Ready Set Go!

This month I have gone a bit wobbly.

Or to be precise, my recipes have a wobble theme running through them.

I've featured jellies before on this blog of course- but always sweet ones, using fruit flavoured jelly crystals, rather than gelatine. Like my Muscat Jelly:

Muscat Jelly
http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=muscat+jelly

Or my Mulled Wine Jelly - for using up leftovers at Christmas:

Mulled Wine Jelly
http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=mulled+wine+jelly

Or even a jelly baby jacuzzi- for children's parties:

Jelly Baby Jacuzzi- sorry about the nudity!

This time I am being much more grown up and making a savoury terrine, with salmon and lentils - all set together using gelatine.

First, cook 1 cup of Puy lentils in 5 times their volume of water with two bay leaves. Drain and cool, then season well with salt and pepper.
Then cook two shredded leeks in butter until tender and again cool and season well.
Now poach 1 salmon fillet in some white wine and a little dill if you have it.
When cool, flake into pieces and reserve the cooking liquor.

Line a small terrine dish or loaf tin with cling film. Cover this with slices of smoked salmon so they overlap the edges a bit. Make sure there are no gaps.

Line your dish with clingfilm and slices of smoked salmon

Soak 6 gelatine leaves in cold water and make up 200ml of  hot fish or vegetable stock (added to the cooking liquor from the salmon). Squeeze out the gelatine leaves and add to the hot stock, stirring to dissolve the gelatine.

Mix together your leeks and lentils, checking the seasoning as you go.

Mix together lentils and leeks

Time to begin layering up your terrine- on top of the smoked salmon, spoon on a layer of lentils and leeks, pressing down as you go.

Then a layer of flaked salmon: 

Layer on the flaked salmon

And finish with a layer of leeks and lentils.

Gently pour on the gelatine stock, allowing it to soak in. Then fold over the smoked salmon to make a parcel, do the same with the cling film, press down well and leave to refrigerate for a couple of hours.

When you are ready to unmould the terrine, turn it out onto a plate and peel off the cling film. Any excess jelly will come away with the film. 

Et voilà!

Serve sliced as an entrée

Ready for its close-up

And the leftovers make a lovely main course salad the next day.

Salmon and lentil terrine

You will probably also have leftover lentils and leeks, which again are marvellous in a salad or as a side dish with sausages or pork chops. Mix them with a little crême fraîche and Dijon mustard to enhance the flavour.

It's a short blog this month- but next month look out for an Atelier de Cuisine special as we celebrate the end of term!

Class of 2017!

Week 32- Support Your Local Fisherman!

As dedicated blog readers will know, I live facing the ever-changing waters of the English Channel.

My morning view

I only have to look out of my bedroom window to see the fisherman at high tide laying their crab and lobster pots- and it's only a short bike ride to the fish shop to buy their catch.

I always like to look for their special offers- like lemon sole for £1 each (which will feature on another post soon)- and yesterday's bargain which was 10 freshly caught plaice for £2.50!

We had two for supper last night- and I made two into dishes for the freezer. The rest I cleaned and trimmed and froze whole in layers to make more meals as the autumn goes on.

So, today's menu is all about fish: a simple Fisherman's Salad to start, an even simpler tray baked plaice with crushed new potatoes, and a coconut rice pudding to finish (well, a fishy pud might not be that nice.) I did use local blackberries to make the coulis though.

For the salad, dress some mixed leaves with a lemon vinaigrette ( 2 parts olive oil, 1/2 tablespoon white wine vinegar, juice of half a lemon, a teaspoon of mustard, lots of salt and pepper and 1/2 tsp sugar all shaken up in a screw top jar). Add an assortment of flaked cooked fish- smoked salmon strips, cooked peeled prawns or crayfish tails, fresh anchovies, flaked cooked salmon or tuna- just little tastes of whatever you can spare. Simple as that.

