Burns Night Supper

Last Saturday saw a Burns Night Supper in our village. We live nowhere near Scotland and very few people attending were Scottish, but 140 people celebrated the life of Robert Burns in style in a large marque (which was toasty warm despite it being January) with a glittering starry roof and lots of scottish flags. Our menu Cock A Leekie soup made by lovely Carmella, Haggis Neeps and Tatties made by Pam Tena and Susan with my Whisky gravy and no suprises here puddings made by me! Making 140 puddings (plus extras for waitresses) took me right back to the days of Masterchef! The puddings took 3 hours to assemble (although thats a rate of about 1 per minute so not too bad) - invidiual trifles comprising whisky poached pears, chocolate cake soaked with whisky, white chocolate buttons, cranberry puree, white chocolate custard, topped with cream, sprinkles and of course edible glitter. The puddings were served with shortbread made by Cathie and Alison. All in all a lovely evening and the auction of promises etc raised over £4,000 - just brilliant for a tiny village like ours. Happy Burns Night to you all and if you are having Haggis this evening, have a tot of whisky on me! The picture - although not very clear - is Andrew addressing the Haggis (following a procession with a proper piper) before promptly stabbing it with a ceremonial dagger. All very dramatic!

Masterchef Goes Published

For any Masterchef fans out there, a new cook book has been released this week of the 250 best Masterchef recipes from all of the Masterchef Goes Large series including the professional and celebrity versions! It contains some really lovely recipes - lots of ones that I watched on the programme and wanted to try at the time so I was thrilled when the book arrived. I can happily report that our 2007 MC series is well covered with recipes from Steven Wallis (incl his winning pear and chocolate sauce - to quote Gregg it feels like you are "floating away on an ice cream dream") and David Hall's yummy pan haggerty. Four of my recipes have made the book - chocolate cake, tiramisu, chilli stuffed squid and lamb with wild mushrooms and I am described as "Lawyer turned Cookbook author and Masterchef finalist 2007"! Hurrah!

Broccoli and Gorgonzola Soup

I have to confess I have a complete aversion to stalky vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage (unless the stalky bit is cut out) - even asparagus is not my favourite thing which is a travesty for a foodie I know!) One of my new years resolutions was to try and solve this food fad so this week I brought broccoli and cauliflower in the hope that I would eat them if pureed into soup. It worked (proving that it is really a texture thing and not a flavour issue!) So here is my recipe for broccoli soup - yum yum!

Serves 4
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large heads of broccoli - stalks removed and cut into small florettes
5 spring onions, finely chopped
125ml sherry
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
100g gorgonzola dolce
200ml milk
salt and pepper to season

In a large saucepan, saute the broccoli florettes and spring onions in the olive oil for 3 - 4 minutes to soften. Add the sherry and cook for a further few minutes. Pour over the stock and simmer for about 10 minutes until the broccoli is soft. Puree with a hand blender until smooth. Chop the gorgonzola dolce into small pieces and add to the pan with the milk. Season well with salt and pepper and simmer over a very gentle heat until the cheese has melted but do not boil. Serve immediately with warm crusty bread.

As you may imagine, I have a lot of equipment in my kitchen - so much so that there is not enough space in the cupboards! For my birthday I was very kindly given some vouchers to spend at my favourite kitchen shop in New York - Sur La Table (thank you Mum Dad and Gareth). It was a tough choice as to how to spend my $100 as there were so many lovely things. I think everyone thought I was mad when I settled on this pan (not least as I had to pack it in my suitcase to come home!) but I have wanted a couscousier ever since seeing one on front of Nigella Lawson's book "Feasts". The top pan has tiny holes, just enough to let steam through but not enough for the couscous to fall through. Strange though, as I have never been a fan of couscous, I think I just fell in love with the bulbous curves of the pans and the idea that perhaps if cooked in a proper pan, couscous may be OK afterall. I was so right!!! We christened the pan last night, cooking a pork and pear tagine in the bottom pan and then steaming the couscous with cumin and fresh corriander in the top pan. The result was perfect couscous, light crumbs, gently scented of the tagaine and not a lump in slight. A complete revelation and I have never eaten couscous like this before! So much so that I am making more for lunch today. So how do you flavour your couscous - I am keen to try all your recipes!

