Squash and Tomato Curry with Lime and Coconut

I first ate this gorgeous curry at a friend's house and for weeks could not get the flavours out of my mind... hot, sour and sweet with depth and layers of flavour. Every curry I ate, I compared unfavourably to this one, too bland, too hot, too uniformly flavoured.

Based on a recipe from Skye Gyngell's "My Favourite Ingredients" this is a family favourite, full of zing and reasonably easy to prepare with half an hour on your hands. It feels like a spring dish - light and healthy but rich enough to keep out the chill that still hangs in the air.

Squash and Tomato Curry with Lime and Coconut

1 medium butternut (or other variety) squash
1tbsp vegetable oil
1 red onion, peeled and finely sliced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2 small hot green chillis, chopped (seeds left in)
10 curry leaves
1tsp mustard seeds
1tsp fennel seeds
2tbsp caster sugar
2tbsp fish sauce
Juice of 2 limes
15-20 little ripe tomatoes
340g tin peeled plum tomatoes
250ml coconut milk
A handful of fresh spinach leaves

Peel the squash, scoop out the seeds using a spoon, then slice into 5cm chunks and set aside.
Place a heavy-based pan over a medium heat.
Add the oil and the onion.
Lower the heat and saute for 10 minutes until soft. Add the garlic, chilli and curry leaves and continue to cook gently.
Next, warm a frying pan over a low heat, add the mustard and fennel seeds and cook until they begin to pop.
Remove from the heat and pound to a powder, using a pestle and mortar. Add to the onion, stir to combine and cook gently for a further five minutes.
Add the squash, stir again and cook for 10 minutes, then add the sugar, fish sauce and lime juice.

Taste and then once you feel the flavours are right (hot, sweet and sour - add a little more sugar and fish sauce if the flavour is too mild) add the little ripe tomatoes – squishing them slightly between your fingers as you do so, to help them release their flavour.
Add the tin of plum tomatoes and cook for 20 minutes until the squash is tender when pierced with a fork. Pour in the coconut milk and cook for a final five minutes.
Throw in a large handful of spinach leaves just before serving to wilt gently in the sauce.
Serve with flatbreads.

This is ready to serve immediately but if allowed to cool down, it reheats beautifully as the sweetness and spices permeate the squash even more after resting.

 

Maple Syrup & Oatmeal Scones

 

The sun is out.... the sky is actually blue, the snowdrops are springing around happily in the wind. I know its premature and I know I shouldn't tempt fate but I think it might be spring. Thank goodness for that too, I have never felt quite so desperate for winter to end as I do this year. I have been cooking every day recently enjoying the spring vegetables that are creeping slowly into the shops but because of school holidays, family visits and a plethora of other excuses I have only been cooking late at night (not a good time to take photographs) so have a huge backlog of recipes to share this month.... Happy Spring.... bring on the sunshine and daffodils.

This scone recipe is based on a recipe from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook and is one of my favourite breakfast recipes. They are incredibly moreish, make the house smell A- MAZ-ING, and as this makes quite a big batch of scones, the dough will keep really well in the fridge overnight so you can bake fresh batches all weekend.... how fabulous is that.

Maple Oatmeal Scones

425g plain flour

125g whole wheat flour

125g porridge oats

2tbsp baking powder

2 tbsp light brown sugar

2tsp salt

450g butter

225ml yogurt

25ml milk

125ml maple syrup

4 eggs lightly beaten

Glaze

160g icing sugar

75g maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp porridge oats

Pre-heat the oven to 200C. 

Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl: flours, oats, baking powder, sugar and salt.

Rub the butter into the dry mixture with your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. 

Reserve a couple of tablespoons of eggs to use as an egg wash at the end.

Whisk together the yogurt, maple syrup and eggs and add to the flour and butter.

Stir together until just blended - as with any scone recipe, the scones will be lighter if they are handled as little as possible. 

The dough will be soft and sticky. 

Remove from the bowl onto a well floured surface and using a floured rolling pin, roll to 3cm thick.

Cut into 10cm scones with a round cutter.

