Amanda's Artichoke Bread

When I saw this recipe over at Joie de vivre, I knew I had to make it. What could be more perfect than crusty bread filled with hot melty cheese and artichoke hearts?

Inevitable tweaking - I hollowed out my loaf, filled it with an uncooked mixture of reduced fat sour cream, mozzarella, parmesan, garlic and chopped artichoke hearts, then wrapped it in foil and put it on the barbecue alongside some nice thick beef burgers.

I should have cooked it for longer - I didn't quite get the ooziness of cheese that I was after - but the flavours were just lovely, and as an accompaniment to the burgers, topped with onion marmelade, it was just wonderful. Made it look as though I had put in much more effort than I actually had!

Definitely one to do again.

Sunday Lunch - The Crown, Amersham

On a sunny, spring Sunday, we headed out for a pub lunch.

Our first destination, The Bricklayers Arms, was heaving. We couldn't get anywhere near it, not even just to park and see if we could perch at the bar to eat. So we headed off to another favourite - The Swan in Amersham. The Swan does an excellent Sunday lunch, and we've always eaten very well there.

But as we got closer I remembered seeing a rather good review of another pub in Amersham - The Crown. So we decided to try our luck.

It was a good decision.

It's an old coaching inn; you pass under an archway and a courtyard opens up in front of you with blossoming cherry trees and a herb garden on one side and the wide doorway into the restaurant on the other.

It was very busy, but we were given seats at a lovely long communal table (but we didn't have to share it with anyone) adorned with a massive earthenware jug of lilacs.

We were offered glasses of prosecco spiked with home made elderflower cordial, but Paul stuck to a locally brewed beer (Rebellion Blonde) while I had plain prosecco.

Decision-making was quite difficult, because there were lots of good-sounding dishes on the menu. And the house-made soda bread that they brought out was very reassuring about the quality of the food.

The service was fairly slow, and quite patchy in quality. A not-very-engaging young woman took an order for water and was never seen again, and then a really on-the-ball young man eventually took the same order and was back in moments.

As a starter, Paul had a salad of chicken livers and beetroot. I was surprised, because he reckons not to like beetroot and he is VERY picky about chicken livers. But these were cooked very much to his taste (browned beautifully on the outside and barely a trace of pink in the middle).

I had a terrine of local pork with spiced pickled prunes, which was just lovely. Really good chunky texture, not too liver-y and perfectly seasoned. It was maybe a fraction cold, but that is one of my perennial complaints. The prunes were an excellent accompaniment, but I could have done with a little bit more toast.

As main courses, Paul went traditional British and I went traditional French.

His roast sirloin of beef with roast potatoes, fluffy Yorkshire pudding and horseradish cream was a really good example of what a Sunday roast can be.

My crisp-skinned, meaty confit duck leg came on a lovely bed of Puy lentils - slightly too salty if I am nitpicking.

The vegetables are what really makes or breaks a pub lunch. There are loads of places that can turn out a perfectly decent piece of meat and crisp roast potatoes but then let themselves down with microwaved frozen mixed veg. The Crown is not one of those places. We had a generous portion (on a pewter plate, which isn't great for keeping things warm) of sweet little roasted chantenay carrots, perfectly steamed purple sprouting broccoli and buttery, tender green cabbage.

The very on-the-ball young waiter came back to try to sell us desserts. Unfortunately it was 3.30pm by this stage and we were expected at a friend's house for a barbecue at 5.30, so we had to decline. Next time. And there will be a next time for sure.

Nigella's Merguez with Halloumi and Flame-Roasted Peppers

This one - from Nigella Express. I couldn't get merguez, so I used some spicy Italian sausages. It will be repeated! With a pile of leafy salad on the side it was a perfect no-brainer supper. And I do love one-pot meals. I think if you wanted to bulk it up a bit, some little new potatoes could go into the pan with it.

Oatmeal honey bread

Ever since I saw this fabulous recipe on Laurie's blog, I have been keen to try her oatmeal honey bread. And you know what? It tastes as good as it looks.

My only tweaks - half stoneground wholemeal flour, half strong white flour, and I used dried yeast, so I added some of the honey to the warm water to activate my yeast. And I made a half quantity, although I think my loaf tin must be a fair bit bigger than Laurie's, because despite rising really well, I ended up with quite a thin loaf. But it was so good that next time I am going the whole hog. Just gorgeous. Tender, flavourful crumb, chewy crust.

Tonno di Coniglio

After the lovely rabbit salad that I had on St George's Day, I decided that I wanted to make one myself. As it happened, I had a rabbit in the freezer. I remembered eating a marinated rabbit salad once that was described as tonno di coniglio (rabbit cooked like tuna), which was precisely the effect I was going for.

Judy Witt showed me the way with her very straightforward recipe. A few days to marinade and there it was.

In a salad with lovely tender mixed leaves, some marinated artichoke hearts and some chopped up pork scratchings to give a crunch, and a splash of sherry vinegar to dress, it made a lovely light lunch. The rabbit comes out with a very similar texture to tinned tuna, but tastes like chicken.

First Fruits - strawberry

This...Becomes this:... and a very beautiful little taste of summer it is too.

Baked Fig & Pistachio Cheesecake

We were going to have dinner with friends. I said I'd bring a dessert. I liked the sound of Nigel Slater's Pistachio Yoghurt Cheesecake, but I thought "barely firm enough to cut" didn't sound very transportable.

So I took the flavours from that recipe of yoghurt, pistachios and dried figs and concocted a baked cheesecake. Very successfully, too.

Baked fig and pistachio cheesecake

Biscuit base

80g unsalted butter, melted
210g shortbread biscuits
60g pistachios

Filling

600g cream cheese, at room temperature
4 tbs well-flavoured honey
80g dried figs, chopped
2tbs sherry
60g pistachios, chopped
60g dried sour cherries
3 eggs
3 tbsp plain flour
150g Greek yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla essence

1 Lightly grease a 20cm spring-form cake tin with a little of the melted butter. Wrap the outside of the tin in foil.

2 Melt the butter gently in a small pan on a low heat. Roughly break up the biscuits and place them in a food processor with the pistachios. Pulse for a couple of minutes until it resembles fine crumbs, with coarser chunks of pistachio. Pour in the melted butter and process for 30 seconds to combine.

3 Put the biscuit mixture into the base of the tin, using the back of a tablespoon to smooth the surface evenly. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

4 Soak the chopped dried figs in the sherry for 30 minutes.

5 Place the cream cheese, honey and yoghurt in a bowl and beat until smooth. Add the figs and sherry, roughly chopped pistachios and dried cherries. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour and vanilla essence, and beat until well combined.

6 Place the foil-wrapped tin in a large roasting dish and pour hot water to come half way up the side (not higher than the foil). Pour the filling into the tin and bake in a low oven at 150C for 1 hour. When cooked, the cheesecake should be well risen, with a golden-brown top. It should feel slightly firm to touch - if the mixture still appears wet, continue to bake a little longer. When cooked, turn off the oven and allow the cheesecake to cool in the oven, with the door open. When completely cool, place in the fridge. Decorate with pistachio brittle and some quartered dried figs.