then keep it moving and let the liquid evaporate.  If its looking a bit dry and the pasta isn't coated evenly, then loosen it with a ladle of the the pasta cooking water.
9. Serve in a big bowl, with a grind of black pepper and a sprinkle more of the thyme leaves.  

Option 2 - With Pancetta or smoked bacon.  

Add the chopped pancetta or bacon to the pan right at the beginning before with half of the oil.  Cook on a medium high heat to render the fat from the bacon pieces and give them some colour and texture.  This should take about 5 minutes.  Then turn down the heat, add the garlic, leek and thyme and carry on from step 2.  

This will be a more robust flavoured dish and doesn't need the meaty accompaniment.  Make sure you don't over season at steps 3 or 7 as you will be carrying a lot more salt from your bacon.

Option 3 - With Prosciutto

This is a much more delicate version than option 2 and probably my favourite.  As the only meat element is added right at the end, its very easy to separate some of the sauce if some of the people eating it are veggies or don't eat ham - so really flexible too.

Simply tear the fine slices of ham into 2 or 3 pieces and add to the sauce at the end of step 7, while you are letting the cream cheese melt.  The subtle smoky tones of your ham will seep into the sauce and compliment the fresh green vegetables giving a more elegant result.  The ham doesn't want to be on the heat too long a sit will go tough so make sure you re nearly ready to finish and serve it before you add the ham to the sauce. 

Enjoy!

My take on Boeuf Bourginon

Its taken AGES to get around to posting this one, but I made it again the other day and I remembered how amazing it is - so here goes....

After watching Julie and Julia I decided sheep-like that I'd track down a copy of Julia Child's book: "Mastering the Art of French Cookery" and have a go at something.  For those of you out there not familiar with the film, it follows the twin timelines of Julia Child (Meryl Streep) labouring over her masterpiece on French cooking, which in turn supplied the inspiration for frustrated office worker and fledgling writer Julie Powell (Amy Adams).  Her mission is to cook every one of the 524 recipes in the book in just one year - and write about her experiences on her blog.   One of the most quintessential recipes from the film and the book  - and one that I'd always wanted to make properly - is for Boeuf Bourginon - rich sauce, tender tasty meat - it just sounds and looks so gorgeous!

You can buy a copy of Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in paperback for around £10.  I think the Julie/Julia project blog is now defunct, but I'm sure you can find it on the tinterweb if you know where to look!
So, feeling inspired, I looked up the Boeuf Bourginon recipe and set off to the shops. Standing at the meat counter in Waitrose (I don't have a local butcher) knowing I wanted some beef - I was suddenly hit by a wave of nostalgia.  My folks had a butchers shop while I was growing up, which means a constant supply of the less saleable cuts of meat.  I'm on a budget and the recipe simply called for "lean stewing beef" - ughh VAGUE.  I looked at the anonymous chucks in the braising steak section: it looked nice enough, but i wanted to know exactly what was in it so that if it worked well I could replicate the recipe. Plus i needed to find the best cut for the recipe, for my bank balance and for fullfilling my nostalgia quota. 

My eye roamed to two cheap cuts lurking at in the middle of the display between and two eye wateringly expensive ones - anobscenely large piece of fillet and some calves liver.  Now, these two aren't strictly lean, but definitely affordable at £4.99/kg I had found Oxtail and Ox cheek.  Stirring up some very tasty and comforting memories of unctuous stews and melt in the mouth meat - my mind was made up.  Then it was just a quick scuttle around to pick up the other ingredients, and try and spot any marauding celebs (Helena Bonham Carter last week) and back home to start!

Now this is not a quick dish to prepare!  My advice is to take all day so that you can approach it a leisurely pace, and enjoy the experience - make it an event - even make it the day before you intend to eat it.  These quantities should feed 6, but I'm FAR too greedy to make it stretch that far - Have fun!