Well Ladies and Gentleman... I am proud to present to you..... the first proper glimpses of my next book - Sundaes and Splits! My lovely publisher Julia gave me my advanced copy at the end of last week and I literally squeaked with excitement! I had already seen the pictures (and loved them) but it is so much nicer to see them in the actual book. So, for all you lovely readers of this blog, here are a few sneak peak pictures. Above is the inside front page with pretty tubs of ice cream and sorbet (and my name!!!!!), the inside cover cover (one of my favourite pictures - white chocolate coated ice cream wafers with sprinkles), plum crumble sundae, sticky toffee pudding sundae and lemon meringue pie. I am soooooo pleased with it and really hope you like it too. Thank you Steve, Julia, Kate and Sunil for all your wonderful work on the book. For anyone with beedy eyes who spots the references to cups, custard sauce and Jello-o - these pictures are from the US version of the book - the UK version has grams! It is out on 8th April and I am planning an ice cream party to celebrate! It is available to preorder on Amazon (link on the right)...plug plug!

My lovely Publisher Julia and I with my book at the party in London! Photo kindly taken by my other lovely Publisher Grace! So nice - thank you both for a lovely evening xxx (photo taken on my mobile so sorry for the not so brilliant quality)

Quite a few of my friends and family have given copies of my cook book to people for Christmas. It was so nice to think of them on Christmas day unwrapping my book from their Christmas stockings. I have been receiving some lovely letters and messages about the book and particularly loved Emma's drawing of her cakes and the photo of Taran and Dillon with their checkerboard cookies!

New York Lights!

Pear and Walnut Galettes

Makes 8 galettes Preparation time 30 minutes, cooking time 15 – 20 minutes

100g/3½oz walnuts

85g/3oz butter, plus extra for greasing

85g/3oz icing sugar

45g/1½oz self raising flour, plus extra for dusting

1 egg

Zest and juice of 2 lemons

1 tsp vanilla essence

500g/1lb1½oz puff pastry

3 ripe pears, cored and thinly sliced

1 tbsp apricot jam

Pre heat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180C/350F and grease two baking trays with butter. Soak the pear slices in the juice of one lemon to prevent discolouration. Place the walnuts in a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Add the butter, icing sugar, flour, egg, lemon zest and vanilla to the processor and blitz to form a smooth paste. Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out the pastry to ¼ cm thickness, cut out 13cm/5in circles and transfer to the baking tray. Using a sharp knife, score in inner circle on each pastry disk about 1cm from the edge, taking care not to cut all the way through. Place a large spoonful of the nut butter in the centre of each pastry circle and spread out using a knife. Top each with pear slices in a circle. Sprinkle with a little caster sugar and bake in the oven for 18 - 25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the pears are cooked. Remove the tarts from the oven and allow to cool. Heat the juice of the remaining lemon in a saucepan with the apricot jam until the jam has dissolved. Use a pastry brush to brush the apricot over each tart to glaze.

One of my favourite parts of our trip to NY was a visit to Alice's Tea Cup - an Alice in Wonderland Themed Cafe. The only downside was having to was 1 1/4 hours for a table but the wait was worth it as the food was delicious. My favourite were the spiced pumpkin muffins with toffee glaze - I am planning on attempting these myself soon so will post the recipe - and I also loved the dear little teapot drip catchers/lid holders decorated with birds cats and butterflies. Needless to say I now have a little cat on my tea pot at home as they sold them in the shop. If you are ever in New York and want to visit they website link is here - the Mad Hatter Tea was $19 per person for two people sharing. Booking recommended unless you don't mind waiting as long as we did. I don't think the food and rooms were quite as imaginatively decorated as Kathy and My Tea party last summer but then I am biased!

As you may have noticed from the contents of this blog, I make a lot of birthday cakes. It has been a while since I have had a birthday cake myself but last week on my birthday my brother (bless his little cotton socks) managed to rustle up a birthday cake for me, on the first day of his honeymoon! It was made from two enormous chocolate marshmallows he had had made (they were seriously heavy) - sandwiched together with my favourite marshmallow fluff! I bet you have never seen a Marshmallow this big in your life - I certainly haven't! The chef in the restaurant struggled to cut it with his knife, we struggled to eat it as it was so sticky it stuck to the spoons and I laughed and laughed until I cried - definitely the best birthday cake I have ever had!

