Put ‘Chestnut Stuffing’ into Google and the first result is from Delia Online resurrecting an 18th Century recipe and advocating those traditional 18th century vacuum packed chestnuts.  Having already invested in 2 for 1 fresh chestnuts, this was an instant turn off.  Hit number two on Google was a ‘Classic Chestnut stuffing recipe’ from Waitrose.

With the Waitrose recipe as a starting point, it felt appropriate to throw in a few extra ‘Christmassy’ ingredients to add a little more excitement to the recipe.  The basic recipe is available on the Waitrose Website or the What I Ate Today variation is below:

• 3 large shallots,
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large clove garlic
• 110g (4oz) streaky bacon
• 55g (2oz) butter
• 400g (14oz) chestnuts, peeled whole and roughly crumbled
• 170g (6oz) fresh white breadcrumbs
• Juice and zest of 2 lemons
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh sage
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 100g dried cranberries
• 100-150ml of traditional dry Cider (more if the mix is dry)

To prepare the chestnuts, I used a small, sharp paring knife and made a cross on the pointed end of each chestnut.  I then dropped them into a pan of cold water on the hob and turned up the heat.  bring to boil and then simmer for 10-15 mins.  The chestnuts will swell and start to split.  While the chestnuts are simmering, it’s a good opportunity to prepare the remaining ingredients:

• peel and dice the shallots,
• crush the garlic
• chop the bacon into 1cm squares
• make the breadcrumbs (blitz bread in food processor)
• chop the herbs

Its a good idea to let the chestnuts cool a bit before you start peeling.  This method makes the chestnuts go soft (not a problem for the stuffing) and it is possible to actually squeeze the flesh out or to peel the outside off with your fingers.  Roughly chop any larger pieces, leaving them a bit larger for texture.  It does take a little time, but patience is a virtue and since you only need some of the cider for the recipe, you can open up the cider and enjoy some (not all) while you peel!

The remaining steps are simple and quick.

• Fry the bacon and onion in the oil until golden, then add the garlic butter and peeled chestnuts and fry for 2 more minutes.
• Add everything else except the cider.  The Waitrose recipe called for juice of one lemon; I added the second to counteract the sweetness of the cranberries which I added.
• Finally, add cider little by little until the mix stops being a dry, friable mix and begins to clump together a little.

Don’t saturate the mixture as you want the mix to be dry enough to absorb some of the juices from the meat when you cook it.   I usually about 100-150ml of dry cider – I avoid sweet cider as the dried cranberries are already sweet.

The stuffing works really well stuffed inside a roasted pheasant (pheasants seem to love chestnuts) and takes on a really moist, meaty flavour.  Stuffing rolled into small balls and baked around the meat tends to be lighter, drier and crisper, but still delicious.  If you plan to use the meat juices for gravy/sauce, don’t add too much stuffing around the meat or it may all be absorbed.

Having seen how simple and relatively quick it is to make stuffing like this, I’m a convert – the chestnuts add a sweetness and smoothness which made the effort worthwhile.  Reflecting upon this recipe,  I realised that I really enjoyed the time spent together in the kitchen peeling chestnuts, drinking cider and chatting with the people helping me.  I am assured that you can’t tell the difference between fresh and vacuum packed chestnuts.  If you really cant spare time to prep the chestnuts, use ready prepared chestnuts and enjoy all the other lovely fresh flavours in this recipe!  When its not Christmas time, other variations may be fun to try, such as the Easter variation below.  If you fancy making a vegetarian version, drop out the bacon and add a little more butter to replace the lost fat.  When fresh chestnuts aren’t available, why not give it a go with ready prepared ones.

Easter Variation

My family traditionally eat roast lamb on Easter Sunday, so I  will adapt this recipe to be more suited to lamb.  To do this, I will drop out 1 lemon, the sage, parsley, cranberries and cider.  In will come more garlic, more rosemary and some port or red wine.  The ingredients being:

• 3 large shallots,
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 large clove garlic
• 110g (4oz) streaky bacon
• 55g (2oz) butter
• 400g (14oz) chestnuts, peeled whole and roughly crumbled
• 170g (6oz) fresh white breadcrumbs
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 100-150ml red wine or port (more if the mix is very dry)

Make the stuffing in exactly the same way as before, just using the Easter version ingredients.  At Easter time, you may have to use vacuum packed or tinned chestnuts.

