Risotto ai topinambur

I got some weird looking potatoes in my Abel & Cole vege box this week - turns out they were Jerusalem artichokes! So having never cooked one before, I turned to my Silver Spoon cookbook and found a Jerusalem artichoke risotto recipe. 

I don't mean to brag... but I cook a mean risotto. My mum once told me that she never orders risotto at a restaurant, cause mine is always better! Ok I'm now officially bragging. 

I hadn't followed a risotto recipe in years, and this one differed slightly. You cook the onion in plenty of butter, then add the sliced artichokes, and some stock. You let the artichokes cook in the stock and when cooked, you mash them. Then you add the rice to soak up the liquid - and keep adding stock as per usual. Slightly different, but still worked really well.

Best part is, L ate it without complaining (he's not a risotto fan... neither is my Dad - they both call it 'mushy rice'!) so all in all, I'd consider this a win.

The risotto master at work

Trance did entice marinate

I'm so lazy that I've handed this blog post over to my baby sister! Here's her... Surfing the Silver Spoon:

Marinated sea bream

I should start by saying something cool like, "As an avid reader of the 'Surfing the Silver Spoon' blog... but because it's my sisters blog, that goes without saying. But actually, I do love her blog and I'm always fascinated at the different recipes that she pulls out of that giant cook book. I was keen but slightly worried to give it a go myself because I know there are some weird and wonderful things in there that could either scare me, or open my eyes to something new and interesting. And so when J asked me if I'd do a guest blog post for her I jumped at the chance. 

We used the 'You pick three, I pick one' approach which is a theory I use when my husband and I can't make a decision on something. The first one she picked was lobster but luckily this one was disregarded because I'm not sure if you can get lobsters at my local Asda. My three choices were chicory with Prague ham and béchamel sauce; strawberry ice cream; or marinated sea bream. The ice cream one caught my eye first but you need an ice cream maker so this one was out. The chicory recipe sounded yum and I could go in search of the ingredients in the posher supermarkets around London but that required more effort and another recipe from the silver spoon for the béchamel sauce so it all seemed a bit too hard for this lazy cook. Besides, the fish one looked easy enough and I could buy everything locally. By locally, I mean at the giant supermarket two minutes from my apartment. Finding truly 'local' produce in my neighbourhood is a) not something I want to experience or b) not something that is actually an option.

So sea bream it was or 'Trance did entice marinate' to use the exotic name.

It seems I may have failed at the first hurdle. I was so proud of my local supermarket for stocking sea bass and I bought two fillets for Thursday night - silver spoon night. And then I got home and realised I needed sea bream, not sea bass. Oh well, it's got the word 'sea' in it. That still counts right?

Step one was marinating the fish overnight in a garlic, lemon and herb marinade. Finely chop garlic (I used extra cause I'm a bit of a garlic freak and put it in everything) fresh thyme, mint, dried oregano, the juice of three lemons and good quality olive oil. The recipe called for fresh parsley but I reeeeeeally don't like parsley (I know J finds this really weird but I just hate it!) so I left it out. I marinated my fish overnight but it says three hours will do.

Step two, well... cook the fish, that was it. That's what I loved about this recipe, it was SO easy and simple! I served the fish with turmeric and sesame sweet potato wedges, garlic aioli and steamed purple broccoli and asparagus. Simple and very delicious. The fish was lovely and citrusy and I could really taste the thyme which I loved. I think B may have found the fish a little too plain but I think that might be because he was already a bit miffed I'd made sweet potato wedges and not 'proper' wedges so wasn't in love with dinner at all.

From left: Ingredients including sea bream... or bass and the finished fish - yum

All in all, I loved making something I wouldn't normally make (I never marinate my fish) and it was almost a new experience having to follow a recipe for such a simple but delicious dish. I have to apologise about my photos, they're definitely not as pretty as J's usual pics but I have horrible rental apartment plates and ugly black benchtops (plus a hideous glass coffee table) which doesn't make for very beautiful picture. Oh, and it wasn't the prettiest of dishes to make either. I'm almost a bit relieved there wasn't a picture in the book to go off because I'm certain it wouldn't have looked like mine! Thanks for having me J and I hope you'll have me back again soon! You can find me at http://lifelovetravelfood.blogspot.co.uk in case you're wondering! x

Agnello all 'Arabia

Ok... so it's been a while! New year... new blog post and new blog resolutions - so let's see how I get on! Let's start things off with Arabian lamb - Agnello all 'Arabia. Wow what a fab recipe. It was full of flavour and so easy to knock up with ingredients from your pantry. The best recipes always are I say!

