Joanna's Food

The first strawberries

2008-05-07T11:34:00.007+01:00

Ridiculous Mrs Elton, chattering her stream of consciousness at Mr Knightley's strawberry-picking party (I'm re-reading Jane Austen's Emma) ... she brought me up short this morning.

The best fruit in England - everybody's favourite - always wholesome. -These the finest beds and finest sorts. -Delightful to gather for one's self - the only way of really enjoying them. -Morning decidedly the best time - never tired - every sort good - hautboy infinitely superior - no comparison - the others hardly eatable - hautboys very scarce - Chili preferred ???!? Chili preferred ?!!!? - white wood finest flavour of all - price of strawberries in London - abundance about Bristol - Maple Grove - cultivation - beds when to be renewed - gardeners never to be put out of their way - delicious fruit - only too rich to be eaten much of - inferior to cherries - currants more refreshing - only objection to gathering strawberries the stooping - glaring sun - tired to death - could bear it no longer - must go and sit in the shade.

It turns out that until the mid-18th century, there were two sorts of strawberries, both wild: Chili and Virginian, and that these were accidentally crossed in France, the first genetic modification for what was ultimately to become the large modern strawberry. The process was clearly well under way by the early 19th century - Mrs E has several to choose from.

The ones I ate outside in the sunshine for breakfast were large, sweet and juicy, and grown in the next county. Obviously under a sea of plastic, but - well, who could resist them? The best fruit in England.

Best not to mock, even those who seem foolish.

Related posts

Eton Mess
Sir Walter Raleigh's strawberry vodka cordial
Innocent's strawberry smoothie recipe
Strawberry sponge

Links to strawberries on other blogs

Strawberry panzanella - 101 Cookbooks
Strawberry watermelon agua fresca
Strawberry sour cream bread - Closet Cooking

Book meme: Honey from a Weed by Patience Gray

2008-05-05T15:43:00.005+01:00

Like Fiona, I'm subverting this meme. You're supposed to pick up the nearest book (and in this house, I'm rarely further than one foot away from the nearest teetering pile); you can't do that if you decide to give the meme a culinary flavour, because the next instruction is to open it at a particular page and post three particular sentences.

1 green and 1 red pepper. 6 tomatoes. 1 large garlic clove, skinned and chopped. Great, that's got you all running off to consult Claire Macdonald. So I had a think, chose Honey from a Weed by Patience Gray, and, amazingly, found it on a shelf. This is what I found:

You eat the delicious but bony fishes with your fingers and mop up the liquor with bread. Is this infanticide? Are these rosy scorpion fish of a dwarf kind like the brownish scorpaena notata (see Mediterranean Seafood p 146) which also appear on the fishmonger's platter or, if left in the sea would they grow up?

This comment comes after a recipe for a soup of little rockfish, and, although it sounds strikingly like the sort of breast-beating you might expect to find in the current copy of The Observer, Honey with a Weed was a lifetime's project, 20 years in the writing and first published in 1986. Anyone with a serious interest in the food of the Mediterranean, or slow food, or delicious eating, should read this erudite and entertaining book.

PS the real instructions for the meme are below, although it would be much better if you chose a cookery book, opened it at p 123 and then chose three consecutive interesting sentences (which is what I did). I tag (no pressure):

Riana at Garlic Breath
Tanna at My Kitchen in Half Cups
Francois-Xavier at FX Cuisine
Kate Hill at A French Kitchen Adventure
Nicole at Farm to Philly, who is organising this year's One Local Summer, and I hope you will all join in.

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

Thanks Fiona!

Related posts

The secret of cooking is the release of fragrance
A cure for depression
Shakespeare and St George

HotM 14: Brunch, the round-up

2008-05-03T10:45:00.016+01:00

We do breakfast in this house. I'm not sure what the difference between breakfast and brunch is, but, no matter what time we get up, it's breakfast all the way here. And looking at the entries this month, it seems to me that brunch is misnamed, because it seems to be interpreted as a cross between breakfast and elevenses. Brevenses, anyone? Elefast?

At Lucullian Delights, co-founder Ilva's OVEN ROASTED PROSCIUTTO WRAPPED ASPARAGUS is fantastic ... I've found that if you want to eat at least five-a-day, you've got to make a good start first thing. Here, the asparagus season is just beginning, so I think this is going to become a favourite.