Here;s my take on a classic Boeuf Bourginon - Ingredients:

• Two whole Ox cheeks, or large slices of shin (or approx half a kilo of other stewing steak in large pieces if you have to)
• 4 large chunks of oxtail
• 250g smoked bacon lardons (can use streaky bacon, or if you can find it - a whole chunk of bacon as Julia calls for in her recipe)
• Olive Oil
• 2tbs (approx) Flour
• 1tsp Paprika
• 2 small carrots
• 2 white onions
• 2 sticks celery
•  1 tbs Tomato Puree
• 2 cloves of Garlic - crushed or minced
• Large sprig of fresh Thyme
• 1 tin beef consommee
• 1 bottle full bodied red wine
• 20 shallots
• about 20 small mushrooms
• Butter

Equipment
 - Heavy based, oven proof dish with a lid - pretty much all the action happens in here, so make sure it can both on the hob and in the oven.  I use a large heavy based saucepan, but a Le Creuset dish would be ideal.
 - Frying pan

How to...

• Preheat the oven to 230C
• Start by frying the bacon lardons in the pan that you will use for the whole dish. Just cook them over a moderate heat long enough that they start to brown and the fat begins to run.  Then lift them out and set aside.
• Pat dry your oxtail and cheek pieces with kitchen towel - this is Julia Child's big tip to help ensure the meat browns.  You don't need to do anything else to them as you will be cooking them whole.

• Add a little oil to the pan - its just to help stop the meat from sticking when you brown it, and turn up the heat to medium/high.  Now brown your ox cheeks and oxtail pieces in the oil, one or two pieces at a time put them  to one side with the bacon.  Don't over crowd the pan as you will cool it too much and not get the desired effect - you aren't trying to cook it at this point, just colour the meat. 

• Once all of the meat is browned and removed from the pan, quickly fry the vegetables to colour them slightly.  Remove any excess oil from the pan.

• On a plate measure out a couple of tablespoons of flour, season with salt and pepper and a teaspoon of Paprika (optional - I used because i like its mellow earthiness with the beef, but its not in the original recipe)
• Lightly coat the beef in the flour and add it back in to the pan with the bacon pieces and sautéed vegetables

• Now - i found this bit slightly odd, but go with it, its definitely worth it.  With the lid off, put the pan with the dusted meat pieces into the pre-heated oven for 4 minutes. Remove and stir, then put back for a further 4 minutes.  This browns the flour and forms a light crust over the meat. 

• Remove the pan from the oven once more and turn it down to around 160C
• Add the tin of consommé, and enough of the wine to give you enough liquid to just cover the meat (and a small glass of wine left for the cook).  If its not, then you can top it up with a little extra stock or water, or wine if you don't mind not drinking it.  Add the crushed garlic, tomato puree and thyme - and stir it all up together and bring back to the boil on the hob.
• Now it will look odd, as you have five or 6 large lumps of meat swimming around in a big pond of liquid!  But have faith - put the lid on and put it back in the oven. 
• Read a book.  Walk the dog. Take a bath.  Definitely open another bottle of red... because you've not got a 2 and half to three hour wait!
• At around 2 hours you can take a peek.  The meat should be starting to get tender now, give it a stir and put it back in.  

• If you are planning to eat it the same day, then you can add the shallots for the last half  hour of cooking, and fry the mushrooms in some butter until coloured and starting to soften, and set aside ready to add at the last minute.  If you are having it the next day, then do the shallots and mushrooms then.

• Because both the cheek and oxtail are quite sizeable pieces of cow, you will probably find that it takes the full 3 hours to get the required level of melting tenderness.  After the three hours you should find that the meat falls off the bones of the oxtail and the that the meat from the cheek or shin can be pushed apart with a fork - the membrane in the middle which usually have to be removed to prevent it being a chewy monstrosity has magically transformed into a ribbon of unctuous goodness running through the meat.

• Now, the original recipe calls for you to remove the meat and onions, and strain the remaining sauce to remove the other vegetables.  But I actually think they are fine to be left in, especially as this is a rustic version of Julia's original refined dish.  I would recommend removing the meat from the pot so that you can pull it from the bones and carve up the cheek meat.  At this point, try to skim off any additional fat from the sauce, and reduce on the hob if it is not thick enough.  
• Now you can either mix it all back together like a big stew or serve the meat with the onions and mushrooms, and the sauce separately.  This is a very rich dish, so keep accompaniments simple. I'd serve with a fresh green vegetable, like green beans or broccoli and boiled spuds, noodles or my personal favourite - some crusty French bread.

