Seville Orange Marmalade

Orange-flavoured food is not generally my cup of tea. I don’t like orange cakes, muffins or orange gummy bears. One thing I do have a weakness for is a really good orange marmalade. When it is just the right amount of bitter, sweet, caramelised and citrusy it is beautiful. Since January/February is the time of year we should all be preserving precious in-season fruits, I thought I would have a go at making Seville orange marmalade. This is the third attempt in my culinary life at making a preserve: the last two times have kind of ended up in a bit of a disaster. When I was about 16, I tried to preserve lemons and ended up with a pretty severe burn over my neck! Second time I attempted making a chutney and the jars weren’t sterilised so they tasted mouldy. It was not good, not good at all. This time, I thought it would be an idea to get a kind of production line going in the kitchen with the fiancé, and delegate rather than doing it all on my own. The results were amazing! There isn’t anything quite like homemade jam or marmalade. I would recommend a few things when making marmalade 1) try to cut the pieces as evenly and consistently as possible—it makes a difference to the overall texture and look 2) when the marmalade is boiling rapidly, stir it occasionally but not all the time—this will give a nice deep and golden colour 3) don’t let it over-set!! This is the saddest thing to do to a jam or marmalade. I couldn’t imagine having spent hours chopping and stirring and measuring then having a big solid lump of concrete to clean out of the pot. I was really quite scared of that happening so was pretty obsessive with testing the doneness on a saucer. One other important factor is to use really good quality oranges—in this case, we got ours from Riverford organics.

Check out the recipe here: www.riverford.co.uk/marmalade 

Roasted butternut squash with burnt aubergine and pomegranate molasses

The best thing about autumn is the emergence of the squash and pumpkin. I really love butternut squash’s sweet but firm flesh but I have also discovered the delights of experimenting with other squashes. My favourite is onion squash and I think it could work beautifully in this dish as well. Onion squash is kind of similar to butternut squash except it’s darker in colour, slightly sweeter and has an earthiness to it. Ottolenghi’s recipes will use pomegranate and aubergines quite frequently. I adore this combination and it is relatively easy to find pomegranate molasses, they stock it almost everywhere. I think the best tasting ones can be found in middle eastern stores such as the ones you find along Uxbridge Road in Shepherd’s Bush.

Roasted butternut squash with burnt aubergine and pomegranate molasses

1 large butternut squash (or two onion squashes)

4 Tablespoons olive oil

1 Tablespoon pumpkin seeds

1 Tablespoon sunflower seeds

1 Tablespoon black sesame seeds

1 teaspoon nigella seeds

10 sliced almonds

coase sea salt and black pepper

Sauce

1 medium aubergine

150g Greek yoghurt, at room temperature

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1½ teaspoons pomegranate molasses

3 Tablespoons lemon juice

1 Tablespoon coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 garlic clove, crushed

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Trim and cut the butternut squash (leave the skin on) into long wedges about 2–3cm thick. Arrange on a roasting tray so that they are not too close together with the skin underneath. Brush half the olive oil on the squash, and season generously with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until the squash appears to be tender and slightly browned. Set aside.

2. Turn the oven down to 180°C. Place the seeds and almonds on a roasting tray and spread out evenly. Toast in the oven till lightly browned. Leave to cool.

3. Now to make the sauce: put the aubergine directly on a moderate flame on a gas hob. Burn the skin of the aubergine for 12–15 minutes till the skin cracks and is good and smoky. Remove from heat and cool. The other option which works quite well too is to grill the aubergine under a very hot grill for an hour, turning till it is well shrivelled round the outside.

4. Cut the aubergine in half and scoop out the soft flesh. Discard the brunt skin and drain the flesh in a colander. Once drained, chop roughly.

5. Put the aubergine flesh into a bowl and add yoghurt, oil, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, parsley and garlic. Taste and season with salt and pepper. It should taste sweet, tart and full of depth.

6. Serve the wedges of butternut squash sprinkled with seeds, drizzled with the remaining olive oil. Serve the sauce on the side.

(Adapted from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ebury)

Smoky frittata

Scamorza affumicata (or smoked mozzarella) is the very delectable relative of mozzarella. It takes just one bite of a melt-in-your-mouth scamorza grilled sandwich or anything with this beautiful cheese in it to make you commit yourself to never being without it. I was introduced to scamorza by one of my best foodie friends when I was visiting her in Berlin. I was hooked instantly, but there was a bit of a long wait until I came across it again as it was a rarity when I was living in Oxford. Luckily, London has some great delis and specialist cheese shops so it wasn’t very hard to find! Scamorza doesn’t look very flattering—its large rounds of brown rind look rather like a deformed warted cheddar. Cut open it is silky, firm and creamy in texture. On the cheeseboard scamorza is delectable, but it is even more scrumcious melted on top of grilled courgettes or smoky peppers or just grilled on its own. When I came across this recipe in Plenty I instantly put a post-it note on the page, there rarely are any recipes including scamorza let alone my favourite cauliflower.