After browning everything off, I added the stock and put it in the oven - then promptly forgot about it for about 2 hours. When I finally remembered it... the onions were slightly caramelised but this was NOT a problem! It was awesome. I served it with steamed broccoli and buttered carrots. A perfect winter warmer.

From left: my messy prep; and the finished lamb.

"These are a few of my favourite things"

• Find similar measuring cups, which look like little dishes, from Anthropologie. I broke one the other day and cried.
• My tile (just seen) is from Tiger - now open on Tottenham Court Road which is a bit exciting for all of you who don't live in the sticks!
• My tagine (which I didn't cook it in - but you could) I picked up in Morocco an age ago. It's great but too small. So that means I must take a trip back for another one... don't you think?
• I cooked the lamb in my most amazing slow cooker (not pictured) I just used the pot part cause this goes on the stove AND into the oven.

Fichi alle spezie

I am still being very boring food-wise. My naturopath has me on a wheat, dairy, sugar AND fructose free diet at the moment. So needless to say, I've not been cooking much from the Silver Spoon at the moment - apologies! But today, bank holiday weekend, I thought it was time to end the drought - even if I can't eat any of it!

So combining my post with my other blog Hither Green Havoc because my figs are home grown! Not exactly intentional, they just grew without any help from me...

Spiced figs. Simple and sweet.

Sorbetto al kiwi

I'm on a wheat and dairy-free diet at the moment... and weekends are the hardest for me. With friends coming round and trips to our local foodie markets I am having to be really creative with what I'm eating and cooking. I wasn't planning on doing a blog post, but as I was having a cooking-spree this Saturday I thought I'd take a peek inside the Silver Spoon. I happened to get kiwi fruits in my Abel and Cole box this week that hadn't been eaten, so when I spotted a recipe for kiwi sorbet a blog post was born.

Simple, almost healthy ingredients!

Making a mess

Pureeing the fruit

Kiwi brick

Summer sun calls for sorbet

The recipe calls for an icecream maker, which I don't have. I seemed to remember old recipes stating that if you didn't have one, to whisk your mixture with a fork a few times while it was freezing. I did this... but it didn't exactly work! The sorbet, whilst really yummy, is rock solid. So to scoop it out, I softened it a little, then scraped it out and as I was scraping, shaped it into scoop shapes!

I'm off to have a bowl now!

Marmellata d'arance

My dear Nanna G made the best apricot jam ever. She would get a new jar out specially for us three city girls when we came to visit the farm - and there wasn't much left after we were done! So I've been making jam. I've done a few batches now, so thought I was ready to branch out and try orange marmalade.

I'm not a marmalade fan... but my baby sister, D, LOVES marmalade - even though she thinks it makes you old (read her hilarious blog post here). It was slightly different from making jam, you don't add any water cause the oranges are juicy enough.

So here goes...

Peeling all the oranges... and I only did half quantity!

All sliced and ready to cook

Not sure my peel was 'finely sliced' but I gave it a good go!

Foamy

After sterilizing, I was ready to put the marmalade into jars

Looking good

The finished prouduct

I delivered a jar to D - so perhaps she could give a verdict below in the comments?

And when apricot season comes around, I will do a comparison between Nanna G's jam... and the Silver Spoon's version... anyone know when apricot season is in the UK? Let me know!

"These are a few of my favourite things"

• My gorgeous kitsch tray is a souvenir from our last snowboarding trip to Chamonix, where we found the cutest restaurant/cafe/bar called The Kitsch Inn when I asked if I could buy the tray our breakfast was served on, they sent us to Bungalow Graphics 
• Wooden chopping board is from Habitat and they have a really similar one here 
• Floral tea towel is from H&M a few years ago - but they have gorgeous styles all the time

And finally, thanks to D for all her jar collecting!
 

Salsa olandese

Yesterday was our 10 year wedding anniversary... so I wanted to cook L his favourite ever breakfast, eggs benedict. Then I thought I really need to do a blog post, so thought I'd make my hollandaise sauce (instead of buying it from M&S!)
 