 Bon Appetit!

Recipe - Apricot, cardamom and yogurt muffins

Weirdly this was inspired by an ice cream flavour! There is a fabulously odd ice cream parlour (I think that's the correct term) on my street called Chez Chantal which has a pretty impressive selection of French style glace in every flavour from salted caramel (my favourite) and cherry bakewell through to most iterations of fruit sorbets you care to think of!  On one visit, and there have been a few, they had a special variety on display -  a deliciously rich Italian apricot and yogurt version. Creamy but light, and not too sweet, this was a winner with me and I was keen to apply the flavour combination to something else.  I was also intrigued with the idea of baking with yogurt and what effect that might have on taste and texture.  I had a scout around and found a base recipe to adapt - and found this one for a large cake from a delicious New Your blog: www.eatdrinkonewoman.com

So here goes! This makes 6 muffins. 

Ingredients
1/2 cup of apricots (no soak variety)
Orange Juice - I used the juice of 2 small oranges
1 cup plain flour
1 scant tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarb
3/4 tsp cardamom (ground, or if using whole pods - discard the husks and crush the seeds with a pestle and mortar - sieve to remove any remaining lumps)
1 egg
1/2 cup of Greek yogurt
1/6 cup of sunflower oil
1 tsp Vanilla paste

For the Icing
1/2 cup of butter, room temperature
1 pack of cream cheese, room temperature
2 - 3 cups of icing sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla paste

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 175 C
• Chop up the apricots into smallish dice and put in a small bowl, add enough orange juice to not quite cover the apricots.  Microwave on high for about 2 minutes.  Set aside to soak and cool.

•  Sieve together the flour, baking powder, bicarb and cardamon.  The cardamom smells amazing!
• If you aren't icing, and added the demerera before cooking - then you are done, or for a more moist finish you could spoon over any remaining of the soaking liguid from the apricots.  This gives a glaze finish a bit like on a lemon drizzle cake.
• Mix together the egg, sugar, oil, yogurt and vanilla.  I used a hand whisk to beat them together.

• Mix the wet and dry ingredients ingredients together to make your cake batter. Add the chopped apricots - if there is excess liquid - don't add this to the batter.  I tried 3 versions with the apricots - apricots on topped, a layer in the middle and finally with apricots stirred into mix.  The results are quite different!
• Distribute the mix between 6 muffin cases.

• Optional - sprinkle with demerera sugar if you dont intend to ice the finished muffins
• Bake for 15 minutes, or until the muffins have risen.  Test with a skewer if needs be, and they should be slightly golden on top.  Cool on a wire rack.

Icing your muffins

1. Make sure your butter and cream cheese are at room temperature.  Beat together, with the vanilla paste until very smooth - use an electric mixer if you have one.
2. Slowly add the the icing sugar, beating the mixture all the time.  For a very light american style frosting - you can whip the mixture with the whisk attachment instead of beating it with the paddle.
3. The amount of sugar listed is just a guide - you can use your judgement while you are mixing.  Generally the more sugar you add, the stiffer the icing mix will be, but obviously it will be sweeter too.  So test for sweetness and consistency as you go along until you find a balance that you like.
4. Use a spoon, palette knife or piping bag if your feeling fancy to apply your icing to your muffins

The finished muffins are very light and moist and not too sweet.  They have lovely spicy fragrant undertones from the cardamom and the apricots soaked in orange juice have a pleasant sharpness and texture.  The final muffins are changed totally by how you add the apricots and how you top them. My favourite version was with the apricots mixed through the batter and topped with demerera and that apricot soaking juice, but i love that icing too!  I'm definitely a fan of using yoghurt in the muffin mix and will be trying it out in other recipes coming up!

I've also learned that Cardamom ends in an "m" not an "n".  Who knew?

Enjoy!