Well I am back from a lovely trip to New York (although sadly with a New York cold) - flying Delta airlines on Boxing Day after the incident on one of their planes on Christmas Day was perhaps not the most enjoyable of timings but we all got there and back safely. So...my brother and Amy got married and I managed to legally marry them! City Hall accepted my paperwork and I have a nice license with a gold seal on and a registration certificate and am now legally able to marry anyone in the State of New York for the rest of my days - open to invitations if you need someone to marry you! Anyway, enough with my Officiant qualifications and moving on to the wedding, far more importantly! I can safely say that there has probably never been, and will never again be, a wedding quite like it. Monkey Town in itself was a strange enough venue (scaffolding, murals, toilets that talked to you and 4 giant film screens) but it was Gareth and Amy's own touches that really stole the day - giant rock that you had to smash with a hammer wearing goggles, a table covered with sweets and cupcakes for everyone to decorate - their own personal "Freak Show" (the photo shows two of the stars of the show with Gareth and Amy) it was all very strange - two headed babies, merbabies and sword swallowing to name but a few highlights - although I felt the need to leave the room when Johny Vomit was performing...) snowball flights, a photographer's studio installed in the attic, film screening, a giant wedding quiz shown on the 4 film screens, pinatas in the shape of Gareth and Amy hanging from the roof, toasted marshmallows, coke float bar. As for the wedding breakfast - the food was delicious - wagu ribs, savoury truffle bread and butter pudding (sooo yummy) although I think even I drew the line at the curried creme brulee with saffron marshmallows! Amy looked stunning in her dress and they were both so happy that they cried all the way through the ceremony (I am sure this had nothing to do with my performance as officiant) Congratulations both of you - may your days be long and happy xxx

Just wanted to wish you all a very Happy New Year 2010. As you read this I will be in New York, attending my brother's wedding and depending on how brave we are, possibly visiting Times Square for New Years Eve (I am not convinced of this later idea). I will post about my brother's wedding on my return - it is sure to be a mad affair - they are getting married in a place called the Monkey House, being legally married by ME, with a camp fortune telling genie, a singing dwarf, snowball flight, midnight film showing with popcorn, coke float bar etc etc. It is going to be a wedding like no other. Happy Days Gareth and Amy xxx

With all this chilly weather there is nothing I like more than slow roasted food. Red cabbage is one of those dishes that improves the longer you cook it. Delicious with this slices of roast pork and baked savoury apples.

Cranberry Cabbage
Served 8 - 10

1 small red cabbage, finely chopped
4 small apples, peeled cored and sliced
2 small onions, finely sliced
2 handfuls of fresh cranberries
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp ground allspice
250ml red wine
100ml sherry
3 tbsp sherry or red wine vinegar
100g caster sugar
60g butter, cubed

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 2. In a large casserole dish, layer the cabbage, apples, onions and cranberries so that they are evenly distributed. Add the cinnamon, spices, wine, sherry, vinegar and sugar and stir well. Place the cubes of butter on top of the dish, cover and bake for 2 - 3 hours until the cabbage is soft. This cabbage freezes well.

This is a really lovely wintery ice cream. We served it with our Christmas pudding but it would go equally well with a bread and butter pudding. 2010 is going to be my year for ice cream!

Brown Bread and Amaretto Ice Cream
Makes approx 600ml

5 egg yollks
100g caster sugar plus 2 heaped tbsp caster sugar
400ml double cream
200ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla pod
60g sultanas
200ml Amaretto
5 slices brown bread
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Whisk together the egg yolks and 100g caster sugar until light and very creamy. In a large heavy based saucepan, heat the cream, milk and vanilla and bring to the boil. Pour the hot cream over the whipped egg yolks and whisk again. Return to the pan for 2 - 3 minutes to thicken. Leave to cool completely then add half the Amaretto. Blitz the bread in a food processor to fine bread crumbs. Place the crumbs in a large saute pan and toast with the cinnamon and remaining 2 tbsp caster sugar until the bread is crispy, taking care that it does not burn. Heat the sultanas in a saucepan with the remaining Amaretto until the sultanas are plump and the alcohol has evaporated. All the crumbs and sultanas to cool completely. Churn the ice cream base in an ice cream maker until almost frozen and then add the sultanas and toasted crumbs. Churn until frozen and then store in the freezer until you are ready to eat.