Waitrose.

There were only 2 options on the menu – vegetarian or meat. After we’d washed our hands with water poured over us by a waiter from an elaborate silver jug, they would bring out a huge injera (a slightly sour, lemony pancake) with neat piles of different stews spaced out on top. You’d just get one injera to share between you – the more people the bigger the pancake! I love sharing food, especially when there’s lots to go round, and it was a perfect way to eat with friends.

I’ve yet to find an Ethiopian restaurant in the UK, so if you see a good one please let me know. However I have got a couple of recipes for wat (stew) and injera.  They don’t come out nearly as well as the restaurant but still taste pretty good.

I’m currently experimenting with going vegetarian again but Matt can’t survive without meat occasionally so my latest attempt included a Doro Wat (chicken) and a Vegetable Wat. I combined two different recipes to make these – one for Doro Wat from a beautiful book called the African Kitchen by Josie Stow and Jan Baldwin, and the World Food Cafe book by Chris and Carolyn Caldicott.

The most important ingredient in any wat is berbere paste, recipe below.  You are also supposed to use Niter Kibbeh, a sort of spiced, clarified butter.  I’ve never actually bothered to make this and just replace it with butter and extra spices.  There are some niter kibbeh recipes online if you are keen.

Part 1: Make the Berbere Paste

Ingredients:

• 4 cardamon pods
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 0.5 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 2 cloves
• 1 onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 cm/0.5 inch root ginger
• 3 tbsp red wine
• 7 dried red chillis
• 4 tsp ground paprika
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• Ground black pepper
• Sunflower oil
• Salt
• Sterilized jar + label

This looks complicated, but it makes quite a lot of paste, which will keep for about 6 months.  You can also do this well in advance of making the Wat.

1. Toast the cardamon, coriander, fenugreek and cloves on a dry frying pan over a low-medium heat for a few minutes until fragrant.  Then transfer to a pestle and mortar and grind to a powder.
2. Put the onion, garlic and ginger into a food processor with the toasted spices, 0.5 tbsp of salt, and blend.  Slowly add the wine as you blend.
3. Toast the paprika, cayenne, some black pepper, the nutmeg and cinnamon with 1 tsp salt in a dry saucepan, stirring constantly until fragrant.
4. Remove from the pan from the heat, add the onion-spice mixture, and gradually stir in 310ml/11floz of water.
5. Place over a low heat and cook, stirring constantly, for 10-15 minutes.
6. Transfer the mixture to a sterilized jar, pressing down to remove any air pockets.  Allow to cool.
7. Cover the spice paste with oil, put the lid on and most importantly put a label on the front saying Berbere Paste and when you made it. (I always miss this step and end up with lots of jars of nondescript pastes in the back of the fridge that I’m too scared to use).  Store in the fridge for up to 6 months.

It really is worth preparing the spices properly like this, rather than just adding them direct to the stew.

Part 2: Making the Wat

Serves 2

• 2 tbsp Niter Kibbeh (or butter)
• 1 onion, very finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 inch of fresh ginger, grated
• 4 cardomom pods
• 1.5 inch cinnamon stick
• 1 clove
• 0.5 tsp fenugreek seeds
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 2 tbsp berbere paste
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 4 tbsp red wine

And for doro wat (chicken):

• 2 chicken drumsticks or thighs (with the bone and skin).  Pat the chicken dry with kitchen towel and rub all over with lemon juice and salt.  Cover and leave to marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• 2 boiled eggs

Or for the vegetable wat:

• Range of cubed or chopped vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, courgettes, green beans, spring greens etc
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 100ml vegetable stock

Both Wats start with the same process:

1. Put the onions in a large casserole dish over a low heat without any oil. Stir constantly until they are soft.  If they start to stick remove the dish from the heat for a short while.
2. Add the niter kebbeh or butter.  When it starts to splutter add the garlic, ginger, cardamon, cinnamon, fenugreek and nutmeg, stirring constantly.
3. Add the berbere and paprika, stir and cook for 2 minutes.



4. Pour in the wine and 185ml/6.5floz water, then bring to the boil, stirring regularly.
5. Boil until the liquid reaches the consistency of double cream.

At this point the two recipes diverge.