Brush the tops with egg wash and bake for 20 minutes until the scones are golden and risen. Allow to cool on a rack while you prepare the maple syrup glaze. 

To make the glaze whisk together the syrup, icing sugar and vanilla till thick and glossy. Drizzle over the still warm scones and sprinkly with a few uncooked oats.

Serve with hot coffee and warm sunshine.

Blue Cheese with Pears, Walnuts and Honey

Is it a starter? Is it dessert? Is it a meal in its own right? I ate this at my lovely friend Sandra's house. One of those recipes that relies on fabulous ingredients treated with respect and love. We had it for dessert and cheese course rolled into one, no need for crackers or bread - the soft cheese smeared on the pears and dragged through the sweet honey was that was needed. Absolutely divine.

Blue Cheese with Pears, Walnuts and Honey
250g of good blue cheese (I used Gorgonzola) 
4 ripe pears
100g walnuts
4 tbsp orange blossom honey (or other aromatic variety)

Take a large platter. In the centre, place a hunk of beautiful pungent blue cheese.
Slice the drippingly ripe pears and lay around the cheese.
Scatter the walnuts are scattered over with abandon before drizzling with aromatic orange blossom honeyto give a luscious golden glow to the whole platter.

Thai- style Mussels with Lime and Lemongrass

Sorry I've been offline for a couple of weeks. I have spent New Year on Phuket Island in Thailand. It was tough but someone had to do it! A fabulous holiday, a true foodie getaway, but very limited internet access so I've had to save all the best ideas, recipes and local insider knowledge until I got back. Having a local tour guide at the market was a real boon, daily lessons in how to prepare the most basic of Thai food and explanations of the more unusual fruits and vegetables has sent me home with a whole new palate of flavours to play with. Getting away from all the snow, the cold, the undelivered Christmas presents and the burst pipes was just the icing on the cake!

These mussels are light, healthy and full of bright, fresh flavours. Good for a January health kick when low calorie, low fat and full flavour are on the menu but good too for a chilli hot blast to banish those winter colds and flus that have been hanging around for the past few weeks.

Thai- style Mussels with Lime and Lemongrass
1kg large fresh mussels
100ml white wine
Juice of 1 lime
2 lime leaves, ripped into large pieces
2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
1 hot green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, left whole
2 sticks lemon grass, outer leaves removed and chopped
50g galangal or fresh ginger, peeled thinly sliced
large handful fresh basil

Clean the mussels and throw out any that are cracked.
Tap any open mussels and discard those that don't close.
Place the mussels in a large saucepan, add all the remaining ingredients except the basil. 
Cover, bring to the boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes until the mussels are open. 
Discard any that remain closed.
Remove from the heat, sprinkle over the fresh basil and serve in deep plates with steamed rice or crusty bread to mop up the fragrant juices.

Red Cabbage with Cranberries and Rioja

Time to get cracking:  a week long creative project, interspersed with lots of parties, a significant amount of chocolate and far too much Champagne. I am trying to lay down a few more things in the freezer, just to get ahead of the game for the weekend and to ensure that I don't spend the whole of saturday in the kitchen when I could be playing with the toys and relaxing with guests.

There are traditional dishes that a Christmas table needs to keep the ancestors happy. Roast potatoes, root vegetables and red cabbage are just a few of them. Even if there is only one person remaining in the house who likes red cabbage, you can't miss it out. This version has the sharpness of cranberries and Granny Smiths melded with the warmth of Rioja and a little zing of chilli to finish. A perfect foil to the richness of a Christmas roast.

Red Cabbage with Cranberries and Rioja
1tbsp olive oil
1 onion, sliced thinly into half moons
1 small head of red cabbage, finely shredded
2 sharp eating apples (I used Granny Smiths), grated
100g fresh cranberries 
3tbsp soft brown sugar
350ml rioja or other fruity red wine
1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt

Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add the onion and fry slowly until softened but not coloured.
Add the cabbage, apples and cranberries to the pan and mix together well.
Sprinkle the sugar over the mixture and add the wine and hot pepper flakes (if using).
Cook at a very low heat for around 1 1/2 - 2hours until soft and melting together.
Season to taste with a generous sprinkle of salt and allow to cool.
The dish is now ready to freeze or leave in the fridge for up to 2 days until needed. The flavours improve with age.