Pomada Recipe

Pomada made with Xoriguer Mahon Gin

I've just got back from a lovely lazy holiday in Menorca.  The most northerly of the Balaeric Islands, I'd pretty much written it off as a gathering point for binge-drinking chavs until I was lucky enough to be invited to stay in a villa last year. There are quite a lot of Brits on the Island, (possibly a higher proportion of single hued tracksuits on the flight out than the national average)  but a lot of friendly families rather than the Jaegar-bombing 18-30s brigade intent upon screwing, drinking or burning themselves to death on their seven day package.

My prejudice proved unfounded as on both my visits I've been utterly charmed by the Island's landscape, history and culture and the people.  The food on the island is generally ok - standard Mediterranean fare on the whole but with a few stunning exceptions like the stunningly-located fish restaurant Cap Roig just outside Mahon.  But they do know about their booze.  There is nothing better for getting into the spirit of the place than making like the locals and sipping on an icy cool Pomada at every available opportunity.  Utterly ubiquitous on Menorca, this lemony concoction is available in virtually every single bar.

I've not been able to track down an authentic original recipe, but broadly - a Pomada is a hefty slug of the local Menorcan Gin with a fizzy lemon mixer and plenty of ice.  The only stipulation is that you use the authentic Menorcan Gin - Xoriguer Mahon Gin . It has a unique flavour that differs significantly than your traditional English or Northern European gins. 

Originally developed in the 18th Century to keep the marauding English sailors happy in Port (Nelson was famously stationed in Mahon): the Mahon Gin is based on grape alcohol rather than usual grain, and is infused with local herbs from the Island as well as the essential Juniper.  This combination seems to take away much of the harsh bitter flavour that you can get from an English gin, and is a great deal more fragrant and complex. Delicious!

Its not that easy to get in the UK, but if you aren't planning a trip to the Balearics, then you can get it from specialist booze retailers like TheDrinkShop.com

The most common - and easiest - version seems to use Lemon Fanta, which is generally bought in cans by the slab in the super market.  But one bar on Mahon harbour served up a variety that was much lighter and more refreshing - we decided that they must have used fresh lemonade rather than the canned stuff - and this is what I've recreated below:

Simple ingredients

Ingredients:

• 1 measure Xoriguer Mahon Gin
• 1 measure sugar syrup - sugar and water
• 1 measure fresh lemon juice
• Some lemon slices to serve
• Soda/sparkling water
• Lots of ice - cubes not crushed

Equipment:

• small saucepan if making your own syrup
• Spirit measure - I used a shot glass (cos I'm classy)
• tall glass such as highball or colllins
• long spoon or stirrer

 Make it:

1. If you're making the sugar syrup, then take equal measures of sugar and water and heat in a saucepan until all the sugar has disolved.  If you do around half a cup each, that should be enough syrup for several pomadas, or you can just store it for next time.  Set aside to cool.
2. Three quarters fill your glass with ice cubes (crushed ice melts too fast and will dilute too much)
3. Add equal quantities of the gin, fresh lemon juice and sugar syrup
4. Stir the mixture vigrously (helps to cool the mixture)
5. Top up with sparkling water and give it another stir.  Have a taste and see if you need to add any more of the 3 main flavours to give a balanced flavour. It shouldn't be overpoweringly sweet, sour or alcoholic.
6. Serve with a few slices of lemon and dream of sunshine and blue seas

For a variation - add a few mint leaves to  the mixture and bruise them as you mix with the ice.  Gives a fresher flavour and more fragrant finished article.

Pomada - Best served here

Enjoy!

Summer Linguine with Aged Pecorino

I've actually got organised and put in an order from Ocado (25% off? Yes please) which is going to turn up til Monday night.  So a storecupboard supper using up the bits and bobs left in the fridge definitely seemed the way to go tonight. One of those bits was a hunk of glorious aged Pecorino that I picked up on a visit to Borough Market a couple weeks ago - I'd love to tell you which stall it was from but I've no idea, and besides - half the fun of Borough is exploring and trying so I invite you to go and find out for yourself is you get the chance!  I'd not used Pecorino before, but it has the deep, salty umami taste of a parmesan but with more of an earthiness to it and a less crumbly texture.  As my housemate noted - its also quite pongy for a hard cheese so you might want to lock it up well!