2a. Doro Wat (chicken)

1. Remove the chicken from the lemon juice marinade and pat dry.  Add the pieces to the simmering sauce. Make sure each piece is coated on all sides and then cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Prick the boiled eggs all over with a fork and add to the chicken – making sure they are coated all over in sauce.
3. Cover and cook for a further 10-15 minutes until chicken is tender.

2b. Vegetable Wat

1. Add all the vegetables to the simmering sauce and mix well.
2. Simmer for 10 minutes with the lid off.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and stock and simmer until all the vegetables are cooked. Add more water if needed.

3. Making the injera

While the Wats are simmering, you can get the injera ready.  These are large savoury pancakes that you use to scoop up the stew.

Ingredients (for 2 hungry people):

• 300g/10.5 oz self-raising flour
• 75g/2.5oz wholemeal flour
• 0.5 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 250 ml/ 18floz soda water – it is really important to use soda water not tap water

Method:

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Gradually beat in the soda water and 0.5 litres plain water until you have a thin, smooth batter.
3. Heat a crepe pan/large frying pan until really hot.
4. Add a little vegetable oil and coat pan.
5. Pour in a ladleful of batter and swirl it round to form a thin layer like a pancake.
6. Cook until bubbles appear all over the surface, then turn over and cook for 2-3 minutes on the other side.



7. Place the cooked injera on a plate and keep warm.  Putting the plate over a saucepan half full of water over a low heat is a good way to do this.

4. Eat!

Wat tastes best eaten with your hands. Rip off a piece of injera and use it wrap up some stew and sauce.

Naturally, being a Routemaster, the restaurant is entered through the traditional open entrance at the back of the bus.  The downstairs deck has been transformed into the kitchen; you feel the heat and smell the food as you pass by.  The bus gently sways as customers and staff go up and down the stairs, reminding you every now and then that you’re in an unusual venue.

Looking into the kitchen, it doesn’t really feel like your looking inside a bus.  However when you climb upstairs, and see the tables, you remember immediately that you are!  The upstairs has only a few tables.  At night, the limited number of tables together with candle light creates a very intimate atmosphere.  Being above the kitchen, it is a little warm but you can wind down the original bus windows to let in some air.

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If you’re a regular at vegan restaurants, you may not be surprised by the selection on offer.  If you’re not, then it may be of interest try some dishes which you may just assume would normally be non-vegetarian or non-vegan, but which in fact are not.  The menu comprises a mixture of dishes, mainly comprising European and Asian influence dishes.  Starters include a delicious mezze platters, and the very tasty Gyoza (wontons filled with peppers, mushrooms & seasonal veg).   It was interesting to learn that all the Rootmaster’s vegetables are sourced from a LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) Marque assured supplier.  This means the veg is produced in an environmentally responsible way.

The menu seems to change frequently, but often includes the Tofu Tower (Flame grilled and marinated local tofu with crispy fried wontons & coconut vegetable curry sauce).  If (like many veggies and non-veggies alike) you’ve been put off by bad tofu experiences, this stuff is worth giving a second chance.  The fresh organic tofu is made by a local company (Clean Bean) based near the Rootmaster, on Brick Lane and is delivered by bicycle to the bus.

The idea of Vegan desserts may seem difficult to produce at first though – starved of chocolate, cream and butter.  However, the Rootmaster’s choice includes some pretty good fondant, cheesecake and ice creams.  The dark chocolate option is always good and the vegan ice cream is very good.

Drinks wise, there is a choice of soft drinks drinks, beers and wines.  Many of the drinks are widely available elsewhere and are inherently vegan friendly.  The choice is not limited by the vegan requirement.  The wine prices are range from £4.50/glass or £13.50/bottle upwards.  Soft drinks, beer and cider are reasonably priced too.

Ely’s Yard is suprising busy at night, with several bars.  This gives the square a vibrant atmosphere, even on a rainy evening.   The bus itself has no toilets, but there is an arrangement with the Big Chill bar opposite for Rootmaster diners to use their facilities.

With starters ranging from £4-£6 per person, mains from £9-£15 and desserts £5-£6, the Rootmaster is comparable in price to many London restaurants.  If you’re vegan or veggie then is a great place to go as you’ll have not only a fun venue but the choice of the whole menu.  If you’re a meat eater, you may enjoy the setting but find yourself wishing for a meat option.  If you’re willing to sacrifice the meat and go vegan once in a while, you’ll almost certainly have a great time at the Rootmaster.

