Onion and Brie Tart

Brie and Onion Tart

Serves 2 as a main course or 4 as a starter

200g puff pastry
100-120g Brie
6 onions
50g butter
Thyme

In a large frying pan heat the butter.  Peel the onions and cut into segments.  Cook the onions in the butter on a gentle heat until they are meltingly tender and slightly caramelised.  Let them take their time.

Preheat the oven to 220°C.  Roll out your puff pastry until it is only a couple of millimetres thick.  Carefully place the pastry onto a baking tray and score a border around the pastry about 2cm for the edges.  Prick with a fork.

Once the onions are cooked, spread them out over the pastry leaving the border free.  Brush some of the remaining oniony butter from in the pan around the border – this will help it to go lovely and golden.

Cut the Brie into pieces and scatter over the onions.  Sprinkle over some thyme leaves and a little salt and pepper.

Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the cheese has melted and oozed amongst the onions.

Eat with a big pile of crisp and crunchy salad tossed in a tangy homemade dressing – just a squeeze of lemon juice and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil is all it needs.  Scrumptious.

This delicious recipe is taken from the fabulous Nigel Slater’s Appetite.

Store Cupboard Ploughmans

Sometimes, even on a weekend you can’t be bothered cooking or don’t have the energy.  Having things lying around in the fridge or cupboards that can make a tasty meal is essential and ensures you can eat well without trying too hard.

So here you have it:

Chicken Stew with Dumplings ‘American style’

For lunch today we made Chicken Stew with Dumplings.  I say ‘American style’ because I found the recipe via Tasty Kitchen, which is an American-based recipe website, and because the dumplings aren’t like any I’ve made before.

The original recipe was more of a thick soup than a stew, but I have amended it slightly to make it into more of a stew than a soup.  For the original recipe see here.  For my version see below.

It must be said that on eating this dish it should be issued with a health warning.  This is incredibly rich, especially the dumplings.  It is tasty, but you can feel your heart slowing, your eyelids lowering, and a deep haze of sleep creeping over you. 

My advice would be to substitute most of the cream in the dumplings for water – I can’t imagine it would ruin them, but it would make the whole dish altogether more enjoyable.  For our tastes, this recipe is just a bit too much.

Maybe this recipe should be renamed Death by Dumplings…

Chicken Stew with Dumplings ‘American style’

Serves 3-4

The chicken stew
1 whole chicken, cut into pieces with skin left on (breasts, wings, leg and thighs)
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 sticks of celery, chopped
1 litre of chicken stock
1-2 bay leaves
Couple of sprigs of thyme
1/4 tsp turmeric
Plain flour
Cornflour
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

The dumplings
200g plain flour
60g cornmeal or polenta
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
284ml double cream
Dash of water

First things first.  Season some plain flour with salt and pepper and dunk in each piece of chicken to coat.  In a large pan, fry the chicken pieces in hot oil until golden brown on both sides – start with skin side down first.  Remove to a plate.

Add the chopped onion to the oil (ours got a little singed so we removed the burnt flour first and replaced some of the oil).  Cook for a minute or two until softened. 

Add the chopped celery and carrot, the bay leaves, thyme, turmeric, and salt and pepper. 

Cook for another couple of minutes.

Pour in the chicken stock and bring to the boil.  In a small dish mix a couple of teaspoons of cornflour with a little water and mix to get rid of any lumps.  Add this mixture into the pot and stir in. 

Next add the chicken pieces and turn the heat down to a simmer.  Cover with a lid and cook for about 15-20 minutes. 

At this point you can remove the chicken to a plate and turn up the heat to a boil to start to thicken your sauce.  Do this until it’s at the consistency you want.

In a separate bowl, mix together the ingredients for the dumplings – plain flour, polenta, baking powder and salt. 

Add the double cream and mix well.  You just want to mix the ingredients to a sticky dough – you can always add a splash of water if you need to loosen it a little.

Spoon the dumpling mixture into the stew and cover with a lid.  About 12 minutes should cook them – they will fluff up – in our case rather too much (see below for what ours looked like!). 

Take your serving plates and arrange a couple of pieces of chicken on each.  Spoon out a dumpling or two and finally a generous helping of the stew liquid.  Sprinkle over some parsley and eat. 

I feel like I need to go and sleep off this meal for the rest of the afternoon…

…zzz…

Mezze Birthday Banquet

Earlier in January was my mommy’s birthday.  N and I packed our car and headed down for the weekend to celebrate her birthday with her and my family. 

While my dad took her off to London for the day the little sister and me got to work preparing a delicious birthday banquet for dinner.  For the main course we decided to do a selection of mezze style dishes with some middle eastern flavours.

There was a crushed carrot and goat’s cheese salad (similar to this one) but prepared everso slightly differently. 

Toss a bunch of washed carrots that have been cut into lengths in some olive oil and bung in a pre-heated oven at 180°C – roast for about 40-50 minutes until soft and golden.

Allow them to cool slightly then mash.  Stir through a couple of teaspoons of ground cumin and season lightly.  Spread the crushed carrots over a plate, crumble over some goat’s cheese, and sprinkle with finely sliced mint.

Taken and slightly adapted from the Riverford Farm Cook Book by Guy Watson & Jane Baxter – one of my favourite recipe books especially for lovely veggie dishes.

An earthy roasted beetroot, red onion, lentil and feta salad. 

In a bowl mix 2 tbsp soft brown sugar and 2 tbsp red wine vinegar.  Add to this 1 medium red onion that has been finely sliced.  Leave the onion to ‘pickle’ in the vinegar mixture for about an hour.

