I have just been given Niki Segnit's Flavour Thesaurus, and am gradually working my way through it.  There are lots of interesting nuggets.  I like the way she peppers the entries with tasty irrelevances.  On Pork and Beef, p33 she tells us that Vinnie, in Goodfellas, says that for authentic meatballs, three types of meat are needed; beef, veal and pork - "You gotta have pork - that's the flavour".

I often mix meats for meatballs but I've never used these three, partly because if I am just cooking for the two of us, you need such a niggardly quantity of each one, and our butcher's team all, I think, regard our manifestly tiny appetites as pathetic; we often only need one chicken breast between us, for instance.

But I am wandering.  MEATBALLS.  Meatballs have become our casserole of choice recently.  Versatile, tasty and a pleasant texture.  I brown them well in a frying pan and then cook them very slowly, preferably the day before they are wanted.  Here's what I did earlier this week, loosely following Marcella Hazan, Classic Italian Cookbook.

400gms good beef mince
2 tablespoons dried crumbs, soaked in full cream milk
1/2 a large shallot, cut as fine as you can
Chilli flakes
Pepper
Dried oregano
- I didn't use a tablespoon of grated Parmesan, as she suggests, and rather wish I had.  If you do, cut the salt
- I didn't put in an egg either - safer but makes for a denser texture.  Only one MB broke up!

Mix very well, form into balls and fry in 2 - 3 tablespoons of olive oil.  This is where Ms Hazan and I part company

1/2 bottle robust red wine
same quantity of stock (I used a tin of Waitrose beef consomme)
splash anchovy sauce (instead of salt)
1 good heaped teaspoon of plain flour
big pinch of dried thyme
a dozen black peppercorns and twice as many pink
scant teaspoon of fennel seeds
the other 1/2 of the shallot plus a second whole one, sliced
6 good fat cloves of garlic in thin slices
a stick of celery, strings removed and cut into big matchsticks
2 bay leaves
Squirt of (sundried, preferably) tomato paste
1/2 a small tin crushed tomatoes

Once the meatballs have browned, remove them to the casserole that you are going to use, and put in the bay leaves.  Add the sliced shallot to the pan, cook till just beginning to soften, then add the garlic and celery.  2 - 3 minutes on a low heat, stirring, then add the flour.  Cook it for a couple of minutes, add the wine and bring to a rapid boil.  Add the fennel, peppercorns, thyme and anchovy sauce (don't worry - it won't be in the slightest bit fishy, just a deeper richer flavour) and reduce by half.  Add the stock and tinned tomato, reduce with a quick 3 minute boil and pour over the meatballs.  Into an oven at about 120c for 4 hours, or longer and slower if you like.  Degrease with 2 or 3 thicknesses of kitchen towels before serving.

Goat Cheese and Black Pepper Mousses with Truffle Honey

Discovered at lunch at the Chelsea Arts Club and this version seems to be close to theirs.

For 4

150gm log of soft goat cheese – nothing fancy

120dl of full cream milk – that’s a scant quarter pint
Bay leaves of a sprig of fresh thyme
½ teaspoon of black peppercorns
1 whole egg and one yolk
2 tablespoons crème fraiche – I guess you could use yoghurt instead
Oil for greasing custard pots
Truffle honey and maybe some whole truffles

4 metal custard moulds, or ramekins

A baking tin in which they will fit
Foil to cover the tin
A small saucepan
Pestle and mortar, or a peppermill set to very coarse
Electric kettle

Preheat the oven to 170c or about 160c fan.

Grease custard cups generously.  If using ramekins, don’t bother as it will be better to serve them without turning them out.  Less disaster potential!

Lightly smash the peppercorns so that there is nothing bigger than ¼ sized pieces
Heat milk with bay/thyme and peppercorns to simmer, turn off and leave 20 minutes. Boil the kettle
Mash the goat cheese into the milk, add the eggs – (prebeaten if you like but that’s more washing up), mix very thoroughly and add the crème fraiche
Put your moulds/ramekins into the baking tray. Pour the mixture into them, put them onto the oven shelf, cover with the foil, being sure that it doesn’t touch the surface of the mixture, pierce it a few times and bake until just set.  
Take the results from the water bath carefully – no water onto the mixtures please!  Allow to cool then chill.
Peel the truffles if using them and chop very finely, then mix into the honey.  If you can do this a few days before, so much the better
If using moulds, dip for a minute, no more, in boiling water, invert onto the individual serving plate, thumbs on top and fingers round the plate, and shake well to turn out.  You will hear a gloop
Serve chilled with a teaspoon of the honey, well stirred, and leave the honey on the table

Cheese Biscuits - last made 18th September 2012

Equal weight of soft butter, plain flour and a grated hard cheese - Parmesan is good, so is Manchego, or Pecorino Romano.  You can use one of the Gruyere/Beaufort/Comte tribe, or Cheddar, Wensleydale, double Gloucester, but the biscuits wont be quite as crisp.
Some powdered mustard, and any one of the following: dried thyme, oregano, chilli flakes, nigella seeds, mustard seeds.  About a heaped teaspoon to an 80gm mixture of each ingredient.