Chris at Mele Cotte has made a Buckwheat Groats Scramble, and includes loads of useful information about buckwheat (aka kasha), and heart-healthy hazelnut oil.

Ann at Redacted Recipes has made something that is sure to become a favourite with my funghi-loving daughter: Roasted Mushroom Breakfast Bruschetta. Ann's also included lots of nutritional information (I had no idea mushrooms were so good for you!), and a link to a site with help for those of us who can't poach an egg (I leave that to Horatio, who has been brilliant at egg-poaching since he was about six).

Aagje at Labelga gives us a new take on an old favourite: Porridge with millet flakes, dried fruit and nuts ... it's too easy to think that porridge can only be made with oats, and this makes a great change.

Lisa at Little Bits gives us an original creation: Polenta, Tofu & Veggie Bake ... the silken tofu lightens the polenta, and there are loads of vegetables too. And for those of us afraid of tofu, Lisa gives some good tips for using the silken sort in everyday cooking.

Lore's healthy brunch is open sandwiches and a fruit salad. She makes a little cheese go a long way - which is one of the secrets of heart-healthy eating - and makes sure of plenty of fruit and veg to start the day.

French Toast with Fruit is on the menu at Green Gourmet Giraffe. It's a vegan version, and well worth checking out .. rhubarb to go with it, too. Mmm

Jeanne at Cook Sister has made Oat and cherry muffins using a recipe from a muffin cookery book she bought on impulse the other day. I never have much luck with muffins, but these look worth a try - lots of oats, and nutty wholemeal flour.

At Food for Laughter I found Something Light and Lovely - Artichoke Frittata, which I would never have thought of eating in the morning (see what I mean about breakfast and brunch?), but which I'm going to try. Lore uses bottled artichokes, and we'd have to, too, if we made it this weekend, but pretty soon there will be masses of fresh artichokes from the garden, and then this recipe will come into its own for me.

Nearly forgot ... here's my post about making porridge the slow way, using oatmeal, rather than faster flakes, and a polenta-ish way with any leftovers.

Let me know if I've forgotten anyone ... thank you all for taking part, there are lots of good ideas here for me to try for brunch in the garden on Monday, when we have a bank holiday. Michelle at Accidental Scientist will soon be making an announcement about next month's Heart of the Matter theme. You'll find this round-up, and all the previous ones too, on the Heart of the Matter website.

Related posts

Kippers - without stinking out the house
Smoked haddock
More things for breakfast
Kedgeree (my very first blog post)
Frying pan bread - a quick fix for the disorganised
Baked pears with pinenuts

dare to be different

2008-04-29T14:33:00.005+01:00

Much Madness is divinest sense
To a discerning Eye -
Much Sense - the starkest Madness -
'Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail -
Assent - and you are sane
Demur - you're straightway dangerous -
And handled with a Chain -

by Emily Dickinson

Spiced apricots

2008-04-25T17:12:00.009+01:00

Caroline poached apricots in a subtle spice mix for DD's birthday on St George's Day. Utterly delicious.

Take one packet of those luscious half-dried apricots and poach them in orange juice sweetened with a little honey, together with one star anise, one vanilla pod and a couple of cloves. (Follow the instructions on the packet for timings.) We ate them with a chocolate-y almond cake. Mmmm

The tulips are on my desk. Anyone who has ever been in my study will know that I had to clear a space in order to take the photograph. Incidentally, the orange lily-flowered tulip is Ballerina, which besides being a particularly cheering flame colour is also sweetly scented, unlike most florist's tulips.

After I put them in a vase I took them outside again, so that I could enjoy them in the afternoon sun:

Caramel-salt nuts

2008-04-23T13:38:00.005+01:00

These are SO good ...

Put 275g of nuts, 200g sugar and 75ml water into a wide pan, apply heat until you've got sticky nuts (turn the heat down towards the end). Sprinkle salt on them when they're ready but before you've turned them out onto a lightly oiled baking sheet to cool.

This recipe comes from David Lebovitz, who gives more detailed instructions in case you're nervous of caramelising sugar. He suggests using smooth nuts such as almonds or peanuts. So I used hazelnuts, as they were all I had. And David's also got lots of suggestions for ways of using these nuts - other than just eating them as they are.