The vegan menu may not be foor everyone, but in truth, is no where near as restrictive as non-vegans may fear.  Many diners were returning customers, and a mixture of vegans, veggies and meat eaters.   It’s a fun place to eat, with a great novel setting, enthusiastic staff and an intersting menu.

 Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 175g Self Raising Flour
• 175g Butter
• 175g Caster Sugar
• 3 Large Eggs
• 1/2 tspn Vanilla Extract
• 1 tspn Baking Powder

For the Filling:

• 250g Raspberries
• 250g Mascarpone
• 250g Fromage Frais
• 1 dessert spoon Caster Sugar
• 1 tspn Vanilla Extract
• 4 tbspn Raspberry Jam
• Icing Sugar

Method

1. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl.  Add the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract and mix until smooth
2. Split between two sandwich tins and bake for 30mins at 170°C.  I used baking paper to line the tins.
3. Mix mascarpone, fromage frais, caster sugar and vanilla extract.
4. Spread the half the jam and half the mascarpone mixture onto each sponge
5. Place Raspberries  (as artistically as you like)
6. Dust with icing sugar
   

This cake was really very quick indeed and I thought it was a good variation on a classic.  I used quantities for the sponge mix as recommended by my friend Kate with whom I’ve made many sponge cakes over the years at university and beyond.  The mascarpone/fromage frais mix was an idea from Delia – the quantities I used were actually those which the ingredients came in – just one tub of each.  We had some lovely little sparklers  instead of candles; thankfully the smoke alarm didn’t mind!  In total, it took less than an hour from start to finish.

The very reasonably price Mackerel fishing trips on Lyme (£8) were too good an opportunity to turn down!  In Lyme, different numbers of boats operate each day, depending on season, day and weather.  Blackboards and signs at the entrance to the Cobb (harbour wall) give information about various fishing trips, including Bassing trips, all day fishing trips and the ever popular Mackerel/sight seeing trips.  We wandered down to the end of the Cobb one sunny day to await the next boat trip.  The Frances Jane is a delightful little boat, operated by Doug and Amanda (both of whom are also diving instructors).  The boat is a converted Crabber from Cornwall, built in 1952 with a mahogany hull and was easily the prettiest boat in the harbour.

We chugged out into the bay, with beautiful views on show in the calm sunshine.  Using slithers of Mackerel as bait Amanda handed out the lines (long lines on a hand spool, with a large weight to take the line down and a bright coloured bead marking the leader line with the baited hook on the end).  Once the spool is tied onto the railings (to avoid mishaps) its a case of waiting till you feel the tug on the line before winding in the line and checking if there’s a shiny silver green/blue/black mackerel on the end.  Our haul wasn’t huge, apparently due to the hot weather and increasingly choppy seas.  The views were fantastic and the time was up before we knew it.  We’d both caught “one for the pot” and headed back to shore.

We popped into The Old Watch House fish monger at the start of the Cobb and bought a couple of Herring to supplement the Mackerel and pick up some ice packs to keep the fish cool while we walked back to the campsite.  I love the marbled silver green/blue/black pattern Mackerel have and the non slymey, not scaley feel of the fish (like you have with Trout for instance).  We gutted/cleaned the fish and opened the vino! 

I got the BBQ going and we polished off a dressed crab which we bought in The Old Watch House.  In the evening sunshine, the fish looked great.  The Old Watch House didn’t have any Sardines, but instead I bought Herring (essentially just large sardines).  Herring is more sustainable than Sardines, although I’m not sure if this is purely because Sardines are so much more popular.

We were a little low on provisions, so it was just the fish, with some black pepper corns crushed between 2 bricks.  We gave them about 3 minutes on either side, before serving up with crusty bread and salad.   We cooked the Herring in exactly the same way.  The fish skin went beautifully crisp on the barbecue and the smells during cooking were great.

Although the bones came out of the fresh fish very easily, lots of people are put of Mackerel because of the many small bones.  My tip is to always eat fresh crusty bread with small fish – so you don’t notice any little bones remaining.  All in all, the fish made a great dinner.  It left us wondering why we don’t eat fish more often?