Preheat the oven to 160-170c fan.  Grease a baking tray very lightly.  An 80gm mix of each ingredient will need a tray about 40cms square I guess.

Mix all the ingredients together very well.  Take about a teaspoon at a time and gently form into balls,  Do not overwork.  Put on the tray so that they are at least as far apart as twice the diameter of each little ball.

Bake about 12 minutes.  The edges should be beginning to brown and the tops pale.  Take a palette knife and carefully lift each one onto a rack to cool.

Done.

You can freeze the mixture beforehand but they are not as good.

3^rd January 2011 and 19th September 2012

Moroccan spiced cauliflower & almond soup.

BBC Good Food website

This is really very good indeed but I made a few twists which I think improved it. This is a very filing soup.

For 4 smallish servings

A medium cauliflower

2 tablespoons olive oil, or walnut even better

½ teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, cardamom, cumin and one of cumin seeds

1 scant teaspoon rose harissa

100cl good stock, or a  bit more depending upon how thick you like your soup

50g split almonds

25g pine nuts

Coriander leaves

Greek yoghurt

Home made spiced sherry (optional, and if you don’t already make it, do so immediately!)

Cut the cauli into florets; put two aside for garnish. Toss the nuts with the cumin seeds and a big pinch of sea salt in a frying pan till browned.  If you burn them, they go into the bin and you do it again as they will make everything bitter.  Unless you use a big pan, it will be easier to do it in two batches.  Put aside about a sixth for garnish.  Preheat a deep frying pan and dry roast the spices for a couple of minutes, adding plenty of ground pepper.  Add the oil and the harissa and fry for a minute or so, then add the cauliflower and toss so that the florets are coloured with the spice. Add the stock and half a small glass of the sherry.  Simmer till the cauliflower is soft.  Pour into a food processor with the nuts and cumin seeds and blitz till very smooth.  You may need to add a glass or two of water or some more stock to get it to the consistency that you prefer though it should be quite thick.  Put it back into the pan.  Taste for salt and season. 

Cut the remaining cauliflower into the tiniest of florets.  They should be no bigger than a pea, and preferably smaller, but don’t chop the poor little things.  Reheat the soup very gently; it will behave like a boiling mud pool and throw blobs all over your kitchen if it is too hot, unwatched and unstirred.

Pour into bowls.  Put a ring of bits of cauliflower round the edge.  A big neatish pinch of coriander leaves goes into the middle next, and then scatter the salted nuts as evenly as you can.  Finally, with two teaspoons, place a tidy blob of yoghurt on top.  If you can be bothered, and the harissa has plenty of oil on the top, sprinkle a few drops around the middle.

The recipe only uses the nuts and looks frankly, very beige. My version is a warming, pale, rustic orange.  We had it as a supper but the flavour is good enough to serve at a dinner party.  If you do only a tiny potion as it is surprisingly rich.  I have no idea how you would garnish it in a coffee cup; please do let me know!

Courgette Flan - from the wonderful Nathalie Hambro's Particular Delights

Called a flan but has no pastry.  As ever, some deviations from the original.  This is a delicious supper or lunch dish, and is nearly as good cold as hot.  Good and original picnic food.  The flavour of the courgettes and tarragon is delicate and I'd either stick to this or do something entirely different.  I am going to try it with lettuce, peas and a smidge of onion soon, for instance.

You will need a dish in which to bake it.  I use a provencal tian; earthenware, glazed inside, sloping sides (which make it easier to get the flan out), about 8" across, which is good for the 4 egg quantity.

For a supper dish for two:

4 eggs

2 medium courgettes

a 1/2 coffeespoon dried thyme, the same of oregano, twice as much tarragon

some fresh chives and parsley, chopped finely. (any mix of herbs is good but the tarragon needs to predominate and I would avoid basil)

2 tablespoons thick cream, or creme fraiche

butter, softened

3 - 4 oz grated cheese.  Pecorino Romano is good.  The original suggests Gruyere which is a little stringier.  Manchego would work.  Not cheddar, I think, nor Parmesan unless mixed with one of the others

salt, pepper, nutmeg, tabasco

Heat the oven to 160C fan.  Put a large pan of water on to boil.  Give the dish a good brushing of butter; I use about 1/4oz.  Grate the cheese finely.  Beat the eggs with the cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg, as much Tabasco as you think will make a difference without making the dish spicy and the dried herbs.  Top and tail the courgettes and slice them longways with a vegetable peeler into the thinnest of ribbons.  They do not need to be neat.

Once the water is boiling fast, salt it and drop in the courgettes.  Watch it.  As soon as it comes back to the boil, tip the courgettes into a colander and press them a bit to get rid of the water.  If you have time, let them cool a bit. 

Put the courgettes in the bottom of the dish, pour over the egg cream mixture and sprinkle on the fresh herbs.  Arrange the grated cheese as evenly as you can on top.  Into the oven for about 25 minutes.  It will rise slightly and the top should be brown.  I turn the oven onto grill for the last 5 minutes.

Remove from the oven and gently loosen all round and underneath with a flexible pallette knife, so that the slices will look neat, and slice into quarters.  Seriously yummy.