I was very slack with these pics, so apologies! But also it's not a really exciting recipe (but never fear... I've got another post to come!)

This recipe uses butter instead of oil - I'm sure I've cooked hollandaise before, so the butter threw me a bit. But it's super easy and I think it doesn't split as easily as the oil version does. Lemon is added at the end to zest it up a bit (I also added salt). It's sooooo creamy and rich, and was gorgeous with the salty ham and fresh eggs.

whisking in little cubes of butter

Bottled ready to reheat for later

With muffins, eggs and fresh ham from our local butcher

Verdict: awesome! But pity the bubbly we had with breakfast (hey, it was a special occasion!) wasn't up to scratch! 

Find me on twitter @jeni_willis and also find my butcher on there too @ManorMeats

Mini supplî di riso con mozzarella

Cheesy croquettes... not such a healthy start to 2013 also not something I'd normally  cook. But when the book opened to it, and I had all the ingredients, I figured why not put off my diet another day!

So, mini rice croquettes with mozzarella, not as hard as I thought - ha! They started out easy enough but then I wondered if 250g of uncooked rice could possibly be a bit too much (think the recipe might have meant 250g cooked rice). Then onced mixed the assembly was very messy, and I ended up only rolling half (still a dinner plate full), and just cooking these. 

In the end - yummy! Not sure I'd rush to do them again - but they were tasty and I can imagine with half the rice, would be a bit easier to handle.

Ingredients ready to go... so far so good

Getting messy...

Frying...

Ready to eat

Ossibuchi con piselli

So I planned to do an amazing barbecue this weekend for my dear friend who was flying in from Oz... the weather was meant to be sunny and 24. But this is England, and it wasn't sunny, and it wasn't 24.

Instead, in summer, I resorted to a wintery stew. Only in England.

On the plus side, we have an amazing new butcher (find them on twitter https://twitter.com/ManorMeats) who gave me some great ideas for non-barbecue related dinners. 

So here is my slightly altered Silver Spoon recipe of Osso Buco with peas. Slightly altered being: I used beef, instead of veal, red, instead of white wine, frozen instead of fresh peas and added a random yellow thing (which I think was zuccini/courgette), just to use it up!

Recipe ingredients used differ slightly from the ingredients stated in the recipe...

After eight hours slow cooking (well I did go to the hairdressers, then the pub!)

No complaints, it went down very well.

Ciambella alle carote

When my sister and I agreed to do a baking stall for my local fair I thought I'd delve into the Silver Spoon for a recipe to attempt! Carrot cake it was and it went down a treat - it sold out!

You can read more about our baking havoc here on my other blog!

But for now, here's my attempt at carrot cake - the green rabbit was just a silly addition to the pics, but then he came with us to the stall and quite a few people wanted to buy him!

Clockwise from top left: Recipe found; ingredients and bunny; bunny eyeing off the mixture; the stall - carrot cake on right; and stirring in the mountains of carrot

Biscotti alla cannella

We've had a busy few months and my poor Silver Spoon blog has taken a little bit of a back seat to our flat renovations (see them here). But in the midst of the reno's I did manage a very quick afternoon of baking... an attempt to entice my builder away from rich tea's to biscotti alla campella or cinnamon biscuits.

These are made with oil, not butter

Really difficult to mix together - I added more oil than the recipe said

Sprinkle sprinkle

And they're done

After putting the biscuits out, next to the tea, they remained untouched - ahh well, rich tea's won over in the end! But L and I managed to devour them though - they were awesome!

But success a few weeks later, I made banana bread, which won over the rich tea's!

Torta al cioccalato

So I have to confess... I've cooked this one before. It's the only recipe I'd ever cooked out of this book before I started this blog! It's tried, and tested and it's really yummy.

I cheated cause I needed a cake... and fast! My lovely friend and very talented hairdresser, was coming over, to work on my garden on his birthday! So of course I had to make him a gorgeous cake! My Friday evening on which I had planned to bake an extravagant, multi-layered cake, had been spent at the hardware store (excitement plus!) shopping for reno materials (see more details here if you want to see...)

So in between meeting someone about some freelance work, and climbing up into our disgustingly dusty loft, I whipped up this old faithful chocolate cake (sans dust I promise!) - which never fails to disappoint!