Thanks, David, I needed something quick to make for my friend DD who is giving us dinner this evening.

Chicken nosh

2008-04-22T12:23:00.006+01:00

In the first of the spring sunshine, it feels a little foolish to be posting a winter standby supper recipe, but last night was so cold that some comfort food was in order. Chicken nosh is hugely adaptable, so we never get tired of it.

I generally make it with the leftovers from a roast chicken; this time I bought chicken pieces specially. I use chicken stock if I have it for the sauce, otherwise skimmed milk. Chicken nosh can be eaten as a stew with baked potatoes, as a pie with pastry (olive oil pastry would be good) or a mashed potato topping, or strewn with breadcrumbs. My all-time favourite is anchovy breadcrumbs, the salt contrasting with the sweetness of a bechamel made with olive oil (beats butter bechamel hands down).

Chicken nosh

Onions
chicken
bacon pieces (optional)
mushrooms if you've got some
olive oil
plain flour
skimmed milk or chicken stock
thyme, lemon zest

You need to make a white sauce, using olive oil instead of butter, a little flour, and either skimmed milk or chicken stock. At the same time, chop and gently fry some onions (or, as I did last night, use some left over roasted onions). If you are using bacon, this can be added to the onions when they are soft. If you are using uncooked chicken, you need to cook this off; otherwise, pick the meat from your bird.

Combine all these ingredients, plus flavourings - thyme and lemon zest is delicious, but so, too, is nutmeg (especially if using prunes rather than mushrooms); I haven't experimented with hot spices, but they'd be good too.

If it's just a quick stew you're after, warm it through and serve with baked potatoes or rice, and lots of vegetables. Otherwise, put everything into a shallow ovenproof dish, and cover with your topping of choice. It needs half an hour in a hot oven, around 200C.

Pasta con le sarde revisited

2008-04-20T14:39:00.005+01:00

One of the most visited pages on this blog is my recipe for pasta con le sarde made with tinned sardines. Yesterday, I had the chance to buy fresh sardine fillets. I can now tell you that the tinned version is not only cheaper and quicker, it's also much much more delicious - softer and sweeter.

Pasta con le sarde is one of those lovely dishes you can make from spring to autumn, full of the omega-3 goodness of oily fish and the herby freshness of the three types of fennel used: bulb, seeds and wavy fronds. Actually, you can make it in winter too, only then there's only one hit of fennel, the seeds. It's a Sicilian dish, so it has that tasty agro-dolce thing with the sultanas and anchovies. Well worth a try, if you don't know it. It's my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Susan at The Well Seasoned Cook.

Fennel has a faint taste of aniseed. Thomas Jefferson was sent seeds by the American consul in Livorno in 1824; he didn't know the plant, but, once he harvested them at his garden at Montecello, Virginia, he was a convert: Fennel is beyond every other vegetable, delicious, perfectly white. No vegetable equals it in flavour.

This recipe is a simplified version of the one found in Tamasin's Kitchen Bible, which, in turn, derives from Anna del Conte.

Pasta con le sarde
for 4

a handful of sultanas
a handful of pinenuts
2 medium onions
olive oil
1 head of fennel
2 anchovies
4-6 sardine fillets, chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds

400g pasta

Soak the sultanas in a little hot water. Peel and finely slice the onion into rings. Put into a wide saucepan with plenty of olive oil and gently stew. Toast the pinenuts in a dry frying pan. Dice the fennel and blanch in water for one minute; save the cooking water. Add all these ingredients (but not the water) to the onions, and continue to cook for at least 15 minutes until everything is getting soft.

Put on a large pan of cold water. Add the fennel seeds and the anchovies to your sauce (no need to chop them, they'll cook down in no time). When the water comes to the boil, add the pasta. Then add the sardines to the sauce.

If at any point the sauce gets too dry, add a little of the blanching water.

Everything will be ready at the same time. Drain the pasta and gently stir in the sauce. Garnish with the chopped whispy bits from the fennel.