Roast about 500g beetroot that have been scrubbed and trimmed in 5mm of water covered in foil at 200°C for about 45 minutes or until tender.

Cook the Puy lentils and allow to cool until just warm:  Place 100g Puy lentils in a pan with 2 peeled garlic cloves and add enough water to cover.  Bring to a boil, turn turn and simmer for about 30 minutes until tender – top up the water if necessary.  Drain.

In a bowl mix together the lentils, onion mixture and any remaining liquid, and season with salt and pepper.  Peel the beetroot, cut into wedges and mix into the lentils.  Stir through some chopped mint and crumble over some feta cheese.

Another delicious recipe from the Riverford Farm Cook Book by Guy Watson & Jane Baxter.

A coriander and mint hummous (inspired by A Year in My Kitchen by Skye Gyngell). 

I wanted to try a different take on hummous, so used Sky Gyngell’s recipe for chickpea purée to inspire me.  I can’t remember the exact amounts of ingredients as it was ‘taste and see’.  Into a blender tip a can of drained chickpeas, 2 garlic cloves, some fresh red chilli (seeds removed), a good bunch of coriander and another of mint, lemon juice (add more to taste), a tablespoon or two of Greek yoghurt, a sprinkle of ground cumin and coriander, salt and pepper, and a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Blend it all up into a rough purée.  Keep tasting and adjusting the flavours until it’s how you like.  I made it quite lemony, much to the horror of the little sister, but I promised her by dinner time the flavours would mellow and she would love it – they did and she loved it.

A platter of pan-fried ‘hint of spice’ chicken. 

Take some chicken thighs on the bone.  Place in a dish with a squeeze of lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic, ground cumin, ground coriander, salt and pepper.  Mix the chicken thighs in the flavours well and pop in the fridge for an hour or so.  When you’re ready to eat, pan-fry the chicken until cooked through.

And a bowl of mixed olives - some with Moroccan flavoured and the others were called ‘Mojito Olives’ – spiked with lime and mint.

Missing in action

 

Over Christmas I have been unwell, and am still now not fully back to my ‘normal’ self.  Food and eating has suffered in our house, that is until N picked up where I’ve left off and started cooking more and more. 

My love affair with food is currently on hold, but I am hoping with winter starting to dwindle and the promise of spring (tiny bright green chive shoots are poking through the soggy soil!) that all that will be rekindled.  It has, however, been a delight to have N cook so often.

So this is why I have not posted anything in so long, I just haven’t really felt up to it.  But in the last week we have cooked some nice meals, and I’d like to share some of them over the next week.  A delicious mezze-stlye birthday meal for my mom cooked by myself and the little sister, a not-your-ordinary birthday cake, a simple Ploughmans lunch, and a comforting onion and brie tart.

Plus – I am getting married, and that I am very excited about!  It means a wonderful day with family and friends, bound together by the eating of good food – so a wedding feast to remember needs to be dreamt up.

A snow bear

We woke up to this…

We had about 5-6 inches in our part of Cheshire, and it’s still snowing.  It’s a white winter wonderland and snow drifts like I can’t remember.  It is wonderful.

Neither N or I have been able to leave the house for work today as the roads are thick with snow and ice.  Those who dare go out in their cars are sliding all over the place, or getting stuck.  We helped push one car out of snow this morning.

This morning we went for a walk around our local woodland.  On the way we stopped and made a snow…bear!

Here is me with our snow bear…

Isn’t he cute…

Everything in the garden is sagging beneath the weight of the snow…

But the bunnies are having fun…

A plateful of smoked salmon

Welcome back and a Happy New Year to you!  N and I have just returned from a weekend with my family, which has been lovely, although it is much quieter now we’re back home…

I haven’t taken many foodie photos over Christmas, to be honest I haven’t enjoyed food much over the festive period as I’ve had a grotty cold for two weeks.  How miserable! 

My taste buds went completely and I couldn’t taste anything – I felt like eating bread and butter as it didn’t make much of a difference what I ate as it was only to fill my belly.

That being said, we have enjoyed some delicious smoked salmon, and a gift of some oak smoked salmon was particularly good – I could actually taste it! 

Our favourite way to eat smoked salmon is on thinly sliced bread with a good smear of butter, lots of freshly ground black pepper (for me) and a good squeeze of lemon. 

Have a holly jolly Christmas!

Image: Eva Lindh

Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas!  We are settling in for a cosy evening by our new wood burning stove with a delicious baked Camembert – and it’s still snowy outside.  Have a lovely holiday with family and friends!

Bunny fun in the snow

It is snowing here!  How exciting – it never snows here, it only ever rains…and rains some more.  So we are very excited to see big white flakes tumbling from the sky.

The bunnies have been out having fun in the snow – our littlest bunny and newest addition to our family seems to be getting along well with Lovage and so fingers-crossed will be staying…

She has a name too – Daisy.

Here is Lovage and Daisy having fun in the snow…

Borage, Lovage and Daisy had their first Christmas present (I didn’t know bunnies got presents at Christmas!) delivered today from the lovely Carole and Geoff at Fed & Watered.  Carole and Geoff, along with a lady called Clare are our bunnies ‘furry godmothers’ – they come and look after the bunnies when we go away on holiday.  They come highly recommended!

Wintery weekend soul food: French onion soup with bread and butter

Soul food for wintery weekends – a bowl of homemade French onion soup and chunky slices of bread smeared thickly with butter.  We ate Miracle Bread from Jane’s Handmade Bread bought at Abbey Ley’s farmers market spread with white goat’s butter.