tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129102132009-11-30T03:39:09.516Zfamily cooking, from scratch, every dayJoannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.comBlogger612125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-65690063210321704352009-11-28T11:06:00.004Z2009-11-28T12:10:21.718Z

I'd forgotten, til I made it in front of an audience of about 200 at the NEC on Thursday, how easy it is to make custard. If you use a double boiler, which takes longer, you don't have to stand and stir continuously.As custard is the unctuous basis of many a good pud - trifle (which is what I'm making today), ice creams - it's worth taking a little trouble. And not much point in using cornflour:

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-54661897580556370822009-11-27T22:31:00.001Z2009-11-27T22:31:00.926Z

Masterclass with Thomasina Miers yesterday. Lovely thrown together prune and armangac layers. Making it again for dinner tomorrow, so more detail soon. Fun at BBC food show.

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-49946200107364386632009-11-26T05:21:00.001Z2009-11-26T05:21:41.513Z

Narrow shelves in a cool corridor ... see everything at a glance.

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-45118327207373359262009-11-24T09:58:00.003Z2009-11-24T10:01:49.881Z

I love this new take on Brussels sprouts ... Alice Waters' new recipe in time for Thanksgiving. We don't just save sprouts for Xmas eating, so I'll be giving it a try in the next few days.

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-73588441400423222152009-11-23T18:02:00.003Z2009-11-23T18:11:25.964Z

As usual, commonsense from Joanna Blythman, this time on the meat vs vegetarian argument.The absurd last-century idea that eating limitless piles of cheap, low-grade meat and dairy was some sort of democratic entitlement needs to be looked upon as an aberration in world history. We have to reverse the meat-and-two veg expectations of the last half-century. A correction is long overdue. Eating

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-78316571587478973522009-11-19T11:28:00.007Z2009-11-19T13:11:57.685Z

Delicious, with a hint of cinnamon. Eat warm from the oven as pud, or cold for breakfast/elevenses. Much nicer than the appley-cinnamony pastry I had in Selfridge's yesterday. There's a strong taste of almonds, even though they're cut 50:50 with flour (so economical).It's from Hugh FW's new book, Every Day; he made it with pears on his show last week (you may need to be in the UK for this link to

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-344633551397562942009-11-17T14:34:00.004Z2009-11-17T15:13:17.390Z

Have you seen the ad where the mouse escapes from hundreds of traps protecting a slice of cheese on toast? Well, Kerry, the makers of LowLow, sent me some to try.As the name suggests, it's low fat cheese; all they say is that it's made with semi-skimmed milk. I'm not a great fan of diet foods: in general I'd rather buy proper food. We don't eat much cheese, so when we do, I like it to be really

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-72967712853567519532009-11-16T14:53:00.003Z2009-11-16T15:25:48.131Z

Partridge for dinner last night. Roasted for 20 minutes at 220C. Could have done with a minute or two more, I think. Slightly disappointing, we both thought, just a little too like chicken to be worth bothering with. But it was red legged partridge, which is not so tasty as the native grey partridge.I'm posting my method for making bread sauce because Lettice rang up from university last week to

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-3766410899857852202009-11-12T18:42:00.003Z2009-11-12T19:00:12.229Z

These are seriously more-ish, so I've made them very small to avoid over-doing it. The recipe appears in various guises in virtually every recipe book that has a chapter on party food. I'm making them tonight for a community party on Saturday evening; there won't be another opportunity to make my plate of nibbles. These also have the advantage of being quick and easy.You'll need equal quantities

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-30589993698984598302009-11-12T09:16:00.006Z2009-11-13T10:14:46.071Z

Last night's dinner was supreme de poulet aux morilles. Except that it wasn't, because there were "only" porcini in the larder. And although I was notionally following the recipe in Raymond Blanc's A Taste of My Life, I don't think he'd have given me the keys to a restaurant, because I couldn't help but disobey some of his orders.The recipes in A Taste of My Life are fully explained; on top of

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-39451571586496836532009-11-11T12:38:00.004Z2009-11-11T13:49:21.881Z

I'm not sure why I chose the beetroot burgers. It wasn't as if there were beetroots rotting at the bottom of my veg box; I had to go out specially to buy them.And then I didn't have the courage of my convictions: I felt embarrassed at serving beetroot burgers, and it's taken me so long to write about it that I've forgotten what else was on the plate.But they were delicious. Really delicious. Both

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-86629735743237066962009-11-07T16:54:00.002Z2009-11-07T17:06:19.536Z

These are the oatcakes I've been making recently; crunchier, shorter than the ones I posted the other day. I'm about to make them with a little parmesan grated into the mix, so that we can eat them before dinner (actually, it will be with a glass of wine in the interval of Turandot at the cinema).300g oatmeal (just blitz some porridge oats if you don't have oatmeal)seeds - I generally use

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-83208319205969080682009-11-07T12:51:00.003Z2009-11-07T13:15:10.308Z

This is Sarah Raven's list of new dahlias to look out for next season; I've torn the page out of today's Telegraph, but I'd rather the paper was in the bin and the information somewhere I can be sure of finding it.Blacks, crimsons and deep redsD4 - a decorative group, small black dahlia which has not yet been namedKarma Choc - waterlily, 2-3ft, Winchester Growers had it at ChelseaTamburo -