Related posts

Pasta con sarde
White pizza with fennel seeds
Braised fennel

Spring cleaning the larder

2008-04-19T11:39:00.003+01:00

Guess what I'm doing today? And, just like Sandra, we're going to eat it all up, even if it's past its use-by date. Except for one thing - the box of microwave popcorn which Horatio bought while my back was turned. I'm going to incinerate that, with enormous pleasure. His excuse for buying it? He says that traditional popcorn mixed with real melted butter "doesn't taste buttery" ****?!!???!!

Softly spiced baked butternut

2008-04-18T17:56:00.005+01:00

Veggie dinner last night - I like to do at least one a week. This softly spiced baked winter squash was the star of the show.

Spicy baked butternut squash

1 butternut or other winter squash
olive oil
onion, garlic, shallot
pinenuts
the zest and juice of an orange
6 dates (sultanas would work, too)
ground cinnamon
parsley
mint

Slice one squash - I normally wouldn't peel it, but these are the last of the autumn bounty and their skin is getting a little tough six months after harvesting. Sprinkle with a little salt and some olive oil and bake in a hot oven for about 15 minutes, until starting to be tender.

Finely chop a medium onion and some garlic, a shallot too, if you have one. Gently cook these in some olive oil until they're soft. Add 1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon, six chopped dates, a handful of pinenuts, the zest of an orange. Mix all this up and take off the heat.

Put the squash in a greased shallow baking dish, sprinkle with the onion mixture, and squeeze over the juice of the orange. You can do all this ahead. When you're ready, bake at 200C for 15-25 minutes (exact timings depend on whether the ingredients are cold or warm when you put the dish into the oven).

Chop equal quantities of parsley and mint. Sprinkle this onto the dish when it comes out of the oven.

Related posts

Stuffed butternut squash
Roast squash bites with pumpkin seed pesto
Pumpkin risotto

HotM: brunch - porridge

2008-04-16T14:25:00.012+01:00

In this house, as you see, the most enthusiasm is reserved for a full English breakfast (although only the children eat sausages). We don't really do brunch, if that means a collision between breakfast and lunch - no matter how late we eat breakfast, they all always want some lunch. On the other hand, we do often have a leisurely weekend breakfast. No-one eats muffins here - and, anyway, over the years they've been amongst my worst culinary disasters.

Lucius and I often eat kippers, and another favourite is porridge. I've made this in a variety of ways over the years, and this is the nicest, although not instant. You need medium and/or coarse oatmeal, not the rolled oats that are easy to buy in a supermarket, nor pinhead oats, which are too coarse to cook in real time (overnight in an Aga is the usual method for pinhead oats, but I have never been a fan, they often taste overdone, reminiscent of school food). I have to go to the health food shop for oatmeal, which is about £1 for 500g.

The porridge you make with rolled oats is fine, it's just that this is better. Perfect for weekends, perfect for brunch, perhaps with a little blueberry compote for extra heart health.

Porridge

for each person:

50g medium oatmeal (or a mixture of medium and coarse)
300ml water

Use a sturdy pan with a thick bottom. You can start by toasting the oatmeal gently for two or three minutes, I'm not sure if it really makes a difference, and it's by no means essential.

Add the water to the meal, heat until it comes to the boil, then turn right down to simmer gently for 15-20 minutes, giving it an occasional stir. I use a wooden spoon, which is what my grandmother in Scotland used, and I have never met a Scot who uses a spirtle, I think they are just for tourists.

I don't put salt in my porridge, it can be added to the bowl - my Scots grandfather, a farmer who grew oats in Fife, used to eat his porridge with salt and not much else. I use skimmed milk and a dollop of lovely brown muscovado sugar.

If there's any left over, you can fry it up like polenta, and eat it with fruit compote. That's what I had for breakfast this morning - reheated slices of porridge and a little stewed apple. My grandmother used to give her leftover porridge to the dogs - in fact, I rather think she made extra specially.

What do YOU do for a heart-healthy breakfast or brunch? The Heart of the Matter website is a resource I often consult, so I'd love it if you'd take part this month.

The usual rules: If you’ve participated before, you already know the basics. If you haven’t, check here, here and here for ideas on what “heart-healthy” means, and we hope that you’ll join us! Again, we ask that this please be a single event entry (please don’t use your post for other events – that way we can keep things centred on healthy heart awareness). Just send your entry to joannacary AT ukonline DOT co DOT uk (could you use the title HotM, so they don't get lost) by midnight Sunday 27 April , linking to my site, Joanna's Food (and to the HotM blog if you’d like) and I’ll post the round-up on the Monday or Tuesday on both sites.