Smoky frittata

1 small cauliflower, cut into small florets

6 organic free-range eggs

5 Tablespoons crème fraîche

2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons sweet smoked paprika

3 Tablespoons finely chopped chives

150g scamorza, grated (including the skin)

50g mature cheddar, grated

2 Tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

Simmer the cauliflower in a large pan of boiling salted water for about 4–5 minutes, or until it is firm and just about cooked. Drain and leave to dry. Preheat the oven to 190°C. Whisk eggs in a large bowl, adding the crème fraîche, mustard and paprika making sure all is well combined. Add the chives and three-quarters of the cheeses. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat olive in a large cast-iron pan and fry the cauliflower for about 5 minutes. Make sure it is evenly golden brown all over. Pour over the egg mixture. Cook for 5 minutes.

Scatter the remaining cheeses on top and move the pan to the oven. Cook for 12–15 minutes or until the frittata looks like it is well set and golden on top. Remove from the oven and let settle for about 2-3 minutes before cutting into wedges.

(From Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty, Ebury)

Smoked haddock kedgeree

Ah, comfort food, the best thing is when you’ve had a bit of a crappy day and eat a nice bowl of something. When I think of comfort food, I think of a few things: khao tom (Thai rice porridge), khao mun gai (Thai chicken with chicken rice), hot and sour soup and lastly, kedgeree. Kedgeree is an Indian-spiced rice dish where smoked fish is the make it or break it ingredient: if you use bad quality fish it simply won’t turn out as tasty. Some versions use lentils but most would almost always include the sweet caramelised onions along with a scattering of grated hardboiled eggs. Kedgeree has been a dish I have returned to time and time again for many years now. It is always quite different every time I make it—more spicy and heady at times, then other times quite mild and warming. I first came across kedgeree in Wellington at one of my favourite cafes, Nikau. And they still make the best kedgeree: I think part of the reason is the kind of smoked fish they use. I am not sure what kind of fish they use exactly, but I think smoked haddock is wonderful!  Since moving to Britain, I discovered the lovely flaky soft and luscious smoked haddock which I love in kedgeree. The best kind to get is naturally smoked and undyed. I also like using brown basmati rice for its nuttiness and texture and for some reason the nutritious, healthy taste of brown rice helps balance out the richness of the kedgeree. The recipe below is my own adaptation of various kedgeree recipes I’ve tried.

Smoked haddock kedgeree

250g smoked haddock

full fat milk

1 bay leaf

5 peppercorns

4 Tablespoons butter

Peanut oil

1.5 cups of basmati brown rice, cooked

1.5cm stub of fresh ginger, grated

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 medium onions

small bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped roughly

2 sprigs spring onion, finely chopped

2 hard-boiled eggs, grated

1/4 cup coconut milk

2-3 teaspoons hot curry powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoons brown sugar

salt and pepper

lemon wedges

1. Place the smoked haddock in a wide pan and pour in the milk—it should just come up to the side of the fish. Add the bay leaf and peppercorns and simmer till the fish is just under done. This should take about 3 minutes or less. Remove from heat, drain and flake the fish, set aside.

2. Chop one of the onions into the finest rings possible. Add oil to a heavy pan and once hot, add the onions. Fry on a medium high heat till onions are brown and crispy. Remove from the pan, drain on paper towels and set aside. Dice the left over onion.

3. In the same pan, add oil and add diced onions. Cook on a low heat until the onions are soft and translucent. Now add the ginger and garlic and cook till the garlic begins to colour. Add half the butter at this stage, along with all of the spices. Cook for two minutes being careful not to burn the spices.

4. Mix the cooked rice into the pan and stir till it is covered in butter and spices. Add the rest of the butter along with the spring onion, coconut milk and fish.

5. Add salt and pepper (you won’t need much as smoked haddock is salty). Taste for seasoning and add the parsley and a squeeze or two of lemon juice.

6. To finish, add half the grated egg and half of the caramelised onions and give it a final stir. Serve with the rest of the egg and onion.

