Mashed Potato - Marcella's way

You might think it odd that something as prosaic as mashed potato should require comment. I certainly used to, until I discovered something; something I thought all my own until, most annoyingly, I found it in Marcella Hazan.
This is what I do. Remove eyes and any blemishes from your potatoes, cut them into pieces (unpeeled) about 1 inch square or a bit more - smaller will cook a little faster. Bring a large pan of well salted water to the boil, put in your potatoes and cook till a small skewer will ease through them easily. Do you have a Potato Ricer? If not, why not? Saves a lot of bother. I shall assume that you do. Put the potatoes throught the ricer: you will leave the skins behind but keep their flavour and get entirely soft, lump-free mash. Now, add pepper and a good splash of double cream, or single and some butter. Grate into the potato as much parmesan as will salt it but leave it hardly tasting cheesy at all - a whiff only. I'm afraid it depends on how good is your parmesan, and your judgement. Mix well, or beat with a whisk, pile it into an ovenproof dish and put it into an hot oven, or under a grill/fan to just brown. Utterly scrummy and once tried you will never return to old ways! By the way, do not, ever, use that pregrated stuff that smells of sick.

Jane Grigson's Chicken Cutlets

These are a bit of work (and you need to own a mincer) but they are SO delicious that it is well worth it. There are two versions; I think that I marginally prefer the one with tarragon but no mushrooms.

For two:

A big raw chicken breast

3 ounces white breadcrumbs (I keep a store of them in the freezer)

4 ounces butter, preferably out of the fridge and soft

Cream - I use whatever I have, single or whipping or double and a little milk

Herbs - the recipe says parsley but chives are good too, and tarragon if you omit the mushrooms

2 ounces mushrooms - Chestnut, brown or any of the ceps, girolles tribe

1 egg - beaten

Salt & Pepper

Chop the mushrooms as finely as you can, cook in 1/2 ounce of butter and leave to get cool. Or just chop fresh tarragon and parsley and/or chives. Soak half the breadcrumbs in the cream. Mince the chicken, mix with the breadcrumbs and the mushrooms or the herbs and mince again. Add 1 1/2 ounces of butter - I mince it for a third time but provided it is well mixed with hte butter that's not essential. Put it into the fridge for an hour or the freezer for about 5 - 10 minutes. Beat the egg in a shallow bowl - a soup plate is good. Put the remainder of the crumbs into another plate. Now the next bit is a bit messy. Take the chicken out - it should have firmed up quite a bit. Divide into four and roll each piece in your hands then flatten it. With two forks (less messy than fingers) roll each one in the beaten egg then in the crumbs, pressing them a little so that there is a good coating. Put them back into the fridge. Clarify the rest of the butter, and fry the cutlets gently on both sides till golden and crisp, JG says 15 to 20 minutes. Turn them several times. Pour the butter over them and serve.

Until you have eaten these you will not believe just how good they are. They can be made well ahead of time.

Round Courgettes - what to do?

I've often wondered about round courgettes - you know - the ones that look like a Napoleonic war grenade. The skins are a bit tough, and they are full of seeds; if you google for a recipe they all seem to be of the stuffed vegetable variety - not really my thing.

This is easy, but, be warned, it is distinctly rich. Good, though, and, I think, all my own!

For two:-

2 round courgettes

1 large chicken breast

1 medium (i.e. the size of a billiard ball) onion

white wine or dry vermouth

butter

plain flour

cream - whipping or double - about 1/2 a 300ml pot

2 teaspoonsful of pesto

1 oz or so of good strong cheese - parmesan or a powerful cheddar

Right, as Pomaigne would say, before you start get a big pan of water on the gas. Turn the oven onto aboout 160c grill/fan if you have a fan oven, or just to 160c if not. Tops off the courgettes, cut them in half downwards and scrape out the seeds with a teaspoon. Peel, halve and slice the onion as finely as you can. Melt about 2 teaspoons of butter, with a little olive oil if you like, throw in the onions and add a couple of good turns of the salt mill. Fry gently until soft and clear but not browned. Trim off as much of the fat and sinew from the breast as you can be bothered to do. Cut it into quite small cubes - about the size of a backgammon doubling dice, say 2cms or a bit less. Put the chicken ito the onion pan, turn up the heat and stir well with a wooden spoon. After a minute or so, once all the chicken pieces are well seared, add a teaspoon of flour, and keep stirring so that it cooks for about another minute. Stir in the cream, mix well and put aside off the heat.