In addition to cooking Christmas lunch on Thursday I just about managed to rustle up a birthday cake for lovely Joy in our village who was celebrating her 70th birthday. I know this is similar to cakes you have seen on this blog before but just thought that I would share the pictures with you for a change from all the Christmas festivities around at the moment. I love the dainty yellow birds and the floppy pink bow!

As readers of this blog will know, every Christmas I sew my Mum a sampler. I can now reveal this year's present as she has gone to bed and won't see this post until after she has unwrapped it! It contains lots of my favourite drawn thread work and if you click on the picture you can see a close up. I have to admit that when I collected it from the framers I was very tempted to keep it for myself as I am sure it would look lovely in my cottage - but I know my Mum will like it as much as I do so it will be going to a good home - Happy Christmas Mum xxx

In a very European fashion, we have just finished our Christmas dinner - even though it is Christmas eve. We were joined by my Aunt and Uncle who are tomorrow morning flying to New York for my brother's wedding in a few days time - I am flying out on Boxing Day (I am so not prepared and am now legally registered to conduct the wedding ceremony so need to get practising my wedding vows!!!!). We just ate for 3 hours - I am not sure whether that is something we should admit to and we are all feeing very full. A trio starter of crab and smoked salmon gateau, prawn cocktail and bloody mary cocktail made by my Aunt (see picture below), Roast turkey with all the trimmings (7 different vegetables which is a personal record), Clementine sorbet (very refreshing and I will post the recipe soon) and Christmas Pudding made by my Mum served with my brown bread amaretto ice cream, mince pies, mulled wine, raspberry cocktails - I feel ashamed just writing it all down! My Aga went on strike after all the cooking and turned itself off in protest this evening - thankfully it is now alight again - otherwise Christmas lunch tomorrow would have been a sad microwave affair. So now to bed with the wrapping of presents all finished - ready for tomorrow morning. I hope that you and all your families have a wonderful Christmas and that wherever you are celebrating you have a peaceful and happy day together xxx

Gold (no Frankincense and Myrrh!) Cookies
Preparation time 15 minutes Cooking time 12 -15 minutes
Makes 15

115g/4oz butter, softened plus extra for greasing
115g/4oz caster sugar
1 egg yolk
100g/3½oz plain flour, sifted
30g/1oz cocoa
1tsp baking powder
200g/7oz white chocolate, chopped
55g/2oz hard amaretti biscuits, crushed
Gold edible glitter for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/190/375C and grease and line two baking trays. Using a mixer cream together the butter sugar and egg yolk until light and creamy. Add the flour, cocoa and baking powder and whisk again. Add the white chocolate and crushed amaretti biscuits and bring the dough together with your hands adding a little milk if too dry.

Pull off 15 small balls the size of walnuts and place on the baking trays with a gap between each cookie. Press each cookie down with your fingers. Bake for about 12 - 15 minutes until the cookies are golden brown. Transfer to a rack to cool using a spatula, then sprinkle with edible glitter.

Christmas puddings are a great tradition in our family. We have made them using the same recipe since I can remember, stirring them up in an old crock pot that used to belong to my great grandma - everyone stirring three times and making a wish - with a few silver sixpences thrown in for good measure. Here are our puddings this year! I have posted the recipe before but in case you have some spare time this week and want to make your own puddings you need to get started now so that they have plenty of time to steam before the big day

Great Grandma’s Christmas Pudding Recipe

Preparation time 30 minutes, plus stirring and steaming, Makes 2 puddings

½ lb/225g suet (vegetarian suet for those who prefer it)

½ lb/225g currants

½ lb/225g granulated sugar

½ lb/225g sultanas

¾lb/340g raisins

3oz/85g breadcrumbs

5oz/140g self raising flour

1 large cooking apple, peeled, cored and grated

1 large carrot, peeled and grated

3 large eggs

Zest and juice of 1 large lemon

A good rub of grated nutmeg

½ tsp mixed spice

A pinch of salt

½ pint/300ml Guinness or other strong beer

2 tbsp brandy

Mixing the pudding is best done in a very large bowl. Something like a jam pan would be ideal as you need plenty of room to stir everything in. Place all the ingredients in the bowl and mix, making sure that everyone in the house has a stir and makes a wish. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a cool place for 24 hours to allow the flavours to develop.