The only downside of eating Mackerel and living in London is that inevitably you will be reminded of the tube game “Mackerel” which goes along the line of “there’s only one underground station on the whole of the network which doesn’t contain any of the letters of the word Mackerel – which one?” and then every time you see a tube map while waiting for a train, you’ll be staring and staring and cursing Dr Kate for ever telling you about the game in the first place.  Even worse, you’ll spend hours studying the map, feel let down when you realise the answer and then 2 years later, go fishing for Mackerel in Dorset and remember that you’ve forgotten which underground station it was and have to do it all again!  For the answer and many other random London Underground facts, click here.

What drew me to the recipe, was how differently it’s made to other curries I’ve made in the past. I’ve made other curries consisting of a base ‘gravy’, but generally the meat tends to be browned and/or marinated first. In this, you just add it to the sauce uncooked and cook very slowly. I’ve never encountered the spinach puree either.

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 4 oz Ghee (I made an alternative by clarifying butter and adding Bay Leaves)
• 2 medium Onions, chopped
• 1/2 ” Ginger, peeled
• 3 Garlic cloves
• 400 g Chopped Tomatoes
• 1 lb Diced Lamb (leg or shoulder)
• 2 tsp Paprika
• 2 tsp Tumeric
• 2 tsp Cumin
• 2 tsp Chillli Powder
• 6 oz Fresh Spinach
• Fresh Green Chillies (up to you)
• 1/2 tsp Garam Masala

Method

Cook the Chopped Onions with the Ghee/Butter for about 20 minutes, until well cooked, but not burnt.

When their cooked, blend the Ginger, Garlic and Onions into a smooth paste. Add the Chopped Tomatoes and blend again. Add a touch of water if necessary. You should have a mixture slightly thicker than Tomato soup.

Return to the pan and add the Diced Lamb, add some salt. Leave to simmer for 30 minutes.

Wash the Fresh Spinach. Add 3/4 of it to a pan to wilt, the water from washing the Spinach should be enough to cook it. It always amazes me how it shrinks to nothing.

Blend the cooked Spinach into a puree.

After the 30 minutes, the colour of the curry will have changed a lot. Less tomato soup, more curry. Add the Paprika, Tumeric, Cumin and Chilli Powder and cook for another 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it and add water if needed.

If you have Fresh Chillies, make a puree from them with a dash of water. I didn’t have any so I soaked a chopped dried one. After 20 minutes add the Spinach Puree, Chilli Puree (to taste), remaining Fresh Spinach, Garam Masala and Salt and Pepper and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Mr Stein suggested serving with Basmati Rice cooked with Cinnamon and Cardamom. I opted for Naans this time round.

Verdict

The Karachi Restaurant and Mr Stein are definitely on to a winner here. The slow cooking makes it so rich, yet without over-doing the meat. Unfortunately, since Jenny was away and she’s trying to be veggie, I had to eat it all myself.

If you do fancy a spot of sea fishing, the best place to get information and book a trip is the Swansea Angling Centre, at Swansea Marina.  In there, you can get cards/leaflets for all the local fishing boat/charter trips.  Sightseeing & mackerel trips for about £25, 8hr Sea Bass fishing on a charter boat for £35 or mackerel trips for £15. 

Weather and other commitments meant that rather than go sea fishing, we opted to search for shell fish close to the cottage where we were staying.  The beach we were staying near was littered with razor clam shells.  We had read in the River Cottage Fish book that razor clams were tasty and delicious (and of course, free).   To “hunt” a razor clam, you search out their little burrow hole and sprinkle salt down it at low tide.  The clam tastes the salt, thinks the tide is coming in and pops their siphon up out of the sand, where upon you grab hold.  Pull too hard and it breaks off (but the clam grows a new one).  Then as the clam tries to dig, it will release its grip in the sand and you can slowly draw it out of the sand.  You can’t out dig razor clams as you can with other shell fish, because they dig downwards faster than you can.  That’s the theory, but lets just say I didn’t master the art of razor clamming.  

Having miserably failed at razor clammng, we switched our attention to a somewhat less mobile shellfish, Mussels.  At the Worms Head, at the south end of Rhosilli Bay, there were several million mussels to choose from.  The Worms Head is cut off from the mainland at high tide, so you must be careful to time your visit and not get cut off.  We okay-ed it with the coastguard station on the headland and ventured down onto the rocks.