Related posts

Kippers - without stinking out the house
Smoked haddock
More things for breakfast
Kedgeree (my very first blog post)
Frying pan bread - a quick fix for the disorganised
Baked pears with pinenuts

HotM: brunch

Snakeshead fritillaries

2008-04-15T10:47:00.006+01:00

The snakeshead fritillary is the county flower of Oxfordshire, and this is its moment. You'll find it in damp ground, particularly in the water meadows of Oxford - those lovely wild places in the busy city centre, where, apart from the occasional wail of a nearby siren, you can imagine yourself far from modern life.

A few years ago, I planted three snakeshead fritillaries here. Now there are many more, dotted about, none of them where I put the original three. We went out in the drizzle on Sunday evening to look for them - the children were just giving up on what was clearly a maternal fantasy, when I found one, right outside my study window, in amongst the flame orange Ballerina tulips.

These photographs were taken yesterday in the Wild Garden at Trinity College.

A visit to Hungerford

2008-04-14T11:19:00.003+01:00

Yesterday, I took Alfred to Marlborough for cricket pre-season training. On the way home, I went for a walk by the Kennet & Avon canal at Hungerford ...

Lucien Freud's fat muse

2008-04-12T11:08:00.007+01:00

On the one hand, this painting by Lucien Freud is expected to fetch £18m when it goes to auction shortly; on the other hand, there has been widespread condemnation of the model. I think she's beautiful, happy in her skin. What do you think?

I was alerted to the sale by a thought-provoking post at Lulu's Bay. Full details at Times Online

PS just found this on writer Susan Hill's blog:

What would you rather people today did not do, other than obvious wickedness? Judge people`s characters by how much they weigh.

Bread and butter pudding

2008-04-11T08:35:00.005+01:00

There's a lot of leftover bread in this house this week ... most of two loaves of bread gets eaten at breakfast by ten oarsmen, which leaves a couple of slices. So, bread-and-butter pudding for dinner. Quick, easy, delicious - all the virtues.

This story is about the perils of following a recipe. I got out Tamasin Day-Lewis's Kitchen Bible. Very rich: 600ml of cream and full-fat milk with eight eggs. Eight! Diana Henry was more down-to-earth with two eggs to 600ml. I can't remember which of them thought that 300g of sultanas was a good plan for the 12-slices-of-bread + 600ml of custard. The sultanas needed soaking (in the leftover tea, ordinary strong Indian tea), so I measured 300g, then remembered I was doubling the recipe, added 300g more, thought it looked too much, glanced back at the recipe, and, reassured, got on with it.

Well, I could have made four b&b puds with that many sultanas! I put more than half of them in, but couldn't fit in any more. Fretting about this, I forgot to put any sugar in the custard (and only realised when I woke up this morning). But none of this imperfection seemed to matter: it was all gone in moments.

Bread and butter pudding, for 6-8

Soak a handful or two of raisins - I used tea, but you can use alcohol. Butter stale bread (trim off crusts), and arrange it in a gratin dish. I used a mixture of white and wholemeal. Sprinkle the raisins over, and some finely grated lemon zest.

Mix two or three eggs with 600ml of milk and as much cream as you'd like. Add a little vanilla essence. Also some sugar to taste (!). Pour this mixture over the bread, and let it stand for a while (perhaps a quarter to half an hour). This takes care of last-minute panic when you're feeding a crowd.

Bake in a moderate oven for about 25 minutes, until the custard is set. Both the recipes used a bain marie (although they avoided the word, as it frightens people), but I have never bothered, without detriment. However, I did cover the puddings loosely with greaseproof paper so that the sultanas didn't burn.

Related posts

Home-made vanilla essence
A basic white loaf
Herb stuffing - another use for stale bread

Fiona's meme

2008-04-10T15:16:00.003+01:00

Here's a meme that's doing the rounds - Fiona at Cottage Smallholder tagged me for it.

What were you doing 10 years ago?

Studying for my history finals at Oxford University, whilst juggling family life ... the children were 11, 9, 7 and 5 at that point.

What's on your to-do list today?

