Shortbread

Shortbread was simpler than i thought it would be.  They were slightly overdone, but that wasn't my fault - i had left tara to take them out of the oven while i ran an errand for her!  I was going to have them with nigella's lemon cream recipe, but somehow we had run out of double cream even though its all i seem to buy these days.  But they were lovely on their own.

- Cream 100g soft butter and 50g icing sugar in a food processor, then add 100g flour, 50g cornflour and a pinch of salt, and process again.
- Remove and mould into a cylinder shape.
- Cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge for 20 mins.
- When firm, slice into 1/2 cm discs and cook in the oven on a baking tray for 20-30 mins, removing when the top is dry.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Italian broth

I had this just as a soup, but it's actually more of a stock - nigella says it makes a great base for a rissotto.  A lot of meat goes into making this, and i'm not sure its worth it.

- Put 500g piece beef flank, 2 pieces ossobuco, and 500g chicken wings in a large saucepan.
- Add 1 onion cut in half, each stuck with a clove, 2 sliced carrots, 2 sliced stalks celery, 2 sliced leeks, 1 ripe tomato halved, 1 peeled clove garlic, 1 bay leaf, 6 parsley stalks, 6 peppercorns and 1 teaspoon of salt.
- Cover with water by 6cm, bring to the boil and simmer very gently for 3 hours, skimming the scum off every hour.
- Remove the large pieces of meat and strain through a cheesecloth or muslin.
- If storing, cool in the fridge and remove the fat from the top of the jelly with a kitchen towel.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bearnaise sauce

Hmmmmm.  Yet again, as with nigella's hollandaise sauce, i could not get this to not separate.  i just think she tries to add too much butter to the sauce, and by the time the butter is absorbed, the egg has been over-heated and separates.  I have adjusted the recipe accordingly, and although this is as yet untried by me, whilst i was making it, with the amount of butter below, the sauce was looking good.

- Put 1 shallot, tarragon stalks, 1 tablespoon each of chopped tarragon and chervil, 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons wine, and 1 teaspoon crushed peppercorns in a saucepan.
- Boil together until reduced to about 1 tablespoon, then strain and leave to cool.
- Put 3 egg yolks in a bowl with 1 tablespoon water and set over a pan of simmering water.
- Whisk together with the strained liquid.
- Then keep whisking as you add 150g soft butter, cut into 1cm cubes, until it is all absorbed.
- Taste, season and add juice of a 1/4-1/2 lemon to taste.



Even though it separated, it did taste better than it looks!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Miso mustard dressing

I also made a watercress, rocket and baby spinach salad to have with the linguine and clams, and i made this dressing to use the other half of the blood orange from the rhubarb jelly.  Nigella doesn't say to use a blood orange, but it worked well for me.

- Mix together 1/2 teaspoon of miso, 1/2 teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, 1/4 teaspoon clear honey and the juice of 1/2 orange.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Quick custard

Nigella has 2 recipes for custard and this is the quick foolproof custard.  Although actually i found the previous method nigella used easier, mainly because i couldn't seem to thicken the custard without putting it back on the heat.

- Heat 600ml double cream with the seeds of a vanilla pod and the empty pod until boiling point.
- Whisk together 5 egg yolks, 1 teaspoon cornflower, and 2 tablespoons sugar.
- As the cream boils, pour onto the egg mixture, whisking continously for about 10 mins until thick.

I gave up whisking after about 10 mins, and just put it back on the hob for a couple of mins, stirring constantly.  It made delicious custard (i think the double cream helps!) which went perfectly with the bakewell tart.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Real custard

I've never made custard the proper way before, and this was so easy, i don't why we use packet custard.  There's no more to it than using packet custard anyway.

- Slowly heat 500ml single cream or half milk, half cream, in a pan with the seeds of 1 vanilla pod in it, and also adding the empty pod. Before it boils, take off the heat and leave to infuse for 10-20 mins
- Whisk 5 egg yolks with 40g sugar until creamy, then slowly add the cream, whisking continuosly.
- Put back on the heat for 5-10 mins, whisking or stirring all the time, until its at the thickness you like.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bechamel Sauce

As Nigella says, the most useful of sauces and one we make all the time, probably without realising it.  I made it yesterday for instance, for the pea souffle.

- Melt 15g (1 tablespoon) butter in a pan.
- Stir in 15g (1 1/2 tablespoons) flour and cook for 2-3 mins.
- Gradually whisk in 300ml milk, off the heat - don't add the next bit of milk, until the previous bit is smoothly incorporated.
- Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Nigella recommends using "Dove Farm" flour, which i always buy now because its Marni's middle name!

Rich Shortcrust Pastry

I made this other day for the onion tart, using one of nigella's simpler recipes.

- Put 120g flour in a processor together with 60g cold butter, cubed.  Nigella recommends putting it in the freezer for 10mins as well, but i have so far ignored this.
- Process until mixture resembles oatmeal.
- Beat an egg yolk together with 1 teaspoon of yoghurt or creme fraiche or orange/lemon juice.
- Add the beaten egg to the flour and process until the mixture is just about to clump together.
- If it doesn't, add tiny amounts of iced water, until it does.
- Remove from the processor, cover in clingfilm and keep in the fridge until needed.

If you want ordinary shortcrust pastry, then ignore the egg, and just use iced water to bind it.