Ready to go... please excuse the dead plant!

Stirring out the lumps...

The best bit!

Cooling... almost ready for eating!

Maionese (ricetta base)

A very last minute Silver Spoon recipe on a Sunday afternoon cooking for friends. I bought what I thought was horseradish sauce from the divine Blackheath farmers markets (along with organic beef and vege) for a rather particular horseradish connoisseur. Luckily (for my blog!) it turned out to be fresh grated horseradish - sans sauce - so what better way to impress the horseradish connoisseur than to make it from scratch!

I started with a basic mayonnaise recipe and after an hour of whisking drops of that oil, and vinegar into egg yolks (with a blister to prove it was hand made) I stirred in the one tablespoon of suggested rafano (horseradish). The rather particular horseradish connoisseur then made me keep adding tablespoon, after tablespoon, after tablespoon... til the whole jar was in the mayonnaise.


And he was spot on... it was perfect.

Ingredients...

Please... not another Silver Spoon fail!

 

 

 

The most perfect Horseradish mayonnaise ever (if I do say so myself!)

And if you're curious how the rest of the meal turned out. Check out my hugely talented photographer friend, Helen's, blog post about the day here (and she laughed at me making mayonnaise!)

Panna cotta caramellata

What a disastrous attempt at this Caramelized panna cotta! I was rushed, I curdled the cream mix, my caramel seized and I burnt myself! The recipe said it served 4, so I doubled the quantity - for the 8 people I was cooking for - it would have served about 20! 

Luckily though, after making a new caramel and much whisking of the cream (when it said "fold") it looked half decent and I got it in the oven.

So much for an elegant, refined dessert!


And in the end it did turn out onto plates ok... but not ok enough to take a picture for my blog! I'm embarrassed! 

The cream mixture and the doomed caramel

In the oven... hoping for the best!

Pastella per crêpes, Crêpes ai funghi and Crêpes al proscuitto e fontina

Nothing for who knows how long, then three recipes at once! Well cheating a little... translated this is just a basic crêpe recipe and two types of crêpes. 

Crêpe batter, Crêpes ai funghi and Ham and fontina crêpes to be exact!

Thought I'd get one more post in before I have to pack away the Silver Spoon for the big move... but I may potentially be kitchen-less for a while - here's hoping it's not for too long!

These were full on - batter for crêpes, ingredients for crêpes, cooking of ingredients for crêpes, cooking the actual crêpes, making a Bechamel sauce, filling and rolling the crêpes, then finally baking the whole lot! Totally. Worth. It.

First up: crêpe batter 

Ingredients

Mushroom filling

Cooking soooo many crêpes - started out thick, and got thinner as I got more confident!

The finished product - so cheesy and gorgeous!

Uova fritte all 'Americana

American Style Eggs

No blog posts for weeks (absolutely no excuse besides utter laziness) and now two at once! Went to Borough market yesterday and had a few yummy bits in the fridge, so thought what better to use them on than catching up on my blog.

Sunday morning - Pancetta in the fridge and a section in the Silver Spoon called "fried" - what more could you want?!

Ingredients

Eggs look a bit weird cause the recipe says to "use a wooden spoon to flip the egg whites over the yolks to cover"

So naughty but so yummy

Really yummy but I'm now drinking a heap of tea to try and soak up all that grease! Worth it though.

Cappesante in salsa di zafferano

Scallops in saffron sauce

So I think i kind of messed this one up a bit. A couple of reasons... 

1. I'm assuming that these scallops are poached, but after I'd simmered the wine for 10 minutes there was no liquid left!

2. The sauce didn't look nearly as lovely as it did in the picture (think I had the heat too high - so the carrot coloured up a bit and in turn coloured the sauce).

and finally

3. L didn't like it at all.

Oh dear!

But still I thought it tasted really lovely. Scallops were soft and plump, sauce - although brown and slighly weird looking - was creamy and went well with the scallops. And who would have thought to put carrots with scallops?!

So here it is... complete with jazzy pictures taken on a Cannon G11 borrowed from a lovely friend - thanks H!

Scallops in saffron sauce

Simmering the liquid

Mmmmm

I cheated here and added a bit more wine... which also cooked off!

The finished product

And there we have it - my first Silver Spoon fail - ah well!