Kilted Sausages and Cranberry & Apple Stuffing

Living in fear of being snowed in has led me to a new and very lovely place in my life: I am really quite organised for Christmas. Presents have been bought or (hopefully) are on their way. Cakes have been baked for home and for the Green Apple Cafe, canapes have been made and frozen and only interesting side dishes remain to be considered.

There is something so depressing about kilted sausages in a supermarket pack. Usually 12 miniature sausages with a wafer thin wrapping of bacon in a huge plastic pack. Why depressing? Well either you need lots of packs or you are getting one or at best two tiny sausages with your Christmas dinner. "That's enough for me," you might say, and while I might agree with you on the day, it is simply too frugal for that particular meal. So I need to make mine at home. Not rocket science but one of those little side dishes that is worth a little bit of time and effort sourcing the ingredients. A good butcher for the chipolata sausages (get lots), well cured bacon, I found some maple cured streaky bacon. Then simply run the flat of a knife along the streaky bacon to stretch it out a little thinner, then wrap each little sausage in a little kilt of bacon. Cook alongside the turkey as you would a very small pack of supermarket sausages. It is well worth a drizzle of maple syrup with a light hand just a few minutes before you take them out of the oven to accentuate the sweetness of the bacon.

A proper recipe this time for Cranberry stuffing. Another simple recipe but with the best ingredients, it makes a special addition to Christmas dinner. Either buy good sausages and split their skins to remove the sausage meat or speak to your local butcher and ask for their best shop-made sausage meat. This stuffing can be used in the traditional way to stuff a turkey but I prefer it cooked seperately

Cranberry, Apple and Pork Stuffing
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
500g good quality sausage meat
100g fresh cranberries, roughly chopped
2 green apples, peeled and grated
zest of one tangerine or small orange
1 egg

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
In a heavy frying pan, heat the oil, add the onion and saute until transluscent but not coloured.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
In a large bowl, stir the onion together with all the other ingredients until well combined. The easiest way is to knead with your hands.
Either roll the mixture into small balls the size of walnuts or press into a loaf tin.(If you must, use it to stuff the turkey but this makes the turkey even harder to cook so I prefer to cook it seperately as a side dish)
For walnut sized balls, bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until cooked through. For stuffing baked in a loaf tin, bake for 45-60 minutes until golden and cooked throughout. Serve with turkey or with any roast dinner.

Fig and Goat Cheese Biscotti

Don't know about you but I have done the trawling through busy shops, wading through slushy car parks, rushing to the post office for last posting dates and late night list making and now I am more than ready to get started on the nice bits of Christmas. You know? The bits that make it all worthwhile. Decorating the house with the children, wrapping presents with the Pogues playing in the background and making Christmas biscuits: It's time to turn on the oven and get into baking mode, snowy stars to hang on the Christmas tree for the kids and these gorgeous savoury biscotti for me. 

The cheeseboard is my very favourite part of any meal and at this time of year, the usual water biscuits and oatcakes are just not good enough. These biscotti are dense, rich and a great addition to a cheese platter although I quite like them on their own with a cocktail. You can't beat the mix of strong flavoured cheese with the intense sweetness of dried fruit. You could replace the goat cheese with a blue cheese or even with a strong cheddar. However, if you make them, it is definitely worth making double and giving these away wrapped in cellophane as a gift.

Fig and Goat Cheese Biscotti

350g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp milk
100g soft goat cheese, crumbled
100g soft dried figs, chopped into 1cm chunks

Pre-heat the oven to 180C

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl.                                                       

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk.
Add the wet ingredients into the dry along with the goat cheese and figs.
Mix together until the dough comes together, if it is too dry, add a little more milk until you have a workable dough.

Form into two long, wide logs (approx 7cm x 30cm) on a baking tray and bake in the oven for around 30 mins until risen and golden.

Allow to cool a little then cut the logs into 2cm wide slices.

Put these back on the baking tray and bake again for 10-15 mins till golden and crispy.