Aubergine Moussaka

This is a great recipe - a good moussaka with a lebanese theme according nigella.  I think the addition of the chick peas makes it a bit more middle eastern, as does the use of pomegranate molasses.  However, given that i was at wittering rather than home in london, this was a bit tricky to find.  I had to use dark sugar with a squeeze of lemon as a substitute which seemed to work.

- Peel 500g aubergines in lengthways stripes, cut into 1.5cm cubes and saute for a few mins in 3 tablespoons olive oil.

- Remove to a dish covered in kitchen roll.

- Add 2 more tablespoons olive oil and saute 1-2 thinly sliced onions and 10 cloves thickly sliced garlic for about 5 mins until soft.

- Add 150g chickpeas (don't use the whole 200g tin or they will dominate) and cook for another 5 mins.

- Add 1 1/2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses and return the aubergines to the pan.

- Peel and quarter 500g tomatoes and add to the pan together with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon allspice, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and 200ml water.

- Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 1 hour.

- Serve sprinkled with parsley or coriander.

We had this a couple of times, once with the couscous, which didn't really do the moussaka justice, so the second time, i made some fresh chappatis which were perfect with it.

The chappati recipe i got, not from nigella, but from a guide on a 2 day camel trek in the Great Thar Desert in India.  In the middle of the dunes, he got out a small bag of flour, added a bit of salt and water to it, and gently kneaded it for a few mins.  Then he flattened it out as thin as possible into small chappatis, heated a metal pan over the fire until very hot, then cooked them without oil for a couple of mins on each side.

I have used this method of making bread many times since, and its as easy as bread making gets.  Whether or not, you've ever made bread before, i suggest you give it a go.

Sweet Pastry

I normally make pastry by hand, but Nigella's method is simpler (i know, i couldn't believe it!) and turns out better. She uses the blender and it just seems to work, and this is without doing the fiddly bits of putting things back in the freezer.

- Sieve 120g flour and 30g icing sugar into a bowl and add 80g cold cubed (1cm) butter.

- Put this in the deep freeze for 10 mins.

- In a small bowl, mix 1 egg yolk, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, a tablespoon of iced water and a pinch of salt.

- Beat together and then put back in the fridge.

- Remove the flour/butter bowl and add to a blender.

- Blend for a few mins, until the mixture resembles oatmeal.

- Add the egg yolk mixture to the blender and blend until the mixture nearly comes together - add slightly more iced water if necessary.

- Just before it totally amalgamates, remove it and combine into a round ball.

- Cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge until its ready to be used.

Just perfect for the custard tart coming up...

Dijon Mustard Dressing

This is a zero fat dressing, with an ingredient list that sounds like it won't work, but actually does.

- Mix 1/2 teaspoon of dijon mustard with 1/2 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and the juice of 1/2 an orange.

- Add a few drops of soy sauce to taste.

simple, but pretty good.

Basic French Dressing

This dressing is a bit heavy on the olive oil and light on the mustard in my view. I prefer my dressings with a bit more bite. Nigella also uses a bit of water which just reduces the flavour.

- Mix 1/2 teaspoon of mustard, 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon of salt, some pepper and a drop of water.

- Whisk in 6-8 tablespoons of olive oil.

To add some other flavours, you can substitute some of the olive oil for walnut or hazelnut oil.

Lemon Curd

After a disappointing vegetable curry, Nigella quickly made up for it, with a terrific recipe for lemon curd.

- Remove the zest from 4 unwaxed lemons, then squeeze the juice from them.

- Beat together 4 eggs, 4 egg yolks, and 300g castor sugar until the sugar dissolves.

- Add the lemon juice, zest and 200g unsalted butter.

- Stir on a low heat (use a heat diffuser if you have one) until the mixture thickens and looks like lemon curd.

- If it starts to curdle, immediately put in a bowl of cold water to reduce the temperature and get whisking.

The result is a lemon curd that is zingy and not too sweet. Something i will definitely make again. Watch this space for Pavlova for those eponymous left over egg whites.

Chicken Stock

This is does not technically count as one of the recipes, as there's no recipe list in the book, but seeing as i made it, I might as well record it. I didn't have most of the vegetables that Nigella suggests, but i'm not sure it matters. I also added in the left over gravy.

- Put the chicken carcass into a large pan together with celery, 1 carrot, 1 onion, a clove, some peppercorns, a bouquet garni, parsley stalks and the white of a leek.

- Cover with water, add some salt and simmer for 3 hours.

- Strain off the froth and scum as it rises to the surface.

The problem now comes of storing it. Nigella though suggests freezing in a freezer bag, inside a jug, and then removing the jug when its frozen. I just don't have space in my freezer to do things like that. I immediately went out and bought lots of tuppaware to store it in - stackable tuppaware rules!

Basic White Loaf

I've made bread many times, but never by following Nigella. She seems to advocate more provings than i've done before, plus additional olive oil in the mix. The result was a tasty light loaf, one of the best i've done, and worth the extra time it takes.

- Mix 300g of strong flour, a sachet of yeast, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon sugar. (Nigella recommends the worktop, but i recommend a bowl!)

- Then gradually add 170ml of warm water and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, bringing together with your hands.

- Knead for 10 mins, then cover with some clingfilm and a tea towel and leave for 30 mins.

- Knead for 3 mins, and leave again for 30 mins.

- Gently knead (nigella says "fold" but not sure what this is!) for a further 2-3 mins, and leave for 10 mins

- Move to a loaf tin or baking tray and leave in warm place for 45-60 mins

- Bake for 35 mins at 220c/ Gas 8

I guarantee you won't have any left within 24 hours!