Make shepherd's pie for 15 (I've got a Cambridge college crew staying, training at Henley for next term's races).

Snacks I enjoy
The ones eaten standing up in front of the fridge ;) Also hummus and celery sticks

What would you do if you were a billionaire?

Sort out the house. Stage small-scale opera in the garden. Carry on as ever.

5 places I've lived

Henley on Thames
London
Hong Kong
Somalia/Eritrea
Harpsden

5 jobs

mucking out stables
cook
picture researcher
journalist
mother (far and away the hardest)

5 interesting blogs to tag ... these are all relatively new to me

Gillian at Skybluepink
Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska
The Leftover Queen
Girl Interrupted Eating
Keiko at Nordljus (not new to me, but lovely, especially the recent post about Sarah Raven's garden, one of the most inspiring places I know)

Herb stuffing for roast chicken

2008-04-06T15:54:00.006+01:00

With the price of wheat going up all round the world, we have to remember how to be thrifty cooks. Those little balls of stuffing you can buy on trays in supermarkets - well, they started out (before the days of supermarkets) as a way to use up the stale end of a loaf of bread, as well as to make the meat go further. Using up every last crumb feels particularly important when you made the bread as well.

These forcemeat balls are a staple of old-fashioned English cookery. They are very quick to make, and go into the oven for the last 20-30 minutes of roasting whatever meat you have.

I used home-made chive bread (my basic white loaf with a lot of chopped chives added in at the rate of one heaped tablespoon per 100g of flour). I also used four rashers of cold cooked streaky bacon left over from breakfast, but, although a little bacon or ham is a common ingredient in English forcemeat, these are also fine without meat of any sort.

Forcemeat balls with three herbs

2 thick slices of good bread, 100-120g
a handful of chopped parsley
a handful of chopped chives (unless you're using chive bread)
OR a spring onion
2-3 leaves of sage
a little bacon (optional)
1 beaten egg
and a little oil to help bind if necessary

Whizz the bread in a processor, then add the herbs, spring onion and bacon (if using). Tip into a bowl and mix in the egg. You may find that the mixture will not hold together, in which case add a little oil. Wet your hands and roll dollops of the mix into balls.

It's a good idea to make these a little ahead, so that they can rest in the fridge, which will make them less likely to fall apart. Put into the oven for the last 20 to 30 minutes of roasting your chicken, either in their own tin, or carefully arranged around the bird. You can baste them with the juices if you like. Or not.

This is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Kalyn - a rare event these days.

Breakfast in the snow

2008-04-06T10:07:00.004+01:00

Yesterday, we ate breakfast and lunch outside. Last night, as the sun was going down, there were fluffy pink clouds in the sky, and I thought we could have a huge open-air breakfast this morning when all the visiting teenagers finally got up.

No chance!

Lettice is grilling bacon; Lucius is poaching an egg. We need some ideas for a healthy brunch - please!

Rabbi Blue's meatballs

2008-04-05T19:31:00.005+01:00

These meatballs are a family favourite - easy, comforting food which all of us (apart from Lucius) can cook. We eat them regularly, perhaps once a month - if we haven't had them for a while, one of the children is sure to ask for them.

I haven't consulted the recipe in years, and, now that I look at it, I see that I haven't been putting in lemon juice for a very long time, if ever. That will be an improvement. We generally use French mustard, either grainy or not, depending on what's in the cupboard. I sometimes use other types of jelly (blackcurrant, quince), or even lumpy jam if there's no alternative. Its a long time since I've used tomato juice, as I generally use a tin of chopped tomatoes, perhaps a little stock to make extra sauce when there are lots of meatballs.

It's a very forgiving recipe, it takes moments to put together ... I'm blogging it now so that I don't lose sight of its origins, because I'm about to give away the book from which it came - it's the only recipe I ever use from that book, and I need the shelf space. I'm going to give the recipe and preamble in its entirety, because - well, Rabbi Lionel Blue is like no other.

Self-pity meatballs

These meatballs were refugees from Sweden. They journeyed across the Atlantic to the States, and then journeyed back to Europe, so although this recipe has a Scandinavian basis, when it reached me it had acquired an American kick, which I toned down because of my British understatement. It is very easy and very versatile. It is good both for solo cooking, and for party cooking when all the tribes of Israel descend on me. When I am on my own for too long, I get lachrymose. These balls sauce me up, and I decide that life is worth living, and I even get down to prayer - my first for some time - and I just say "Thank you!"