The River Cottage Fish book is a tremendously useful book.  It has become my fish bible, with information about preparing, filleting, and cooking the fish, together with descriptions of the fish’s lifestyle and habitat.  My favourite part is that it discusses sustainable sources for the fish and indicates how sustainable different varieties are.  The book said Mussels spend their whole life living where they first land as tiny baby mussels.  That’s why some live on rocks which get exposed by the tide while others remain permanently submerged.  They spawn between May and August, so collecting is discouraged during this period.  That said, they are quite sustainable by comparison to other fish such as Haddock and Cod.  Make sure to collect more mature mussels, greater than 50mm in length.

As the photo shows, the ground was covered entirely with the shells of shellfish which had been eaten by birds.We filled a pot with enough mussels for a starter and headed back to the cottage. 

When driving around the Gower, we were taken aback by an intense smell of garlic in the air.  It came from wild garlic leaves growing by the side of the road.  Too good an opportunity to miss.  We stopped and collected some to go with our Mussels.

Mussels with Wild Garlic Leaves and Home Brewed Bitter

Soak the mussels overnight in sea water to allow them to purge out any sand or grit.  I didn’t have sea water, so just added a kilo of salt to the basin.  A tip is to add porridge oats as they irritate the mussels and make them filter out grit/sand faster.  You then wash the mussels, gently scraping off any barnacles or material stuck to the outside.  You slide a knife along the joint to remove the “beard” – fine silk like hairs with which the mussel anchored to the rock.

In butter, I softened some sliced onion and wild garlic leaves, collected from a hedgerow nearby.  Keep the heat low to avoid colouring the onion. 

Then I added a good slug of Matt’s Home Brew London Beer and a splash of vinegar (we only had rice vinegar, which we used).  When the mix started to steam, threw in the mussels.

You need to steam for 6-8 minutes, before serving up the mussels, shaking occasionally.  Because the mussels release any grit remaining inside them, you need to strain the liquor before serving it. 

I served up the mussels, discarding any which hadn’t opened, and garnished with the white wild garlic flowers.

I’ve never tasted such tender, sweet mussels.  The beer liquor was light and intense.  The wild garlic surprisingly pungent.  All in all it was a great success.  It was very satisfying to collect wild food.  You can’t get more fresh Mussels any other way.  There was almost no sand/grit in the Mussels, I think down to the lack of sediment at the Worm’s Head.

 Delicious.

In the end, tired of missing out on the aspargus love-in going on various food blogs I follow, I caved in and opted for an Asparagus, Broccoli, Mushroom and Blue Cheese Pie. Unfortunately, our veg box still hasn’t supplied any asparagus so we had to opt for the supermarket stuff which was passable – nowhere near as tasty as the farm shop stuff we tend to get this time of year.

As when making any form of pie, I tend to turn to Pie Minister for inspiration. This one was loosely based on their great Wildshroom and Asparagus. I read somewhere in an interview with one of the PM guys that his top tip would be to experiment with the pastry, in this I decided to try it with a twist of Nutmeg.

Ingredients

When I made this, I did it all by eye so I’m not entirely sure of the amounts I used. If I’m honest this probably could have fed 3-4 adults. I won’t tell you how many it did – ‘We only had salad with it’ was Jenny’s defence though.

• 8 oz Purple sprouting broccoli
• 6 Asparagus Spears, 1″ long chunks
• 8 Button mushrooms, sliced
• 4 Shallots, sliced
• 2 Garlic Cloves, sliced
• 2 oz Butter
• 2 tbsp Plain flour
• Soya Milk (Unsweetened)
• 2 oz Blue Cheese
• Ready made pastry
• 1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
• 1 Egg, beaten

I tend to use soya milk because I prefer the slightly nutty taste in cooking, cow’s milk would be fine too. We ended up using Danish Blue cheese since we didn’t have a huge selection and it’s not quite as strong as some of the other choices.

