One of my favorite autumn or winter lunches, it lends itself really well to swapping any of the vegetable components to create a truly tailored flavour. Great with a chunk of bread or a nice soda bread. Carrots (washed & chopped) 2 Onions peeled & diced 2 Garlic clove peeled 1 Swede diced 1/2 Parsnips peeled & sliced 1 Mixed herbs Pinch Vegetable stock 1 litre Vegetable oil 2 dessert spoon Sweat all of the veg in a large pan for about four or five minutes, or until softened. Add the herbs & veg stock, bring to a boil & simmer until all of the vegetables are tender. Blend until smooth & season with salt & pepper, finish with a little cream if you like. Enjoy! |
Friday, 17 September 2010
Winter root vegetable soup
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Lime & Basil Tart
I've been making lemon tart for years now & one day whilst thinking about flavours (as you do!) I thought how nice a lime one would be, so I tried one. Then I thought how nice it would be with some basil. It has a really zingy zesty flavour & a really delicate texture. I really like it with fresh coconut ice cream.
Ingredients
4 Limes (zest & juice)
180grm Caster sugar
3 Eggs
200ml Double cream
12-15 Fresh basil leaves
Method
Line a tart case 20-25cm with sweet pastry. Blind bake until the pastry is cooked, allow to
cool slightly.
Place lime zest & juice into a suitable mixing bowl, whisk in the sugar.
Whisk in the cream & then add the eggs & whisk. Lastly stir in the shreaded basil leaves.
Carefully pour into a blind baked pastry case
Bake at 180°C gas 5 until just set, approximately 30-40 mins.
Glaze if desired with icing sugar & hot grill or blow torch
Enjoy!
Ingredients
4 Limes (zest & juice)
180grm Caster sugar
3 Eggs
200ml Double cream
12-15 Fresh basil leaves
Method
Line a tart case 20-25cm with sweet pastry. Blind bake until the pastry is cooked, allow to
cool slightly.
Place lime zest & juice into a suitable mixing bowl, whisk in the sugar.
Whisk in the cream & then add the eggs & whisk. Lastly stir in the shreaded basil leaves.
Carefully pour into a blind baked pastry case
Bake at 180°C gas 5 until just set, approximately 30-40 mins.
Glaze if desired with icing sugar & hot grill or blow torch
Enjoy!
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Supermarket culture & the lost cooking generation
Since setting out on the path of writing, I've been thinking more about food, which is tricky considering I think about little else! My thoughts keep coming back to why the majority of people are so disinterested and apathetic to food and it's production?
For some it's a lack of cookery skills, almost a lost generation of people, many of my age just weren't taught to cook by their parents. Some aren't bothered with cooking and some people just have no interest in where their food comes from. I think for many it's probably just the overwhelming array of ready meals and convenience products in the shops. A kind of a 'why should I make a pizza when I can buy one ready for the oven?' The answer for me is simple, given how tasty and fresh a homemade pizza can be, with a quids worth of ingredients and a half hour of effort. For me, it's all about the taste.
People take convenience over anything else (including quality and taste) these days. our parents used to shop in the high street, visiting the butchers, green grocer, fish monger and then doing a little shopping at the small high street supermarket. most of that heritage has been wiped away with the advent of the modern supermarket. What amazes me is when someone says to me that they visited a proper greengrocer and they comment how everything was so fresh and cheap! my response is generally that of a 'told you so!' Supermarkets are fine if that's your sort of thing, but convenience costs and not just in extra money from your pocket, there is also the issue of producer and animal welfare.
Sure we've all seen the TV types showing the plight of intensively farmed animals, these types of programmes raise awareness (which is great) unfortunately it seldom lasts and shoppers slip back into old ways. I think the answer for most is driven by cost and sadly others just don't care; either way, two chickens for £6 in the supermarket is generally enough to sway the shopper.
The supermarkets obviously look after their own interests, they make products seem better value than they are and do not push the welfare or producer side to many of the products. Supermarkets see welfare and producer awareness as value added, but I firmly believe that both should be at the top of a marketing strategy.
Lots of shoppers who care about what they eat look for these value added items, increased animal welfare such as free range or organic. Producer welfare is also very important, fair trade has seen the advent of much improved deals for producers in third world countries, but why do shoppers accept our dairy farmers being squeezed to produce cheaper and cheaper milk, basically cutting their profit to absolute minimum.
Shoppers have little awareness other than that of cost and that is distorted due to the way supermarkets price their deals, but if we could make people a little more aware then there would surely be a better and fairer deal for all.
For some it's a lack of cookery skills, almost a lost generation of people, many of my age just weren't taught to cook by their parents. Some aren't bothered with cooking and some people just have no interest in where their food comes from. I think for many it's probably just the overwhelming array of ready meals and convenience products in the shops. A kind of a 'why should I make a pizza when I can buy one ready for the oven?' The answer for me is simple, given how tasty and fresh a homemade pizza can be, with a quids worth of ingredients and a half hour of effort. For me, it's all about the taste.
People take convenience over anything else (including quality and taste) these days. our parents used to shop in the high street, visiting the butchers, green grocer, fish monger and then doing a little shopping at the small high street supermarket. most of that heritage has been wiped away with the advent of the modern supermarket. What amazes me is when someone says to me that they visited a proper greengrocer and they comment how everything was so fresh and cheap! my response is generally that of a 'told you so!' Supermarkets are fine if that's your sort of thing, but convenience costs and not just in extra money from your pocket, there is also the issue of producer and animal welfare.
Sure we've all seen the TV types showing the plight of intensively farmed animals, these types of programmes raise awareness (which is great) unfortunately it seldom lasts and shoppers slip back into old ways. I think the answer for most is driven by cost and sadly others just don't care; either way, two chickens for £6 in the supermarket is generally enough to sway the shopper.
The supermarkets obviously look after their own interests, they make products seem better value than they are and do not push the welfare or producer side to many of the products. Supermarkets see welfare and producer awareness as value added, but I firmly believe that both should be at the top of a marketing strategy.
Lots of shoppers who care about what they eat look for these value added items, increased animal welfare such as free range or organic. Producer welfare is also very important, fair trade has seen the advent of much improved deals for producers in third world countries, but why do shoppers accept our dairy farmers being squeezed to produce cheaper and cheaper milk, basically cutting their profit to absolute minimum.
Shoppers have little awareness other than that of cost and that is distorted due to the way supermarkets price their deals, but if we could make people a little more aware then there would surely be a better and fairer deal for all.
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