I give here the quantities for one large portion. It is enough for one self-pitying rabbi or two normal people. Multiply the quantity according to the number of your guests and their emotions.

1/2lb mince
4 fl oz tomato juice
4 fl oz tomato ketchup (1/2 a small bottle)
1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
1 dssp lemon juice
1/2 tsp made-up English mustard

Wet your hands, and roll the mince into balls, the size of small walnuts.

In a saucepan combine all the other ingredients except the lemon juice. Heat on the stove until it is just simmering.

Carefully put the balls in the simmering sauce, and cook very slowly over a low heat for a long time (40 minutes at least, but longer will be better).

Before serving add lemon juice to taste. This will moderate the sauce, which is very rich. You will not need any extra salt or pepper.

I like to eat the sauced balls with rye bread, especially the Jewish type, which is worth seeking out because it is flecked with caraway seeds, a taste I enjoy.

We always eat this with rice - it's the only way one or two of my children are prepared to eat rice (imagine refusing risotto!). I think next time I might try it with a little rye bread on the side.

Taken from Simply Divine, Recipes from the Cooking Canon and Rabbi Blue, by John Eley and Lionel Blue, BBC 1986

Oven temperature conversion chart

2008-04-05T19:05:00.004+01:00

I cook in centigrade; Americans use fahrenheit; other English cooks use gas; anyone consulting an old cookery book will have come across terms which are apparently vague (such as moderate), but which are actually quite precise - and also very useful to anyone using a fire to cook.

I'm always having to look them up in a variety of places. So here they all are:

Fahrenheit	Celsius	Gas Mark	Heat of Oven
225°	110°	1/4	Very cool
250	120	1/2	Very cool
275	140	1	Cool
300	150	2	Cool
325	160	3	Moderate
350	180	4	Moderate
375	190	5	Moderately hot
400	200	6	Moderately hot
425	220	7	Hot
450	230	8	Hot
475	240	9	Very hot

Heart of the Matter: brunch

2008-04-05T13:22:00.004+01:00

This - as so often for me with Heart of the Matter - is an appeal for fresh ideas. Brunch ideas. Heart-healthy dishes that will appeal to a family that would much rather be eating bacon and eggs for breakfast.

I'm feeling a bit jaded all round, and I'm especially stuck for weekend breakfast: if it's porridge the young complain. If it's kippers, only the adults eat them. If it's too whacky, everyone asks why we don't have it for lunch. I'm often ridiculed for having eaten curry for breakfast every day when I was in Sri Lanka a few years ago.

The other day I put some puffed quinoa into the home-made muesli - not much - and Lucius stopped eating muesli. He said it tasted nasty; he also said it tasted of nothing. I said he couldn't have it both ways. After a few days of stand-off, I sieved the whole lot out, and he went straight back to eating muesli every day for breakfast.

As you see, they're a conservative bunch, so I need your help ... you've all been so generous with your recipes in the past, the Heart of the Matter website is a resource I often consult.

The usual rules: If you’ve participated before, you already know the basics. If you haven’t, check here, here and here for ideas on what “heart-healthy” means, and we hope that you’ll join us! Again, we ask that this please be a single event entry (please don’t use your post for other events – that way we can keep things centred on healthy heart awareness). Just send your entry to joannacary AT ukonline DOT co DOT uk (could you use the title HotM, so they don't get lost) by midnight Sunday 27 April , linking to my site, Joanna's Food (and to the HotM blog if you’d like) and I’ll post the round-up on the Monday or Tuesday on both sites.

Olive oil pastry

2008-03-30T16:39:00.004+01:00

This pastry is fabulous, with a strong scent of olives - not in any way second best to butter pastry. It rolls out thin thin thin, and makes lovely pleated folds. Quicker than butter pastry, too.

I used it to make a rustic potato pie in a sort of Dick Whittington swag bag. The filling wasn't a huge hit, so I'm going to work on it before posting it. But the pastry ... well, here it is, another master recipe for cholesterol-watchers: it's free from saturated fat, although you couldn't truthfully describe it as low fat.

