Banana custard

Yet another custard, and yet another method.  This method always seemed in danger of curdling despite lots of stirring on a very gentle heat.  She has a perfectly good recipe for custard, here, which you can then pour over bananas.

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Liver with sweet onions

All i can say, is its not easy to make liver and onions look good!  It was a success though - the sweetness of the pomegranate molasses was great.

- Heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pan and gently fry 1 finely sliced onion for 10 mins.
- Add 1 tablespoon of pomegranate juice (or pomegranate molasses diluted 50:50 with vermouth!) and cook for another 10 mins.
- Remove to a warm plate, add another tablespoon each of butter and oil, and cook 220g liver, coated in seasoned flour, for about 1 min on each side.
- Add to the plate of onions, then add another tablespoon pomegranate juice to the pan, deglaze, taste, then pour over the liver and onions.

The deglazed was delicious - i don't really like sweet and savoury often, but the sweet pomegranate sauce was great with the liver and what was a kind of onion marmalade.

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Roast shoulder of lamb

This tasted better than it looks in the photo!  My new japanese knife that i bought the other day in marylebone, made a slightly bigger hole than i meant.  It is phenomenally sharp and only needs sharpening every 6-9 months because it's made from high carbon steel and therefore very hard (about 64 on the Rockwell Scale)- an ordinary stainless steel knife apparently should be sharpened after every use.  It is a joy to use and i would recommend getting a decent chef's knife (16-22cm) to anyone.

This is probably the easiest meat recipe in the book and tasted all the better for it!

- Mince 3 cloves garlic and finely chop a sprig of rosemary.
- Mash both together with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
- Make insertions with a knife into 1-2kg shoulder of lamb and push the mixture into the lamb.
- Coat the top of the lamb with some of the oil, sprinkle with coarse salt and cook for 30 mins per kg plus 20 mins.



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Squid and clams with chilli

Some of nigella's most successful recipes are the simple asian flavour dishes and this another one of those.  Very and quick to make, with only a few key ingredients, and yet the end result has the flavour of a seemingly much more complex dish.  I recommend this to anyone to try.

- Rinse 600g clams under a cold tap, throwing any that are cracked, damaged or stay open.
- Slice 4 large squid or 10 small ones, into rings.
- Heat 4 tablespoons olive oil in a wide pan on a high heat, and when hot, add 4 cloves chopped garlic, and 1 chopped dried chilli.
- Stir, then add the squid, cooking for about 1 min.
- Add the clams along with 250ml sake and 250ml water.
- Cook with the lid on for 4-5 mins, shaking a couple of times.
- Check the clams have all opened, pour into a large bowl and serve sprinkled with parsley or thai basil.

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Zabaione

Another one of nigella's creamy puddings that she loves.  A lot of them are disappointing, but this one was great. Tara had cooked some rhubarb in the oven, so i added some rhubarb juice which worked well.  Whisking by hand seemed to have no effect, and the eggs only started to froth up with the whisk on turbo.  The glasses might be half full either because its possible to make it even more foamy, or because i got loads on the new floor with the extreme whisking.

- Put a bowl over a pan of boiling water and in that bowl whisk together 2 egg yolks and 25g caster sugar.
- Keep whisking while the water below simmers, until the mixture becomes thick and pale.
- Slowly add 60ml marsala, whisking continuously until you have a foamy mixture, then add to 2 glasses.

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Thai style mussels

The moules mariniere were pretty good, but this was even better.  It may just be my personal preference, but i think this is a tastier way to eat mussels.  I doubled the quantities below to make it a low fat main course for tara and I.

- Put 400g mussels in a cold pan of water and throw any that don't sink to the bottom, and any that don't close when tapped.
- Put 100ml stock in a pan together with 1 shallot, 2 cloves garlic, 3 kaffir limes leaves (or stick lemon grass) and 1 cm piece ginger, all chopped finely.
- Heat for 3-5 mins until there's a thickish, soft mess in the bottom of the pan.
- Add 1 chopped chilli, and after 30 seconds, add the mussels, 120ml boiling water, and 1 tablespoon each of lime juice, mirin and fish sauce.
- Put the lid on, shake the pan and cook for about 3 mins.
- Pour into a bowl and serve sprinkled with coriander.
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Steak and kidney pie

We had just started tucking the steak and kidney pie, when i remembered to take a photo.  That's it on the left, with Tara's mini vegetarian one on the right - portabello mushrooms to make up for the missing steak.  You would think, by the way, that Tara amongst others, is called a vegetarian because she only eats vegetables.  Apparently, though that is wrong - the word vegetarian doesn't come from the word vegetables, but from the latin word "vegetus", which means fresh and lively.

We had a lovely meal, even if i say so myself, with blinis to start (we managed to stop angus eating them all before everyone else arrived), the steak and kidney pie with the onion mush and petit pois a la francaise, followed by turkish delight figs, done deliciously by tara.  My crust didn't perform brilliantly - i forgot to add the pie tunnel in the middle, which apparently helps the steam escape and cook the pastry.

- Finely chop 2 onions, 1 carrot, 1/2 stick celery and 3 sage leaves and heat in a pan in 4 tablespoons olive oil for about 5 mins until soft.
- Remove and add to a casserole dish, then add 2 tablespoons butter to the pan and cook 200g sliced mushrooms and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley for a few mins, then add the casserole.
- Spinkle 4 tablespoons flour on a plate, add lots of grated nutmeg and pepper, then coat 500g stewing steak chunks and 250g kidneys in the flour.
- Brown the steak in the pan in another 2 tablespoons of oil and remove to the casserole.
- Add 200ml beef stock and 200ml stout or red wine to the casserole, stir well, season and cook for 2 hours in the oven at 150C.
- Move to a pie dish and leave to cool.
- Make the pastry by adding together 200g self raising flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, fresh nutmeg and 100g suet, then gradually stir in 100ml water until you have a soft paste.
- Roll out into a fat disc about 1/2 cm thick, using the off cuts to coat the rims of the pie dish first.
- Cook for 30 mins at 190C, covering in foil if the top looks like burning.

Call me old fashioned, but i don't consider this to be a proper pie - for me, a pie has to have a complete covering of pastry, but i recognise that i might be in the minority here.  Despite some googling, this is also not a generally accepted definition - what i am talking about is a "two crust pie" apparently and this recipe is a "one crust pie".  However, i feel i have history on my side, as the origin of the pie, was to encrust the ingredients in pastry so as to preserve them - wikianswers confirms it just in case!

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