Also the diet seems to have gone a bit haywire again - I blame multiple hangovers and a lingering bout of flu that's been hanging on for over a week.  I mean its AUGUST - WTF???  So carbs have sneakied back into my diet this week - sometimes only the comfort derived from a bowl of steaming pasta will do.  Today was such a day.

For once this isn't a bastardisation of a known recipe - but these ingredients are such natural bedfellows that when you combine them you know it by instinct anyway. Its not startlingly original, but its fresh and satisfying, and great for a cool summer evening with a nice crisp white.

Ingredients

Linguine - or other pasta, but preferably something long like spaghetti, Tagliatelle or Pappardelle.
Good Olive Oil - several glugs
Garlic - 2 or 3 cloves grated or crushed
4 spring onions - the whites chopped quite small, the green left bigger
handful of ripe cherry tomatoes
peas - frozen are fine, just pour some boling water over them to defrost
some fresh basil
A squeeze of lemon
Aged Pecorino (finely grated)  - Parmesan is great instead.
1 egg (optional)
salt and pepper

Equipment
1 large saucepan
1 other large pan - sauce pan or frying pan is fine - what ever you have
Garlic crusher or grater

Method
This is a quick recipe, so you should be able to make the sauce in the time it takes to cook up the pasta

1. Put the water on to boil and cook the linguine according to the instructions on the pack.  Drain, and reserve a little of the cooking water to loosen the sauce if necessary.
2. Warm a couple of glugs of olive oil in the other pan over a low/medium heat. Add the crushed garlic and spring onions. If you crush the garlic rather than chop it takes less time to cook and distributes more evenly through the sauce.  You don't want any of it to colour or over cook - just take away the harshness of the raw.  2 or 3 minutes should do it.
3. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and add to the onion and garlic, along with the basil and the peas.  Cook for another couple of minutes to heat the peas and cause the juices from the tomatoes to start to run.  
4. Add a squeeze of lemon - this really helps to lift the flavours and lightens the whole dish. Taste and season - remember you still have the salty cheese to add, so don't go too wild with the salt.  Add a little more lemon to your taste - but go easy, you don't want to over power it, so add a little at a time and taste after each addition.
5. Add the drained linguine to the sauce, drizzle a little more oil over if you like and a few more basil leaves.  If it looks a bit dry, then add a little of the cooking water to get it moving.
6. Serve with a generous sprinkle of the grated Pecorino and a grind or two of black pepper.

Optional extras
There are a couple of tweaks that work well with this sort of recipe that you might find works better for you.  The recipe above is very light, fresh and clean.  The two following options make for a deeper, richer and thicker sauce.

Option 1: Cheesy Linguine... This gives the dish a much more intense flavour from the cheese.

Once you've drained the pasta, toss it in some of the grated Pecorino.  The residual heat will cause the cheese to melt and cling to the pasta instead of melting into the sauce as it does when you add it at the end.  Then add the pasta to the sauce as before. I'd love to claim this as my idea but i actually heard about it in a book - Frances Mayes' "Everyday in Tuscany".  I've got all of her books on audio - perfect for some vicarious daydreaming on my dreary commute along the Metropolitan line.

Option 2: Eggy goodness - for a richer, thicker, creamier sauce - without using cream.  I never have cream in the fridge - but I've almost always got an egg to hand.  Its the same idea as for as a carbonara, and would work very well if you are using one of the broader, flatter pastas like Tagliatelle of Parpadelle.

Follow the main method right up until the point of serving. Once you've mixed in the linguine to the sauce - turn off the heat and break an egg in on top.  Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon to mix up the egg, but try not to bash the tomatoes around too much (tricky).  The heat from the pan and the other ingredients will cook the egg and with it give the whole lot a lovely silky texture.  BUT only if you don't have too much heat or cook it for too long. If you do that, you will probably end up with pasta and scrambled egg!  So keep stirring and watch the consistency as it changes.  Then serve as before.

And that's it - to quote a Meerkat (ahem) - Simples!

Have fun making it your own!