Olive oil pastry

150g OO plain flour
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
up to 125 ml iced water

Use a stand mixer for this, if possible. Mix the flour, salt and olive oil. With the engine running, gradually add the water (I used about 100ml), until you have a ball of dough. Beat it for a couple of minutes until you have a silky ball. Put in the fridge. I used clingfilm, as instructed, but would prefer not to, so next time I'm going to put it in a storage box. This needs to rest for at least an hour.

The dough effortlessly rolls out very thin, and is easy to work. Brush with a little olive oil before cooking (190/30 minutes for my pie).

This classic Middle Eastern recipe was inspired by the cookery of Rose Prince in today's Sunday Telegraph.

Related posts

Butterless pastry - and a fruit tart
Shaken hot water pastry
Shaken hot water pastry 2

Why does this make my heart sing?

2008-03-27T08:41:00.002Z

A rant about air-freighted food

2008-03-26T10:17:00.004Z

There's been a backlash in the British press, and indeed in one or two blogs I read, about sourcing food locally. Some people are taking excessive comfort from the news that, for example, air-freighted beans use less fossil fuels than those grown under glass in Britain in winter. They are using this type of information as an excuse not to think and not to act.

If you source food locally (even fairly locally), you are probably no longer dependent on a supermarket for fresh food, even if you still use one (as I do). If you source food locally, you are almost certainly eating seasonally. You are almost certainly opting out of agri-business foodstuffs fed on highly polluting nitro-chemicals. You have almost certainly worked out that, whilst the production of Kenyan beans as a cash crop for spoilt Westerners may provide jobs for a few, it is also using more than its fair share of water, a resource which is so scarce in some places (but, generally speaking, not in the West) that many predict it will be the cause of war.

And all that's before we get on to the subject of airfreight itself. Don't listen to people who say it's hypocritical to stop buying airfreighted produce whilst still flying to holiday destinations ... babysteps. Small changes in behaviour by many many people are hugely powerful. You've got to start somewhere, and deciding that you will no longer eat food with jetlag is a bit of a no-brainer. Even if you don't manage it every single time.

Of course it's complicated. But both the world and individual humans were healthier before agri-business got going on a truly global scale. And we should all remember that the most inefficient part of the food delivery system is the bit where we get into our cars and drive to the shops.

Related links

The Fife Diet's response to the same drivel in The Observer

Crocodile bread - a disaster

2008-03-24T10:51:00.003Z

When I saw Tanna's post about making crocodile bread, I decided to bake some too. So I began the three-day process, thinking that I could buy the equipment I lacked after I got going. I forgot about all the preparations I'd have to make for our annual Easter invasion (14 on Saturday night, 16 for Sunday lunch, down to eight last night, and now back to normal).

So I made the first starter - mixed a bit of yeast and water, left it covered. Two minutes. Next day, mixed the second starter, added it to the first. Read day three instructions, realised there was no bowl big enough to take the rising final dough. Went to Henley to buy a large bowl. Nothing big enough. Went home and carried on sorting out Easter prep.

Day four dawned (Good Friday). MUST sort out bowl problem. Decide, while in Henley, to go to Reading, as Lettice would like a little pre-test driving practice. Telephone home to ask Horatio to look up shop times. Fine, fine, it's open til 9. Arrive at 5.35, shop firmly shut. Gggrrrr. Morrisons, the supermarket opposite, has a large bucket made of food-standard plastic, which usefully also has volume markings.

Finally mix up dough - 20 minutes' beating in Kenwood. Leave to rise, should be ready to bake at about 9.30-10pm. Re-read instructions. Realise for first time that the recipe calls for a baking stone. Shops all shut. Hot metal tray will have to do. Serve dinner for 12. Collapse into bed. Remember unbaked dough as dropping off. Too tired to get up.

Day five. Easter Sunday. The dough now looks too disgusting to bake - it's risen and fallen, and has a slightly brownish edge to it.

Easter Monday. Tip dough onto compost.

Does anyone know where I can buy a baking stone in the UK? Then I'll try again. The dough is really beautiful, lovely stretchy sheets and strings of gluten. Fascinating, unlike any dough I've ever made before. It seems a shame not to have managed to bake and eat it. Next time.

Related links
Karen's crocodile bread
Breadchick's crocodile