Spoon the mixture into two pudding basins and cover the top with a double layer of greaseproof paper and foil, folded tightly to seal. Tie string round the top rim of the basin and over the top to make a handle so that the pudding can be lifted out of the pan easily.

The puddings will need to be boiled for at least 7 hours each but this can be done in stages, whenever you have time. Just keep the pudding in the fridge in between cooking sessions. Place the pudding in a saucepan quarter filled with water or in a sealed steamer above a pan of water. Remember to put your kitchen timer on to remind you to check the level of water in the pan every half hour so that the water doesn’t run out and the pudding burn as this would be a waste of all your hard work. The pudding should be a dark brown colour when cooked.

The puddings will keep for at least a year in a fridge so you can save one for next year. When you are ready to eat the pudding, heat in a pan of water (as above) for an hour to ensure that the pudding is warmed through. To serve, remove the greaseproof paper and foil cover and slide a knife around the edge of the bowl. Place a plate on top of the bowl and invert holding both the plate and the bowl tightly. Decorate the pudding with a sprig of holly. To flambé, heat 1 tbsp of brandy in an old spoon over a flame. It will ignite so be ready to quickly tip over the pudding when it does and rush to the table so that your guests will see. Serve with brandy butter and brandy sauce!

It's snowing here (the first picture was taken just a few minutes ago in our garden) - it is just so pretty and Christmassy! My car got stuck in the lane and I had to be dug out by a very kind neighbour. So now our cars are parked up in the village so that we do not get stranded like last February. There is nothing for it but to sit by the log fire, drinking tea and wrapping Christmas presents! Heaven!

The lovely people at Abel and Cole have sent me some fantastic goodies from their website to try. They are too kind. As well as some delicious fresh fish (I will post some recipes for the fish soon) they also sent me some salsify. It is one of my favourite vegetables! Now I will forgive you if you have not come across salsify before as it is not commonly available here in the UK (well at least not where I live) and I was so pleased to find that Abel and Cole sell it and deliver it to your door. Salsify looks like tree roots but can be easily peeled with a swivel potato peeler revealing its white root flesh. It has an almost celeriac taste and is lovely roasted or made into puree. Today I made some delicious soup for a lunch meeting with my salsify, inspired by a soup my friend Maren had eaten in Germany. The sweet pear and smokiness of the salmon are a perfect accompaniment to the salsify. If you want to order some salsify from Abel and Cole, click here for a link to all their lovely goodies.

Pear and Salsify Soup with smoked salmon
1 tbsp butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
400g salsify, peeled and chopped
3 ripe pears, cored peeled and chopped
2 tbsp sweet sherry
1 litre vegetable stock
200ml milk
salt and pepper to season
200g smoked salmon, cut into thin strips
Creme fraiche or double cream to serve

In a large saucepan melt the butter and add the onions, salsify and pears to the pan and cook over a gentle heat for about 10 minutes until the onions and salsify turn a golden brown (but take care not to burn them) Add the sherry and cook for a few minutes then pour the stock into the pan and season well with salt and pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes until the salsify is soft. Blitz with a hand blender to a smooth puree and add the milk. Pour the warm soup into bowls and top with strips of smoked salmon and a drizzle of cream or spoon of creme fraiche. A sprinkle of fresh chives would be lovely too (sadly I had none today!)

I have just spent a heavenly weekend in Hamburg at the Christmas markets - Gluhwien, roasted chestnuts, crispy belly pork, caramalised almonds - we ate so many delicious things! The pictures don't do it justice as the whole area was just so Christmassy! Yesterday Maren bought her Christmas tree - 3m10cm high - it was enormous and nearly reached the ceiling in her apartment. It took three of us to carry it up three flights of stairs. On returning to the UK my tree looks very little in comparison. Luckily it is now decked with my latest Christmas decoration from the Hamburg market - a sweet gingerbread cottage complete with wooden mushroom and logs. Just too cute for words. Thanks Maren for a wonderful Christmas weekend.