Nix's Thighs

Well, it is actually Antony Worral Thompson's marmalade chicken, but since a friend called Nix gave me the recipe, and I used thigh fillets instead of chicken pieces I thought Nix's Thighs was a better name.

Not too sweet, but I think when I make it again I will put a small squeeze of lemon juice in instead of the orange juice; or maybe just leave out the extra liquid. We ended up with loads more sauce than we needed, so I should probably have poured it off into a saucepan and reduced it down so it was really thick and luscious but I couldn't be bothered dirtying an extra saucepan.

I left the olive oil out - couldn't really see the point - and I used Szechwan pepper instead of black (although I think this was a dud batch because I couldn't taste the prickle from it at all). At exactly the same moment my husband and I said "wouldn't this be good with duck?" but I thought legs and he thought breasts. I will definitely make this one again - afterall, after the cake, this chicken and adding some to a sauce a while back, I've almost finished a jar of marmalade! Only 2 more to go...

Saltimbocca

The one dish we made at Judy Witts' cooking class last year that I hadn't tried to make myself yet is veal saltimbocca. It's not particularly easy to get veal in Britain - the message about the cruelty involved in "crated" veal has made it unpopular. Although I have noticed that most of the calves' liver you get here is imported from countries that do crate, so there is a measure of hypocrisy...

Anyway, when I discovered that the Well Hung Meat Company sold organic rose veal, I decided to give it a go. And then on the weekend I found that we have a massive sage bush in the garden so I decided to give it a go ASAP.

Easy, easy, easy! I dusted one side of each scallopine with seasoned flour & on the other side I placed a sage leaf and a slice of proscuitto and ran a toothpick through the bundle to hold it together. 2 minutes a side in a smear of hot olive oil, a slosh of dry sherry to deglaze for the last 30 seconds and there it was. Served with zucchini trifolati, some sugar snaps and some more asparagus, it was a very successful dinner. And so quick!

Bambi Burgers

After an afternoon tea packed with marmalade cake, peppermint crisp tart (a South African "fridge tart" dessert on the far side of cloying) and quite a few cucumber sandwiches, I wanted something savoury and fairly light for dinner.

The BBQ again came to the rescue. A couple of packets of Sainsbury venison burgers, a tray of asparagus and a bottle of excellent Cornish sparkling wine was a very fine Sunday meal! BBQing the asparagus was something we hadn't tried before, but it was delicious. Will be even better with some of the really fat spears.

Marmalade Cake

To break up the flow of pieces about meat, I thought I'd talk cake. I used to bake quite a lot, but I don't have many opportunities to now. My socialising tends to be more focused on a couple of drinks and dinners out, rather than afternoon tea. So when I get an invitation to afternoon tea I get all excited about the possibilities. I thought baked lemon cheesecake, I thought friands (but they take too many eggwhites), Spanish orange and almond cake, a nice sponge with strawberries and cream...

And then I settled on this recipe from Nigel Slater. Frosted marmalade cake - it sounded fragrant and moist and delicious (as well as using a good amount of marmalade). Best of all, the only ingredient I needed to buy was some icing sugar for the frosting.

Being a bit of a nervous baker (I'm not confident to improvise) I followed the recipe very closely. It took about 15 minutes more baking than the recipe said, but that I put down to my oven. The only variation I made was using a slosh of cointreau in the frosting as well as some of the reserved orange juice.

It was superb. An absolutely magnificent cake! Not too sweet, the nice shreds of the good bitter orange marmalade I used were an excellent addition. I look forward to another opportunity to make this one! And the variations - lime and lime marmalade, blood orange for lurid colour, grapefruit. So many options!

BBQ lamb leg

We've had a week of spectacular weather - as good as it gets really - so we just have to keep BBQing as long as we can! This time we had a butterflied lamb leg (boned and flattened) so it cooks more gently than chops or a steak and you end up with loads of BCBs (burnt crispy bits, for those of you who don't read Pratchett) and incredibly tender, juicy, pink middle.

It went on the BBQ just as it was, no marinade or anything, but as it cooked it was sprinkled with salt, pepper and dried thyme, crushed together in a mortar and pestle. And when it came off the heat it went into a shallow bath of lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. The fragrance as it hit the dressing was just wonderful.

Anyway. Today's picture is much more about the salad on the side. I got a bit carried away on adding tasty things to it and it ended up being way more food than necessary, so I didn't eat much of the meat in the end (my theory being that cold lamb is delicious the next day, salad isn't). So we have here BBQ aubergine, a dollop of hummus (a disappointing bland one) and salad. The salad was a tub of "Italian salad" (leaves, pine nuts, parmesan and pesto dressing), a tub of cherry tomatoes and bocconcini, half an avocado, artichoke hearts and some lovely slippery strips of bottled roast peppers. All of my favourite things!

Fish Stew

Last night I didn't get the crucial "Buy salad, I will BBQ" message, so we reverted to plan B, a sort of Provencal -ish fish soup with rouille. But I got distracted and reduced it more than intended so let's call it fish stew.

Fish Stew

Sweat a diced onion and a diced fennel in some olive oil. Add a cup of chicken stock, a tin of chopped tomatoes and the juice of half an orange. Add a pinch of saffron stamens.

When it comes to the boil add a diced white fish fillet (finally got rid of the last piece of swordfish from the freezer), and when it comes to the boil again add a bag of frozen fruits de mer. When the prawns are pink and opaque stir in a whopping quantity of chopped herbs (I used chervil, lemon thyme and parsley) and taste for seasoning.

Serve in a big bowl with a dollop of rouille - which I made with bought mayonnaise, bought roasted peppers, a clove of garlic and a little smoked paprika.

Foodie Blogroll

I was having a look at Judy Witt's Over a Tuscan Stove blog the other week and saw her link to the Foodie Blogroll. Who would have thought there were so many people writing about food? Anyway, if you have a look down the right hand side of the page you will see many, many inspirational blogs!

Jacki's Bento Blog reminded me it had been a while since I did a bento, so I did a really basic one for lunch yesterday. You can see from the picture that most everything is still frozen! So the top layer is 4 har gau and 3 tod mun, with some dipping sauce (my usual soy, black vinegar and chilli). The bottom layer is broccoli florets and some gai larn cooked with garlic and ginger, that I'd had portioned up in the freezer. It was tasty! But gee I need to work on my presentation.