Method

1. Heat just less than an oz of Butter in a pan, add the Shallots and Garlic for a couple of minutes.
2. Add the Broccoli, Asparagus and Mushrooms, cook for ~8 minutes or just before the Mushrooms get juicy.
3. Meanwhile, make a roux with the remaining Butter and Flour. If you’ve not made roux before, heat the Butter until fully melted then add the Flour gradually until fully blended (stir thoroughly!).
4. Make sure the mixture isn’t too hot before adding the Milk, mix in.
5. Crumble the Cheese slowly into it. You may need to play with the portions of milk/flour to get the right texture and amount.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C.
7. Get Jenny to roll out the Pastry for you, telling her to mix in the Ground Nutmeg (you can see some in the photo above). Separate into two pieces – one for the base and one for the lid.
8. Lay the slightly bigger one on the bottom of your dish, add the filling, brush some beaten Egg around the edge to help it seal, cover with lid. Make pretty patterns around the edge with your fingers.
9. Get child/Jenny to make decorations out of remaining pastry for the lid. Glaze with Egg.
10. Cook for ~25 mins or until golden.

Although, the recipe wasn’t particularly revolutionary, Jenny’s unique mushroom and ‘asparagus’ pie decoration certainly was.

The filling was just right – the veg still had some sort of texture to them rather than turning into mushy pulp, there was plenty of the cheese sauce to keep it moist without being overly blue-cheesey. The pastry was pretty good, the nutmeg worked well but was still some way off from a PM pie.

Sundried Tomato, Spinach & Feta Filo Pastry Pie

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Vegetable Mousakka with Greek Salad, accompanied with Black Olive & Rosemary Flatbread.

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Orange Passover Cake with Orange Cheesecake Topping

The night went really well and when the guests arrived, we were able to sit and drink the vino while the oven did all the work!

Sundried Tomato, Spinach & Feta Filo Pastry Pie

I picked up this recipe from BBC Good Food online.  It was very easy – just mixing feta, sundried tomatoes and spinach with whisked egg.  You then line a tin with pastry, add the filling and fold over the top.  Those of you who have read my previous blogs about pies will realise that my version (see photo) does not qualify as a pie as it does not have a complete lid.  I made the mistake of overlapping the filo pastry too much so it would not close completely.  However the guests commented about how pretty it looked, so all was not lost.  This pie is served cold, so can be baked in advance and chilled.

Vegetable Mousakka with Greek Salad, accompanied with Black Olive & Rosemary Flatbread.

The vegetable Moussaka recipe came from a Greek cook book – the Olive and the Caper which to be honest, is not a very good book.  I find the recipes a little bland and the text a little wordy.  The book is by an American not a Greek and all the ingredients are listed in cups and farenheit.  A translation is below.

• 2 medium aubergines
• Olive Oil
• 1kg white potato, peeled and cut into 1/2cm thick slices
• 150g fresh breadcrumbs
• 2 large tomatoes
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 600g grated kefalotyri cheese (we used Pecorino as we couldn’t get this cheese)
• 100g butter
• 100g plain flour
• Generous pinch of freshly ground nutmeg

If you’re cooking this straight away, preheat the oven to 180°C.  Cut the aubergine lengthways into 1/2cm slices.  Fry the aubergine in a pan until golden – take care not to overload the pan; do this in several batches.  Continue adding oil with each batch, as the aubergine soaks up so much of it!  Repeat the frying process with potato slices.   To free up that all important vino time, you could prepare the white sauce (see below) whilst frying the aubergine and potato.

Prepare the “besamel sauce” by melting the butter until foaming.  Add the flour, whisking briskly as you do so, until you get a smooth paste, or as the French would say, a rue.  Continue whisking for 2 mins until the mix turns golden.  Whisk in the milk and season with salt (if you add pepper, the black flecks can spoil the look of the sauce).  Cook over a medium heat for 12-15 mins.  Whisk in the nutmeg.

Grease an oven dish and sprinkle the breadcrumbs into the bottom.  Arrange half the potato in a layer and place a few tomato slices ontop.  Add a layer of aubergines.  Repeat the sequence. Nearly there.  Whisk the egg yolks and cumin into the sauce and pour over the vegetables.  Sprinkle grated cheese over the top.  Bake in the oven for 1 hour.  Allow 15 to 20mins to rest before serving.

We prepared this early on, to allow us to bake just before we needed it.  To be honest, I was a little disappointed.  I felt that although it looked quite authentic, it was a little plain and could have benefitted from some other flavours.  It would perhaps been  better with one really thick layer of aubergine s and tomato, and one of potato.  I might try mashing the potatoes next time.