Brown bread and butter ice cream

There is just something so exciting about an ice cream flavour that could also be a breakfast, or lunch or some such. Bread and butter go together yes, but I was a little pessimistic about this applying to ice cream. I heard though from a trustworthy friend of mine that this ice cream was the business, so despite my fear of a soggy bread ice cream nightmare, I went in, full faith. The bread crumbs are coated in sugary butter and put in the oven till crispy and caramelly. It almost turns into a kind of hardened honey comb. The results were absolutely bang-on delicious. I think it could have been sweeter, but other than that it was perfect. This ice cream goes particularly well with fruity accompaniments; I think raspberries complement it well but it would be amazing with strawberries too.

One important note for the recipe is that you don’t want to burn the butter as this would mean ruining the lovely nutty flavour and give you instead an overpowering bitter taste.

Brown bread and butter ice cream

100g brown bread, torn into chunks

120g brown sugar

60g butter (I used lightly salted)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

125ml whole milk

375ml single cream

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Crumb the bread in a food processor and grease a large baking tray with a little butter.

2. Scatter crumbs over the tray and mix the sugar through. Bake for 15 minutes or until the crumbs appear crisp and golden but do not burn them! Turn the crumbs halfway during the baking process to ensure an even colour.

3. Leave the crumbs to cool and break up the clumps.

4. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over a low heat until it turns a little golden in colour and smells nutty. Pour into a bowl and set aside.

5. Whisk the eggs with the vanilla. Put 125ml of milk and 1/2 cup of cream in a pan over medium-low heat until it is just about up to the boil. Gradually pour in the egg and vanilla mix, whisking continuously. Pour the mix back into the pan, lower the heat and whisk for a few minutes. The mixture should thicken a bit (to test, run your finger along the back of a wooden spoon and if the liquid runs together this means it isn’t done yet. You want to run your finger along the back of the spoon and see the line you have made).

6. Remove from the heat when ready and add the rest of the cream along with the melted butter and sugary bread crumbs. Cool for a good few hours and churn in an ice cream maker.

Makes 1 litre.

(Recipe adapted from Apples for Jam: Recipes for Life by Tessa Kiros, Murdoch Books)

Chargrilled asparagus, courgettes and haloumi salad

Haloumi has to be one of my all time favourite cheeses. Saying that, I also am prone to drooling over and consuming any mozzarella (smoked, unsmoked) in sight, comte and any blue cheese that is made by Neal’s yard. This recipe actually calls for manouri but it works really well with haloumi. As the weather turns into full-on summertime, this is perfect for alfresco dining and gets the most out of the seasonal asparagus. The one issue with this salad is that it is probably best to use the ridged griddle pan mentioned, however as I don’t have one of these just yet I just used my trusty cast-iron pan. This salad is a sensation, even if in the picture it looks more like a tofu stir-fry—probably due to the choice of plate! Of all the Ottolenghi salads I have tried as yet, it is my favourite and could possibly be the best salad mankind has ever invented … well, that might be going a bit far … but do try it, it is delicious alongside a rack of lamb or grilled fish.

Chargrilled asparagus, courgettes and haloumi salad

350g cherry tomatoes, halved

140ml olive oil

24 asparagus spears

2 courgettes

200g haloumi cheese, sliced 2cm thick

25g rocket leaves

sea salt and pepper

Basil oil

75ml olive oil

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

25g fresh basil

pinch of salt

black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 170C. Mix the tomatoes with salt , pepper and 3 tablespoons olive oil.

2. Spread out on a baking sheet lined with parchment skin side down and roast for an hour or until it looks partially dried. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

3. Break off the tough end of the asparagus and blanch in lots of boiling hot water for 4 minutes. Rinse with cold water to stop the spears from cooking any further, drain well. Put the asparagus into a bowl and add 2 tablespoons olive oil along with some salt and pepper to taste.

4. Slice courgettes very thinly lengthwise (a vegetable peeler will do the trick). Mix them with a tablespoon of olive oil along with salt and pepper.

5. Heat your griddle pan on high until it is extremely hot. Grill the courgettes and asparagus, turning to grill evenly. Remove and leave to cool. Fry the cheese on the griddle pan in the remaining olive oil till golden.

6. For the basil oil, food process all the ingredients till smooth. Assemble the salad in layers and drizzle with plenty of basil oil.