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-35703417845153008992009-11-06T14:59:00.008Z2009-11-06T17:00:59.067Z

Five huge quince from the Italian deli: time for a serious look through the recipe books for some ideas. My grandmother Buzz made quince jam every year, and her manuscript book - parts of which date back to the 19th century - is still my best source of inspiration on all things quince. Their scent takes me back to her kitchen in Oxford, to the enamelled kitchen table where she taught me how to

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-24206271147915863022009-11-04T12:46:00.006Z2009-11-04T13:22:35.662Z

Who would have thought that pepper boiled up with a little sugar, water and lemon juice could be so delicious or so useful? 20 minutes to make my latest larder must-have. And that's including time to find a jar for it.This concoction has 101 uses: lunch was a slice of gorgonzola drizzled with this peppery nectar; the pork I'm cooking for dinner will be glazed with it. Kate Hill, whose recipe this

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-36064654577135552452009-10-30T10:40:00.000Z2009-10-30T10:40:24.344Z

Confirming what we already know: anything with corn syrup is likely to be bad for us. That's most manufactured food then ... from Coca Cola right through to basic bread. Not just type 2 diabetes, but also high blood pressure.High fructose corn syrup: A recipe for hypertension

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-43841040327184141422009-10-28T11:37:00.004Z2009-10-28T12:07:28.165Z

It's hard to believe that a simple two-egg cake could be so full of flavours and richness. I've been wanting to make gingerbread for ages, but have lost my cousin Rosemary's recipe - it's her signature piece. Sadly, she's too ancient to bake these days, and wasn't too sure about the recipe when I asked her a few weeks ago. So, time to try something new.This one's from Hugh

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-32266316832006503302009-10-27T08:15:00.004Z2009-10-27T08:42:09.121Z

This post is really for my children, who insist on eating salted/sugared packet cereals at breakfast.Here are links to research originated at Yale: a list of the 10 most nutritionally empty commercial cereals, the 10 best manufactured cereals, and the 10 cereals most marketed to children. Some of the names are slightly different in the UK, but they're still recognisable.Last night there was a

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-12542963559391920122009-10-23T09:41:00.012+01:002009-10-23T11:34:37.104+01:00

Okay, so this is homage to Keith Floyd. Actually, it's straightforward French regional cooking, but when I think of Floyd, I think of fish and France. Whatever, it was utterly delicious.In the 70s, my husband, an unlikely restaurateur, came back from Harvard Business School and started what he hoped would be a small chain of American hamburger joints (in the days when hamburger was, in Britain,

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-21308509648188010762009-10-22T10:56:00.007+01:002009-10-22T11:41:28.175+01:00

This is the early-morning view from my kitchen window .. not surprising that we're no longer eating much salad, and that I'm thinking of braising vegetables and making soups.I'd never heard of the American food writer Deborah Madison until my sister (who is now an American) gave me Local Flavours, a celebration of farmers' markets. Even then, I didn't twig that it's a vegetarian book (I'm still

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-50032522276461980462009-10-16T10:08:00.005+01:002009-10-16T10:39:35.688+01:00

Cricket club committee meeting last night. Three-hour marathon (yes, I know you'd think 22 people just turn up for a game of cricket, but, believe me, a lot goes on that most of the 22 haven't begun to get to grips with). I took homemade digestives and someone asked for the recipe. It's from Hugh FW's new book, Every Day, and it's the first thing I've tried.Two things: the instructions say to

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-47277620376236941802009-10-15T10:06:00.003+01:002009-10-15T11:24:58.125+01:00

Last week, looking at the butcher's display, I realised I have never cooked grouse. Now, it will be hard to resist ... delicious, an easy treat ... but, of course, ruinously expensive. Cheaper than a restaurant, and much much nicer - I've been off restaurants for years*, really. It began, I think, when I saw Gordon Ramsay making something on telly with a slice of processed "bread" from a plastic

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-9389184337187435242009-10-13T09:01:00.003+01:002009-10-13T09:22:40.332+01:00

Last night I made oatcakes. Easy peasy. Delicious. Far cheaper to bake at home (also no plastics or other wrapping). I'm ashamed it's taken me so long, and that the impetus was laziness: it was easier to make them than to go out and buy some.Oatcakes250g rolled oatsa pinch of bicarba pinch of salt1 tbsp buttervery hot waterBegin by making oatmeal from the rolled oats; blitz them in a food

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-83619698476764279112009-10-11T14:06:00.003+01:002009-10-11T14:16:19.822+01:00

Here's an interesting twist to breathe new life into an old favourite ... a little white wine in a milky potato gratin. Gives the sweetness of the milk a sophisticated twist. Nigella's idea, unsurprisingly. Here's my version:Potato and mushroom gratin1kg thinly sliced floury potatoes500 ml milk100 ml white winea large handful of dried mushroomsgarlic, butter and oilTurn the oven on to 200C.Soak

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12910213.post-5942344837220046252009-10-10T15:49:00.005+01:002009-10-10T16:08:12.260+01:00

This cake is based on one of Nigella's cheating recipes, using shop-bought marzipan as one of the main ingredients. I started by making the marzipan, which probably added about two minutes to the total time spent in the kitchen.I'm taking it to give my hostess (and best friend) when we go out to dinner this evening, but I really made it to comfort myself with familiar kitchen rituals after a

Joannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790888857849562408noreply@blogger.com1