Fisherman's Salad

For the main course, I am grateful to Hugh F-W for this recipe. Bring a pan of new potatoes up to the boil with some mint leaves, then drain, put back in the pan, dot with butter, salt and pepper and a handful each of chopped spring onions and chives. Put on a lid and leave to steam for a few minutes whilst you prepare the fish. Ask your fishmonger to trim the fish-  to cut off the head and sharp fins. You then just need to clean any blood from the top of the fish and pull away any innards that haven't come away with the heads. Only takes a few minutes under a running tap.

Now crush the new potatoes roughly with a masher or a fork and mix in the spring onions etc

Crushed new potato 'bed'

Lay in a baking dish with some cherry tomatoes, place your plaice on top, drizzle with olive oil, sea salt and the juice of half a lemon (zest as well if you want). Dot with some more butter, cover with foil and bake in a moderate 170 degree oven until the cherry tomatoes wilt down and the skin of the fish begins to blister but not crisp too much (about 15-20 minutes.) Simples.

Place your plaice on top

This is wholesome eating- I'm sure you could make it look pretty but I didn't try!

Tray baked plaice with crushed new potatoes

For dessert, I was using up some leftover coconut milk ( from a curried courgette soup I had earlier in the week, which in turn was using up some leftover courgette flesh from my cauliflower cheese stuffed courgettes!) I dare say those recipes will feature at an appropriate moment on the blog.

Place a cupful of rice in a saucepan (arborio is good, but so is plain old long grain), add a good 1/2 cupful of sugar, two teaspoons of vanilla essence, the coconut milk (I had 2/3 of a can left rinsed out with a little milk or water if you want to stay dairy-free) and 1 tsp of mixed spice. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat to a bare simmer until the rice begins to show holes in its surface.  with a little icing sugar for sweetness.

Rice ready to rest

At this point, test the rice- if it isn't tender, add a tiny bit more liquid and allow to cook a little longer. If it is tender, you can do one of two things: you can spoon it into ramekins, top with grated nutmeg and place in the oven for a little while to develop a 'skin'. If you don't like a skin, just flavour it with whatever you like: nutmeg, apple, cinnamon, rum and raisins or fruit puree. I used stewed hedgerow blackberries

Coconut rice pudding with blackberries

I have deliberately made more rice pudding than I need as I have a cunning recipe for the leftovers which will feature next week. 

As for the other leftovers from today's meal: the leftover smoked salmon (can you believe there was such a thing?) went into a salad with the leftover new potatoes and a horseradish cream dip (creme fraiche and horseradish sauce mixed- scrumptious with salmon!)

Smoked salmon with horseradish and potato salad

And there's a freezer full of fish to think about too!

Week 19- Afternoon Tea for Two

Afternoon tea for two

Around here, June is the month for garden parties, church flower festivals, weddings and village fetes. The bunting is out, the bands are playing and the flower arrangers,  jam makers and cake bakers are working flat out. What better time to think about sitting down to a civilized afternoon tea for two?

This week's blog looks at the traditional tiffin- three dainty courses, but served elegantly on the lawn or in the parlour.




A traditional afternoon tea has three elements: the savoury course (made up of dainty sandwiches and small savoury treats), the sweet course ( tiny cakes and meringues) and the cream tea (scones, with cream, and jam or fruit and a pot of tea.)

My version features smoked salmon sandwiches along with cucumber and dill squares and cakes aux olives for the savoury course. Followed by a trio of fairy cakes - a mini Victoria sponge, a butterfly cake and an iced fairy cake- along with meringues with fruit and cream. Plus of course the scones!

Sandwiches, cakes and meringues

The sandwiches should have the crusts removed and the bread cut into shapes (triangles and squares for example). The cucumber and dill filling is delightful- spread the bread with herby cream cheese into which you have mixed some chopped dill, then add layers of peeled and finely sliced cucumber.

Don't waste those crusts though- I cut mine into cubes and froze them in a container to use as croutons in salads and soups.

Future croutons!

The olive cakes have featured before on the blog- but it is my most popular recipe -so no apologies for featuring it again.