Serves 4–6

(Recipe from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, Yotam Ottolenghi, Ebury Press)

Momofuku, New York City

I don’t want to make a thing of putting up photos from my travels as I don’t want to turn into one of those foodie-obsessives who go travelling and photograph all their food from many angles in turn, letting the food go cold and ruining the ‘food moment’. But I must admit, there is a strong sense of appeal for me to savour the food with photographs so here are some shots from what I ate on my recent trip to New York. It was my birthday, yep, another year towards 30! This year I celebrated by visiting the much talked about Momofuku. I had heard much about David Chang’s chain of tasty, inexpensive and interesting take on Asian food. A bit of a radical and meat-loving chef, David Chang’s cookbook Momofuku has long been on my wish list for cookbooks to read. There is something so simple about cooking ramen with a twist, or just inventing a twist on traditional Asian cuisine not yet done, making it cheap and accessible, and not compromising on taste. Known for his meaty and no-nonsense kind of food, I made it a must on the itinerary to take a trip to try some of the ramen dishes first hand. Having spent all my money on the plane tickets, I thought it wise not to go to Momofuku Ko (partly because of the infamous intense booking system) but to Momofuku Noodlebar in the East Village instead.

For starters we ordered the shiitake steamed buns. Instead of the traditional looking steamed buns where the filling is central and encased within a fluffy white bun, this one was more like a steamed bun sandwich—the bun had been cut in half and the filling packed inside. The shiitake was tender and what’s more it was packed full of flavour—a bit of soy sauce and oyster sauce perhaps with some other sweet and delightful undertone.

Next up was the Momofuku Ramen of pork belly, pork shoulder and a poached egg.

The poached egg was the best part as it was perfectly cooked—breaking the middle made the yolk ooze out all runny and amazing. The temperature of the ramen was hot, but not piping hot so the egg didn’t continue to cook which made the ramen so tasty. The pork belly itself was the tenderest meat I have ever had and the second best part were the little slices of pink swirled fish balls (well, I think it was fish?!).

The milk bar was a bit of a different story. I got the brown butter cake soft serve and found it a bit too sweet and sickly. It may have been that I had a cold that day or it might be that I just don’t find cake flavoured soft serve the best thing to finish off a delicious meal.

Cinnamon and Cardamom Buns

Anything that lists cardamom as a key ingredient I am basically going to make. I can’t deny the lure of cardamom, wherever it makes its appearance it is always a delight. These buns are very much like the ones I had at the Scandanavian bakery near work except they were slightly less sweet. A kind of more demure version of the cinnabon (the American gooey and guilty pleasure). Tessa Kiros offers an array of amazing recipes in her book Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes. Every recipe in this cookbook is beautifully photographed and you only need to glimpse at the list of ingredients and you know it is going to be good. The cookbook itself is divided by country and this stems from her mixed cultural background (Finnish, Greek, Cypriot, South African). One favourite dish I am constantly using is the moussaka but the cakes and ice cream recipes need a mention also. The cinnamon and cardamom buns have a milky taste and the cardamom isn’t overpowering but adds a hint of something else to the traditional cinnamon bun – just delicious.

Cinnamon and Cardamom Buns

For the dough

250ml tepid whole milk

100g caster sugar

25g yeast

1 egg, beaten

125g softened butter

2 teaspoons ground cardamom

1 teaspoon salt

650g plain all-purpose flour

For the cinnamon butter

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

50g caster sugar, plus 1 Tablespoon for sprinkling

80g softened butter

1 egg lightly beaten

Pour the milk into a large bowl and add sugar and yeast. Leave for 10 minutes or until the yeast activates (turning bubbly on top). Add the egg, butter, cardamom and salt and mix into the milk mix. Add the flour gradually mixing with your hands and then turn it on to a floured surface. Knead for about 5-10 minutes until the dough is very soft and silky smooth (not tacky). Return the dough to the bowl and cover with a cloth leaving it in a warm place to rise for 2-3 hours or until it has doubled in size.

Now make the cinnamon butter by mixing the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Divide the butter into four portions and keep it to one side.

Now you need to roll the dough out. Divide it into four portions and work with one at a time keeping the others covered with a teatowel to stop it from drying out. Roll the first portion of dough out into a rectangle roughly about 30cm x 25cm and 2-3 mm thick. Spread a portion of the cinnamon butter on top covering the entire surface evenly. Roll up length ways to make a long sausage shape. Cut the dough slightly on a diagonal, alternating up and down so that the slices are a fat ‘v’ shape with the point of the ‘v’ about 2cm and the base about 5cm. Turn them so they are all the right way up and sitting on the fatter bases and then press on top of each one with two fingers. Along the sides you will see the cinnamon butter oozing outwards. Do all of the dough in this way and place on a lined baking sheet. Leave to rise for half and hour then brush with beaten egg and sprinkle a little sugar on top of each bun.

Bake for about 20 minutes in a 180°C oven. Make sure they are golden on top and on the bottom and be careful not to burn them!