We served this up with a greek salad (Kos lettuce, white salad onion, feta, olives, cucumber, red pepper, dressed with olive oil and oregano).  Yum.

 Black Olive & Rosemary Flatbread

This was a flatbread by nature, but with no yeast was a little dense.  The idea was that the bicarbonate of soda and “acidic” olives would react to lighten the bread.  I don’t really feel this worked.  However, it was golden, fragrant and delicious -everyone enjoyed it.  The smell of fresh baked bread was great.

I wanted something a good deal lighter than this bread turned out.  I would welcome any suggestions/alternative recipes to achieve this. 

Orange Passover Cake with Orange Cheesecake Topping

The astute amongst you will have spotted that my Greek Feast includes a rather Jewish sounding dessert.  Apparently Orthodox Greeks always celebrate Easter after passover has occurred, because Jesus is supposed to have celebrated Passover before the events of Easter.  Given that we cooked and ate this cake before Easter, I suppose we can get away with it!

We opted to bake this cake, which we had made before, as it is straight forward and it would seem, reliable.   It is one of Rick Stein’s Food Heroes Recipes and uses ground almonds not flour.

• 2 oranges
• 6 eggs (medium)
• 225g caster sugar
• 225g ground almonds
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Icing Sugar for dusting

For the Citrus Cheesecake Cream topping

• 200g cream cheese (e.g. Philadelphia)
• 50g caster sugar
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 small orange
• juice of 1 lemon
• 300ml double cream

To make the cake is quite straight forward.  Boil the oranges for 3 hours. Make sure they are covered with water and use a lid.  After 3 hours drain the oranges and allow to cool.  Remove the flesh and blitz in a food processor to make a smooth puree.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together until thick and moussey beore folding in the ground almonds, the orange puree and baking powder.  Pour into a lined and greased tin and bake at 180°C for 55 to 60 minutes until cooked. Leave to cool.

To make the topping, beat the cream cheese with the sugar, lemon zest, orange zest and lemon juice.  Whisk the cream into soft peaks and gently fold in.

This recipe makes a lovely light and moist cake.  It’s straightforward and quick.  although I didn’t get a pic of the finished cake, you can see one here.

The meal was a great success – the plan of preparing in advance so we could have time with the guests worked brilliantly.  A good time was had by all.

This is a ‘quick’ recipe I made up which turned out to be so good that I made it twice in a week, so I had to share it on here. I’m going to split it up into two stages because the first stage you can do well in advance. First we’ll make the falafels. A few months ago I made a huge batch of ~ 30 falafels. They’re great, they store fine in the freezer and only take ~ 10 minutes to cook. Very handy if you’ve run out of food like the day I made this up.

Falafels

Ingredients

I’ve tried a few recipes before, this one from The World Food Cafe is the best I’ve found though, it serves 4-6.

• 1 tin chickpeas (225 g dry)
• 2 pitta breads or 2 slices of dry bread
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 dsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground chilli
• 2 dsp plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• handful of chopped parsley
• sesame seeds

Method

1. Using a food processor, make breadcrumbs from the bread.
2. Add everything apart from the chickpeas and sesame seeds, blend to a paste.
3. Add chickpeas, with water/more breadcrumbs if needed.
4. Roll into 1″ balls, coat in sesame seeds.

These will happily freezer for several months. To cook, just take them out a fry in sunflower oil until golden.

Constructing the Wraps

I found some massive multi-seed wraps on sale which I gave a try, I thought the size of them worked really well. I also bought some Moroccan-style Houmous (which Alice recommended).

Ingredients

Jenny and I ate two each, you could probably get away with one if you eat ‘normal’ portions. This is what I used for two wraps:

• 2 Wraps
• 3 Falafels
• 2 tbsp Tahini
• 3 tbsp Moroccan Houmous (or you could add something like Harissa paste to normal Houmous)
• 1 x Boiled Egg
• Cheddar Cheese
• Salad Leaves (Spinach?)

Method

1. If you haven’t already, fry your falafels until golden.
2. Spread a tbsp of tahini just south of the equator of the wrap, taking up 2/3 rds of the width.
3. Layer 1.5 crushed falafels on top
4. Top with Houmous, Egg, Cheese then Salad
5. Fold in the sides, Cover with the bottom, roll.
6. (Optionally) slice in half if you don’t want to look greedy