The water will be boiling well by now; drop in the courgette halves and parbiol for about 2 minutes - hot through but far from mushy. Drain them well and put them into an oven proof dish in which they will comfortably fit, round side down. Stir two teaspoons (more if you want but this is as much as I like) of pesto into the creamy chicken and pour it over the courgettes. Grate cheese over the whole thing and put it into the oven for about 20 minutes. If you do not have a fan/grill option, put the grill on for the last 5 minutes so that the top browns nicely.

This is really delicious but, as I said, rich. It needs plain company, and maybe something a bit crisp. The crushed, roasted new potatoes from Oliver Perrin's Table in the Tarn would be good and something green.

Lamb meatball goulasch

Purists amongst you will shiver at such a travesty of traditional fare, but, once in a while, when you are standing in the supermarket wondering what to have for supper - cheap, tasty, easy, try this. For two:-

A pack of Lamb meatballs

A largeish onion

3 or 4 cloves of garlic

3/4 tin of beef consomme (or your own stock - much better)

A level teaspoon of black peppercorns and ditto pink if you have them

A heaped teaspoon of hot smoked paprika ("Dahlia" is good)

3 Heaped teaspoons of sweet smoked paprika (ditto)

2 heaped teaspoons plain flour

A good splash of red or white wine, or, better, dry vermouth

A couple of bay leaves

Salt

NO TOMATO!

Brown the meatballs and remove them from the pan. Slice the onion, not too fine, or roughly chop, and add to the pan with a few twists of the salt mill (salt on the onions makes them sweat and cook better). Add the peppercorns whole - don't worry, they will soften and provide just a spicy tingle later on. Slice the garlic as finely as you can (on no account crush it) and add to the hot onion. If you add it too soon it may overcook and go bitter. Once the onions are cooked (but not browned) add the flour and the paprika and cook for a couple of minutes. There should be plenty of fat from the lamb but if it looks a bit dry, add some more - olive oil, duck fat, even a bit of butter will do, or some fat froma aprevious roast. Cook for a couple of minutes, and add the wine or dry vermouth, which you boil to about half. Put the meatballs into a small ovenproof casserole with the bay leaves underneath them. Add the stock/consomme to the onion pan stir well and pour over the meatballs. It should look a bit liquid - there will be some evaporation. Put it into the oven for 7 hours at 110 degrees C. You can lower the time and up the temperature proportionately, but not less tahn 3 hours and more than 160C. Long and slow is better, and if tou cook it, let it get cold and reheat it the next day it will be even better.

A lot of words but it is quick and simple. Before you serve it, you may need to remove some fat - a double layer of kitchen paper towel pressed gently onto the surface should remove it, if not, repeat.

Serve with plain rice, or baked or new potatoes and a simple green veg.

Moussaka

There are probably some short cuts to this. I have only one - more later - but this is a terrific, warming tasty winer warmer that can be made well ahead and will sit happily in the fridge for 24 hours till you want it. Additionally, you can make more of the mince and use it for two dishes without much moaning about "but we had this yesterday". I'll put some ideas at the end. Everything except the mince comes from the storecupboard, so there is no real shopping to speak of, assuming your cupboard has all the basics.

Lets go. Stage 1 will take you about 45 minutes, and will cook for a couple of hours needing a stir form time to time. Stage two should take no more than 15 minutes. When you are ready, it will cook in 45 minutes. I have a large round sided non-stick frying pan like the child of a wok and a saute pan - these are really excellent for a huge range of jobs!

You will need: for four people, double for two meals as above.

Minced beef or lamb - 400gms

An aubergine and (optional) a large courgette

1 cricketball sized and one billiard ball sized onion - say 125gms unpeeled

Good home made (please) beef or chicken stock - or a tin of consomme

1 head of fresh garlic. As Patience Gray says - once it has sprouted - better to plant than cook it!

Storecupboard: Black peppercorns, soy sauce (preferably dark), balsamic vinegar, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, plain flour, red wine, a 400gm tin of chopped tomatoes, dried thyme, dried oregano, olive oil, plain yoghurt, parmesan.

Chop the big onion as fine as you can, and cook it over a moderate heat with a big pinch of salt, in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil or so, stirring every five minutes or so - ypu will want it to gently brown. Meanwhile, peel half the cloves of garlic and slice them as thin as you can. Do not put them in the garlic press (unless you only have a single clove). you want the garlic to be subtly pervading not overpowering so use a lot cooked gently. A pinch of sugar will help the browning process. When the onion has started to brown, add the garlic and stir well. It may need another 5 minutes or so after that; it wont matted if the garlic is not coloured but it must be transparent and cooked. Take the onion and garlic out and put it in a bowl.