Totally Guilty Carrot Cupcakes

I was feeling particularly guilty at the weekend as I was about to tell my team at work that I had handed in my notice and was abandoning them.  So i decided to do some guilt baking to soften them up - and these little beauties are just right for the job.  I'm a big fan of carrot cake - in fact its right up there in my top - oooh 5 or so cakes (its a hard choice), but have found that its hard to get that depth taste and texture with the mini versions which have a tendency to dry out.  Not so with these bad boys - they are very moist, with the soaked sultanas giving an extra pop of flavour with you bite into them - and the rich sticky icing is enough to make even the most saintly soul feel a little bit guilty!

The recipe is adapted from http://www.joyofbaking.com/CarrotCupcake.html - thanks for the inspiration! As usual i didn't have all the ingredients and have tweaked it out of preference and necessity.

My scales are broken at the moment, so everything was done the American way - by volume and I have to say I may be a convert.  I also have very little in the way of kitchen equipment, so most things are done by hand in my method - if you have a lovely Kenwood mixer or something then by all means use it (especially for the icing which is a total ball ache by hand)!  This should make about 20 little parcels of carrotty loveliness.

Ingredients:

 2 cups (260g) plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground Allspice
4 large eggs, beaten
1 cup (200g) soft brown sugar and caster sugar (use what you have in the cupboard - I used about 3/4 brown)
1 cup (240 ml) sunflower oil or other light flavourless oil (vegetable or a very light olive oil)
21/2 cups (260g) grated raw carrots
1 large apple grated
1 cup (100g) sultanas
2 tbsp orange based fruit juice
Some hot black tea
Optional : 1/2 cup (55g) pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped and dusted in flour to help stop them sinking (I leave them out)

Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
8 ounces (227g) cream cheese, room temperature
3 cups (330g) icing sugar, sifted
2 tsp Vanilla paste (if you have to use essence then only use 1 tsp)

Equipment:
Two large mixing bowls
one small bowl
Measuring jug
Wooden spoon
Sieve
Whisk
Metal spoon
Hand mixer
Paper Muffin Cases
Muffin or cup cake baking trays - a normal flat baking tray will do, but your cakes won't be very round!

For the cakes

• Pre heat the oven to 180C and line your muffin tins with paper cases.
• Place the sultanas and juice into the small bowl, boil the kettle and make yourself  a cup of tea - before you add the milk, pour enough of the hot black tea on to the sultanas to nearly cover them in liquid.  Give them a stir and zap in the microwave for about 15 seconds.  Leave to soak - they should plump up considerably.

• In one of your big bowls whisk together the dry ingredients (Flour, salt, bicarb and spice).  Whisking has a similar effect to sieving the flour by adding air, but with less kitchen coverage.

• In your other bowl whisk the oil and sugar together until slightly thickened (I used my little electric hand mixer for this) then whisk in the beaten eggs til throughly mixed
• Fold in the flour with a big metal spoon, don't beat out all the air.  Then fold in the grated carrot, apple, plumped-up sultanas and nuts if you're using them.

• Now divide your mixture between the cases and bake for about 20 minutes. Test by sticking a skewer into the centre of one, if it comes out clean its done. Take them out and cool on a rack.

For the icing

• In a big bowl, cream the butter with a wooden spoon - use an electric mixer if you have one.  Then beat in the cream cheese until its all smooth and pale. 
• Now beat in the sifted icing sugar - its may help to put a damp tea towel over the bowl as you start this to help reduce the blizzard-in-a-kitchen look. 
• Finally stir in the vanilla paste and mix thoroughly.  You should now have something resembling very thick cream shot through with little specks of vanilla - and it tastes GORGEOUS!! 

And Finally
My icing went a bit runny so I just dolloped a spoonful on each cooled cupcake and swirled it about a bit.  If you want yours a bit firmer then beat it for longer or try adding some more icing sugar which should help thicken it up a bit - then if you're feeling fancy you can pipe it on to the cakes.  Either way its all good!

Now get unloading that guilt - although i ate rather a lot of mine, so ended up feeling even more guilty.  What a bitch.