Ingredients- 160g of olives, 100g of self raising flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 3 eggs, 1 pot natural yoghurt or 100 ml of skimmed milk, 80 ml of olive oil and 100g of grated cheese.

Roughly chop the olives, beat the eggs into the milk and then combine all the ingredients in a large mixing jug. Pour into silicone muffin moulds and bake at 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes until firm and golden.

Cakes aux olives

For the fairy cakes- make up a plain cake batter using 125g of self raising flour, 125g of butter and 125g of caster sugar, 1 tsp of vanilla essence and 2 beaten eggs.Pour into paper cases and bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes until lightly golden.

When cool, split some of the cakes in two and spread with jam and cream, sandwich back together and sprinkle with icing sugar ( to make mini Victoria sponges ), slice the tops off others, fill with cream and then replace the top cut into two 'wings' to make butterfly cakes. Ice the remainder with toppings of your choice- cream and fruit, icing and sprinkles, buttercream icing etc

The meringues are simplicity itself (if you buy shop meringue nests). Just top with creme fraiche and berries.

Scones are next. I always follow a recipe from my mum's old school cookery book circa 1946!

The ratio of ingredients should be 1/8 fat to flour, 1/8 sugar, 1/8 other ingredient eg. fruit

So for 250g of  flour and 2 tsp of baking powder, rub in 60-70g of margarine, add same quantity of fruit and sugar and mix to a stiff dough with approximately 100 ml of milk.
Turn out onto a floured board and shape into a round about 4cm thick.
Use cutters to shape your scones or cut into triangles (for savoury scones).
Place them on a greased baking tray, brush with milk and place in a hot oven (210 degrees) for 4 minutes and then reduce the heat to 190 degrees and cook for a further 10-15 minutes until golden.

Scones can be varied endlessly- why not try mixing in fresh fruit such as rhubarb :

Rhubarb scones

Or cheese, olives, pepper or spring onion for savoury scones:

Cheese scones

But what of the leftovers? Well, cucumber is very good cooked. I made a cucumber and scallion soup- which was tasty warm (but would do nicely chilled in shot glasses as part of a buffet). Just peel and slice the remaining cucumber,slice some spring onions and add them all to some vegetable stock. simmer for 20 minutes or so, then blitz with a little skimmed milk. Season to taste and decorate with chopped herbs.

Olive cakes freeze really well, and I often have one or two with a salad as part of my packed lunch.

So there you have it: afternoon tea for two and a few extra meals besides.

I will leave you with some images of the church
fete so you can conjure up the right ambiance!

A quintessentially British summer event! (With tea and cakes.)

Week 9- Sunday Lunch

The great Easter cookathon has begun- and kicked off in style with Easter Sunday lunch.

Although I love other cuisines- indeed this blog is testament to all the different recipes from around the world that I like to try- you can't beat a British Sunday lunch.

Cooking one is not a Herculean task- it is just simple fare cooked well- but I do love to let someone else
do it and go out every now and then for a pub roast : log fire crackling, rosy cheeks from wine or beer and hearty food. A pub Sunday roast is one of life's great pleasures.

Here are a few roasts I have known and loved:

Roast Turkey at the Pilot

Rolled Roast Belly of Pork at the Royal

Roast beef and yorkshire pud at The Bridge

But  for today, I am doing the cooking and we are having roast chicken.

Today's three course menu starts with an entree gourmand: just like the desserts gourmands that I often feature but with a savoury theme (seafood in this case), followed by roast chicken with all the trimmings and chocolate cake to finish.