Fish soup with dried limes

Fish soups are great. There is nothing like tucking into a hearty full-flavoured broth on a cold winter day. Living as we do in Shepherd’s Bush there is an array of Middle Eastern food and spices. I love exploring the local stores like Damas Gate or Al-Abas and reading the food labels, there are so many unfamiliar tastes and delights on offer. One ingredient I was intrigued by was dried limes. Although I had read about them, I hadn’t cooked with them before. Now that I have, I am really looking forward to trying more Iranian cooking as they feature a lot as a key ingredient. Dried limes have a really distinct taste, they are quite tangy, sweet at the same time and the flavour goes really well with fish. I could imagine a lot of people might hate the taste of dried limes, but I love it. They give this soup a fantastic, fragrant and perfumy aroma (don’t be put off!) but be careful as a little goes a long way. I wouldn’t recommend eating any kind of fish soup, let alone one with dried limes at work as, from experience,  it smelt out the whole office! oops. It tasted good though!

Fish soup with dried limes

4 Tablespoons olive oil

1 large red onion, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, sliced finely

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3/4 teaspoon turmeric

1–2 dried limes, seeded, crushed and ground

1 x 400g tinned tomatoes

1 litre fish stock (make your own or use really good fresh fish stock)

1 teaspoon sugar

250g skinned white fish fillet, cut into 1cm slices

2 Tablespoons roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

sea salt and black pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and soften the onion, celery and garlic for 20–25 minutes. Once sweet and translucent, stir in the tumeric and dried limes, cook for 1 minute.

2. Add the fish stock, bring up to the boil and add sugar, salt and pepper.

3. Stir in the fish and parsley, simmer for 1 minute to poach the fish and serve.

(Recipe from Moro: The Cookbook (Ebury Press))

Three of the best cookbooks published in 2010

After reading the OFM’s 50 best cookbooks of all time, I was inspired to list three of my favourite. It is a shame to have so few as there have been a lot of great cookbooks published in 2010.

Every year, more and more cookbooks are being published—everyone speaks of how British food has in the past few years encountered a ‘rebirth’ or new lust for flavour. Since moving to the UK I have purchased countless numbers of cookbooks, they are just so varied and relatively well priced. Quadrille, a publisher I worship because they are the forefront of cookbook publishing, churning out amazingly laid out and beautifully produced cookbooks monthly, have come up with a really inspiring and genius series of new voices in food. I think this is a great idea and one that probably other publishers will get on the bandwagon of—promoting new and young foodies and giving any home cook a fresh take or perspective on food.

1. How I Cook by Skye Gyngell (Quadrille)

Skye Gyngell’s style of writing about food comes across so natural and genuine. She clearly knows her stuff in terms of taste and elegance. How I Cook is filled with straightforward recipes dependent on letting quality ingredients speak for themselves. My favourites are banana bread, slow-cooked lamb with artichokes, peas and mint, old-fashioned pancakes, and apple and green tomato pie. Chapter titles are related to meal times or meal occasions such as ‘special occasions’, ‘late night supper’ which gives the book an overall everyday cooking appeal.Whereas Skye’s other books could be seen as recipes for fancy special occasions, this book is more the paired-down little sister. A fantastic addition to the cookbook shelves, and I have to add that all of the baking recipes are to die for!

2. Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi (Ebury)

This choice is pretty much a clear winner. Yotam Ottolenghi is like the king of big and bold flavours. I think Yotam’s recipes are a bit like durian, you either love it or hate it. He must have a brilliant palate to come up with the ‘non-traditionalist’ flavour combinations. Who would have thought aubergine, mango and soba noodles would be so delicious? What’s more is that the whole book contains vegetarian recipes all inspired by a mix of diverse culinary cultures—all sides of the Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Asian. These cover a whole array of vegetables: the countless tasty treats that can come from the aubergine, salads that will make you think twice about calling salads ‘bland’, lentils and squashes. My favourite recipe hands-down has to be the green pancakes with lime butter.

3. Mexican Food: Made Simple by Thomasina Miers (Hodder & Stoughton)

Since winning MasterChef, Thomasina has made a huge success from her Wahaca restaurants. This cookbook is a gem for widening your repetoire of Mexican cooking. The introductory section is fully informative, detailing lots of facinating stuff about the many different kinds of chillies, beans and herbs used in Mexican cooking. I like the salsa recipes, they are so easy but are packed full of smoky or spicy flavours. The best discovery was the coconut ceviche, which was a highlight in terms of flavour sensations for the year of 2010! Dishes not only cover salsas, tacos, burritos and soups but they also include many slow-cooking main courses that are just plain mouth-watering—such as ‘meatballs de mehico’ and chicken and chorizo in an almond mole.