In a little more oil, fry the beef till well browned. Sprinkle over a good teaspon of plain flour, stir in well and cook, stirring, for a minute or so. Add 1/2 a bottle of good robust red wine and let it bubble for a couple of minutes then add some whole black peppercorns - say a dozen - 1/2 a coffee spoon, a coffee spoon of fennel seed, of coriander seed, of dried thyme and a couple of bay leaves. Tip the onions and garlic back in. Stir well and add enough stock for the top to be not quite submerged. Stir well, add a splash of soy and one of balsamic and leave on the slowest heat for a couple of hours. If you have a heat diffuser, it can be slower and longer. It will need a stir and a scrape of the sides every so often. You could put it in an ovenproof dish with a lid and cook it overnight at say 80 - 90C.

If you did a double quantity, you now have a basic mince that you could add a tablespoon of ground cumin (and some seeds too, if you have them), a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and tabasco to taste, add some more liquid, cook it slowly for 1/2 an hour with the extra flavour, and serve with sour cream and baked potato skins as a chilli.

But for the moussaka, now chop the last onion as fine as you can, cook it in a splash of oilwith a pinch of salt, slice and add the rest of the garlic as before, add it to the onion with a big pinch of dried chilli flakes and the same of dried oregano or marjoram (or thyme). Cook for a couple of minutes and add 1/2 a 400gm tim of crushed tomatoes (preferably plain) and a good half glass of red wine. Reduce by half at least till it is thick and concentrated. You can either do this slowly or over a quicker heat, but you will have to keep an eye on it and stir a lot!

Remove the green end and slice the aubergime longways, ideally to half the thickness of a pencil. You will need a big and very sharp knife. Discard the outside slices with the skin on. Put some olive oil in a teacup and with your (silicon is eaasier) pastry brush, brush both sides of each slice and put aside. I dont bother with all that presalting business. Get a large frying pan hot with nothing at all in it - no oil - and put the oiled slices in - you will probably need two batches - they must all be flat on the surface of the pan. Turn them a couple of times until nicely brown and remove.

If you are using a courgette, top and tail it and slice it longways with a potato peeler. It takes a while to get the knack - it is easier if the courgette is on a board. Unlike some other recipes using this (and it is a very useful trick for lots of things) it doesnt matter at all if you have any casualties. Discard the skin slices from top and bottom.

Now, take an oven proof dish with sides no less that 5cms / 2.5inches. I have an oval one about 10 inches long. If using courgette, put a layer, using about a half of it, sparely across the bottom. Add a layer of half the mince. Spread that with half the tomato, then a layer of fried aubergine, another layer of tomato, one of raw courgette, the last of the mince and finally the last of the

aubergine.

Now for the short cut that you have been patiently waiting for. Thanks to Pru Leith, instead of making a bechamel or a custard, put a 500gm tub of Greek yoghurt into a big bowl, beat two egg yolks into it, and then much parmesan cheese as you like - we like it quite cheesey. If you are not using a lot, then some chopped fresh herb is good (if not very authentic) chives, parsley or chervil. Spread this on the top of your dish, sprinkle well with more freshly grated parmesan and it can sit in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

When you are ready, put it into a cold oven and turn it up to 170c fan. have a look after 30 minutes. The top will need to be brown and bubbling. If that hasn't started yet - turn it up to say 190c or (better) to the grill/fan option for another 15 minutes, et voila

Hot Spiced Broccoli

I have just looked in the current Cook's Diary, and found that the Broccoli recipe below was actually hot. I bet it would be good cold too - but perhaps the yoghurt might be a little cloying.

However - from the recipe below, after its sojurn on the fridge, put the dish into a hot oven (say 190c fan) for a little less than 5 minutes - hot through but no more. I might put a little smoked paprika in the yoghurt mix, too, perhaps.

Cold Broccoli, and / or Cauliflower and spiced yoghurt salad

In a pestle and mortar, crush as finely as you can and equal quantity of fennel seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, some salt, a good grind of black pepper and as much dried chilli flakes as you like. Put it through a sieve to remove the worst of the husks and stringy bits. Mix with Greek yoghurt. About a heaped teaspoon of ground mixture to 3 tablespoons of yoghurt is what I use but up to you.

In very fast boiling, well salted water, parboil some Broccoli and/or cauliflower till just cooked and still a bit crunchy. Mush is no good! Drain and cool under a cold tap to stop it cooking. Make sure that it is dry and toss with/pour over the yoghurt mixture. Into the fridge for at least 2 hours. Good as part of a salad lunch or with a cold chicken.

Source? I can't remember - it might have been an original by me. I found it this morning in the kitchen shopping list book. If it is someone else's - i apologise! ? It's jolly good!