For the starter, I laid out little tastes of different seafood entrees- a small prawn cocktail in sauce marie rose (ketchup, tomato sauce and a squeeze of lemon), a smoked salmon parcel ( filled with salmon mousse: 1 cup of smoked or flaked salmon, 1 cup of low fat cream cheese and a squeeze of lemon blitzed together) and blinis topped with creme fraiche and onuga caviar. (Click on the cloud at the top of this blog for the blini recipe from 2 weeks ago- these were made then and frozen. They reheat in a minute or two in a hot oven.)

entree gourmand

To roast chicken to perfection- I like to part-steam/part-roast mine. I place the bird in a casserole dish (glass is best), squeeze lemon juice over it, strategically place the squeezed lemon (in the cavity), drizzle over some olive oil, herbs and salt and pepper- then add a full glass of water to the dish. Pop on the lid and roast for 1- 1and a half hours at 170 degrees depending on the size of the chicken. The water makes the roast beautifully moist and produces a large quantity of jus for gravy- and the glass top ensures that the bird browns nicely in the oven. The chicken is cooked when a knife inserted into the thickest part of the thigh comes out with only clear juices (not pink) bubbling out of the hole.

Cauliflower cheese

Chicken ready for roasting

The secret to a successful Sunday roast is - gravy and vegetable accompaniments. We had cauliflower cheese, steamed leeks with spring greens, maple glazed parsnips, carrots and roast potatoes. (The parsnips are par boiled, then fried in butter and maple syrup and put in the oven to finish browning and crisping). For cauliflower cheese- lightly steam a head of cauliflower and break it into florets. Place in a gratin dish and pour over 500ml of bechamel sauce and 125g grated mature cheddar. Cook in the oven for 40 minutes alongside the roast chicken and the roast potatoes.

Maple glazed parsnips

Pudding has to be something chocolatey for Easter- so I opted for a chocolate cake. The only choc cake I am any good at is a dense French one not unlike a chocolate brownie (called a moelleux au chocolat)- but so delicious and simple:

You need
 200g of dark chocolate
150 g soft butter
100g sugar
50 g self raising flour
2 whole eggs and 2 egg whites

Beat the egg whites until just forming soft peaks, beat the butter with the sugar and then add the whole eggs one by one. Melt the chocolate in the microwave with a splash of water for 1 minute. Mix it into the eggs and butter, then add the flour. Carefully slide in the egg whites, folding them into the mixture rather than stirring them in. Pour into a greased cake tin and bake at 150 degrees for 25-30 minutes- crucially, until the top is firm but a cocktail stick inserted into the very centre still comes out with some gooey mixture on it. That way you have a chocolate cake with a squidgy centre which is the key to it success.

Straight out of the oven

Moelleux- ready to eat

A meal like this one generates loads of leftovers- I have half a chicken, some cauliflower cheese, vegetables of all sorts, gravy and half a chocolate cake to finish up.

With the chicken, leeks and gravy, I plan to make a Chow Phan (Chinese rice dish with chicken, spring onions and leeks, bacon, egg, mushroom and anything else I have to hand. Type it into the search box for the recipe).

Chow Phan

I also plan to use the carcass to make a chicken, noodle and vegetable soup for later in the week.

Noodle soup

With the leftover vegetables, I could make soup or bubble and squeak as you know I often do- but this time I am going to experiment with a vegetable crumble. If it works, I'll post it up on the blog with the recipe.

As for the chocolate cake- it will keep on being munched until the last few slices which I plan to chop and make part of chocolate and caramel ice cream sundaes. Photos will follow!

But for now, it's time to curl up with the Sunday papers, a cup of tea and nibble a little Easter egg from my edible table centre piece:

Don't look so sad little chick- I'll take the cocktail stick out later!

Week 7- Eggs-tra special!

 It's nearly Easter so I thought I'd get in early with the egg puns.

I also thought I'd go for some slightly more indulgent ingredients, for a bit of luxury- but still not breaking the bank.

I've chosen a four course menu this week - each course celebrating the humble egg, but in a not so humble way.


The appetizer is blini-style buckwheat pancakes, followed by a starter of miso ramen soup. Main course is truffled scrambled egg on toast and dessert is creme caramel with maple syrup.

Blinis are usually made with yeast added to the batter- but this simple version uses baking powder to make these little pancakes light.

Sift together 50g of buckwheat flour, 100g of plain flour, a pinch of salt and a a tsp of baking powder into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add 1 beaten egg, 80g of melted butter or margarine and 185ml of milk. Mix well until you have a creamy batter.

Fry in batches

Heat a frying pan and add a spray of oil and fry teaspoonfuls of the mixture in batches, until golden on both sides. Drain on kitchen paper. This mixture should make 30 or more 'blinis'.

Plenty of bucks for your buckwheat

Top the pancakes with a dollop of creme fraiche mixed with horseradish and a frond of dill for a vegetarian version- or add a few strips of smoked salmon trimmings, or best of all a 1/4 tsp of onuga 'caviar' or black herring roe.

Finished blinis

The miso ramen is a hot vegetable broth with ramen (or egg noodles if you prefer) cooked in it. It is then poured over stir fried veg (and some sliced cooked chicken for non-veggies) and topped with a little beaten egg and soy sauce, swirled into the hot broth to cook it just before serving.

For the broth, dissolve 2 tsp miso paste in 1 litre of hot vegetable or chicken stock, add chopped spring onions or leeks and leave to simmer.
Cook the noodles for 2-3 minutes until tender and then drain and refresh with cold water.

Choose your stir fry veg

Heat a wok and stir fry your veg- I  used beansprouts, baby corn, mangetout, and  peppers - then pour over the hot miso stock.

Swirl through the egg

Layer the noodles (and the cooked chicken if you are using it) into deep soup bowls. Then spoon over the hot soup and quickly stir in a thin stream of beaten egg and soy sauce and swirl it through to cook.

Miso ramen soup

The main course is a real touch of luxury- but can be done frugally. You can buy truffle butter in Italian delis like Carluccios. I bought a jar of salsa truffina in the supermarket and added 2 tsp of it to 50g of melted butter in a non-stick saucepan.

(It is worth planning here what to do with the rest of the jar - take another 2-3 teaspoons and work it into a pack of butter. Roll the butter into a log and wrap in cling film. When firm, unwrap and slice into 'pats', then re-wrap and freeze. That way you have a pat of truffle butter ready to take out whenever you need it. The rest of the jar can be used up later in the week, stirred into pasta.)

Back to the saucepan- warm the butter through and then add 4 beaten eggs ( for 2-3 people) and a splash of milk. Cook on a low heat, stirring constantly to avoid burning until your eggs are scrambled and fluffy.

Truffled scrambled eggs

Serve with toast and dressed salad leaves. Definitely champignomnomnommy.



Finally, creme caramel. I was surprised how easy these were to make from scratch- although I have cheated slightly and used maple syrup rather than make my own caramel. Works brilliantly though.

First of all, butter 6 ramekins lightly, place them in a large roasting pan and pour in some maple or caramel syrup to cover the bases. Then bring 550ml of full cream milk and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract up to a gentle simmer and then turn off the heat. You should use it to make the custard when it is cool enough to put your (clean) little finger in and hold it there for 10 seconds comfortably.
Beat 4 eggs in a jug with 2 tsp of caster sugar and then pour the hot milk onto them, stirring constantly until just thickening slightly. Pour into the ramekins. Next boil a kettle and pour the boiling water into the roasting dish until it comes half way up the sides of the ramekins.

Custards in a bain marie

Cook in a cool oven ( 150 degrees) for 30 minutes or so, until the custards are set when you press the tops.

Allow to cool (this dish is best made the day before you want to serve it). Refrigerate and turn out just before serving. (These puds are silky smooth but quite wobbly as they don't contain any cornflour or thickener.)

If you have custard left over you can make creme brulee- set the custards in little dishes as before, but sprinkle with sugar and flash under a hot grill until the sugar has caramelized and bubbled, then allow to cool and harden before serving.

Creme brulee

The leftover stir fry went well with noodles the next day- and chilli salmon nems: wrap salmon fillets spread with sweet chilli sauce (or red mullet or other meaty fish fillets) in spring roll wrappers or filo pastry, brush with melted butter and a sprinkle of sesame seeds and bake in a hot oven (190 degrees) until the wrapping is golden brown and the salmon should be cooked through (about 15 minutes).

Salmon chilli nems

Ouch!

OK- oven's just pinged....time to get cracking with dinner tonight.