Lemon Drizzle Cake

This cake has now become an old favourite, and I think, at last, it is about right. No recipe that I have seen has enough lemon. I shall ask you to be bold.
The easiest way to measure quantities for this recipe, and any other butter cake I believe, is simple. Weigh the eggs, preferably after shelling. Use the same weight of very soft unsalted butter, golden natural caster sugar, and whichever flour you have chosen. I make two at a time because it is just as easy as one and they always get eaten. Let’s get on. You will need….
An electric hand held beater, and a good one – there is a lot of rubbish about. Mine is a very old Krupps; I have bought several others since and ditched them all. A big mixing bowl – say 12” plus across. An electronic scale – cheap – mine was less than £10 in a supermarket. Several smaller mixing bowls. 2 x 1lb loaf tins – I use silicon now, which don’t need lining with greaseproof paper. A big silicon spatula – catering size is best. Cooling racks – not essential but helpful. A microplane – a very sharp grater on a stick – incredibly useful.
For two loaf tins:
4 eggs, shelled, threads removed as best you can, weighed
Their weight in very very soft unsalted butter
The same in Golden Caster sugar – we use Billingtons – white ordinary is OK but this is better
The same in self-raising flour
A teaspoon of baking powder
4 lemons
A good tablespoon of any cream, Greek yoghurt, or even full cream milk – in that order of preference
A 300gm packet of dried cranberries – optional

Heat the oven to 170c fan.
Sift the flour and baking powder through a sieve into a bowl to mix, remove lumps and aerate.
Beat the sugar into the softened butter very thoroughly. You are trying to beat in some air. Recipes say till light and fluffy. I’m not sure that I have ever achieved that and my cake is quite dense. Comments would be helpful!
With a Microplane, grate the zest off four unwaxed lemons into the butter and sugar.
One at a time, beat in the eggs, alternating with a tablespoon of flour after each egg.
Fold in the rest of the flour with the spatula, and do the same with the cream or yoghurt.
Spoon the mixture into the cake tins, bang them to get it to settle and push around a bit with the spatula till fairly even. It will sort itself out in the oven.
Bake for about 35 minutes until the top feels firm and sponge-like, and a skewer comes out hot and clean.
While it is in the oven, squeeze the juice from the four lemons and mix with about 108gms granulated sugar.
Leaving the cakes in their tins, and while still hot, spear all over with a skewer and pour the lemon juice and sugar all over to soak in. Leave to cool – overnight is fine. Turn out and serve. They won’t look much but seem pretty popular nonetheless!

It is a long while since I posted anything but the Cooks Diary gets filled in whenever there is anything interesting. I need to get going again, so here goes with some lesser known facts unlikely to help you in the kitchen at all, but interesting if, like me, you have a butterfly brain.

Five-spice powder is a seasoning in Chinese cuisine. It incorporates the five basic flavors of Chinese cooking sweet, sour, bitter, savory, and salty. One common recipe includes Chinese Tung Hing cinnamon (actually a type of cassia), powdered cassia buds, powdered star anise and anise seed, ginger root, and ground cloves. Another recipe for the powder consists of huajiao (Sichuan pepper), bajiao (star anise), rougui (cassia), cloves, and fennel seeds. It is used in most recipes for Cantonese roasted duck, as well as beef stew. It is also used as a marinade for Vietnamese broiled chicken. The five-spice powder mixture has followed the Chinese diaspora and has been incorporated into other national cuisines throughout Asia.
The formulae are based on the Chinese philosophy of balancing the yin and yang in food.
Although this spice is used in restaurant cooking, many Chinese households do not use it in day-to-day cooking. In Hawaii, some restaurants have it on the table.
A versatile seasoned salt can be easily made by stir-frying common salt with Five-spice powder under low heat in a dry pan until the spice and salt are well mixed.
Quatre épices is a spice used mainly in France, but also found in the Middle Eastern kitchen. The name literally means "four spices"; the spice mix contains ground pepper (white, black, or both), cloves, nutmeg and ginger. Some variations of the mix use allspice instead of pepper, or cinnamon in place of ginger.
The blend of spices will typically use a larger proportion of pepper (usually white pepper) than the other spices, but some recipes suggest using roughly equal parts of each spice.
In French cooking it is typically used in soups, stews, vegetable preparations and also in sausages and salamis.
Allspice, also called Jamaica pepper, Kurundu, Myrtle pepper, pimento[1], or newspice, is a spice which is the dried unripe fruit of the Pimenta dioica plant, a tree native to the West Indies, southern Mexico and Central America. The name "allspice" was coined by the English, who thought it combined the flavour of several aromatic spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.