Lemon & mozzarella salad

Lemon & mozzarella salad, a photo by MrsNightingalesSecretSpeakeasy on Flickr.

LEMON SALAD - chuck it all in and mix it up



3 Little Gem or Romaine Lettuce - shredded
3 or 4 spring onions - chopped

1 finely chopped celery heart

(Optional) bunch of white radishes cut in half

Large ball, or 2 x smaller balls of best quality Buffallo Mozzarella - ripped into pieces

Sea salt & black pepper to season

Big splosh of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Juice of one lemon, use extra if you like it sharp.



It's the lemon. the crunch, and the good Mozzarella that make this really basic salad so nice.

White chocolate & raspberry brioche pudding

White chocolate & raspberry brioche pudding, a photo by MrsNightingalesSecretSpeakeasy on Flickr.

Ingredients:

150 ml double cream

150 ml whole milk

1 split vanilla pod

100g of white chocolate

2 egg yolks

60 g castor sugar

Approx. 5 slices of brioche

200g of raspberries (or blueberries, or both)



Method:

Preheat the oven to 200C. In an oven proof serving dish (a 7 “ dish with approx 2” depth will do nicely) place ripped up pieces of brioche, crusts upwards, to fill the dish. Scatter the raspberries pushing a few into the side, middle and bottom of the dish so that they are evenly distributed throughout.
Place the milk and cream into a saucepan with the seeds from the vanilla pod, and very gently bring to a steady simmer. Meanwhile, beat the eggs and sugar together until pale, in a separate bowl. Add the heated cream to the bowl and whisk. Return the combined mixture to the pan, add the chocolate broken into small pieces, and continue to whisk on a gentle heat until it thickens. Pour the chocolate custard onto the brioche and fruit, then bake in the oven for ten minutes or so, until the top is a wonderful golden colour.
 Serve immediately, and feel guilty but very satisfied!

Crab chilli lime coriander pasta

Crab chilli lime coriander pasta, a photo by MrsNightingalesSecretSpeakeasy on Flickr.

Spaghetti with Crab, Chilli, Coriander and Lime

Boil a pan of salted water and cook spaghetti (or linguine) for four people according to the instructions on the packaging. Chop a couple of large fresh red chillies and 2 cloves of garlic and gently fry in a generous splash of olive oil. Meanwhile open a couple of tubs of fresh crab. I use 1 x white, 1 x brown meat which is sufficient for four meals; add an extra 100g pot if you are crazy for crab. Finally chop a bunch of coriander.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and then add in the oily garlic and chilli, plus the juice of one lime, and season to taste. Top with the crab and coriander and another drizzle of olive oil.  And that’s all there is to it !

Ingredients:

2 or 3 100g pots of crab meat

2 cloves garlic

2 large red chillies

Small bunch of coriander

1 lime

Spaghetti or linguine for 4

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Ginger and coriander meatballs

Ginger and coriander meatballs, a photo by MrsNightingalesSecretSpeakeasy on Flickr.

Meatballs

1 slice toasted white bread
8 oz minced beef
2 cloves garlic
Chilli: use either 2 pinches of chilli powder, a teaspoon of lazy chilli from a jar or 1 very finely chopped red chilli.
1 teaspoon oregano
fist full of chopped corainder
salt & pepper
1 and a half Tablespoon fresh root ginger, finely chopped
1 medium egg

Tomato sauce

Everyone has their own recipe, but I use a very basic tomato, onion, red wine sauce.

Saute half an onion, and unless you want to use fresh tomatoes (it's a heck of an expensive way to do it) add a tin of good quality chopped tomatoes (San Marzano are the best variety but Morrisons organic chopped @ 59p a tin are great and have a superb texture). Splash of red wine, simmer for 10 minutes and add some basil a few minutes before using the sauce.

If you grow your own tomatoes, you can swerve on the tinned option. I like to roast them first with a drizzle of olive oil & some Malden salt in order to intensify the flavour before skinning and using in my sauce.

Tip: Use a bowl and mix by hand for a course burger like texture, or into a food processor for a smoother meatball. This recipe is based on using a blitzer;-)

Into Food processor; Toast. Blitz. Add meat, herbs, chilli, garlic, egg, ginger, salt & pepper to taste. Blitz again.
Roll into balls and coat in flour. Fry until lightly browned. Add to tomato sauce and cook for 45 mins, add coriander at end and serve on top of spaghetti.

Alternative option is to par boil some Penne and add meatball/sauce on top and bake in the oven for about 35 minutes.

Pavlova

Pavlova, a photo by MrsNightingalesSecretSpeakeasy on Flickr.

Chewy slow baked meringue with lemon cream and roasted rhubarb

Roasted  Rhubarb and Lemon Cream Pavlova served with a Ginger Prosecco Cocktail

Firstly, roast some chopped rhubarb. Lay it on a baking tray and sprinkle with a generous amount of brown sugar. Pop into a preheated oven at 200C for 15 minutes. The rhubarb should not be overly sweet as the Pavlova and the lemon cream are sugary, and the sharpness and slightly sour quality of rhubarb is needed to cut through the sweetness.  Meringues are easy – never let anyone tell you otherwise. Personally I don’t bother with recommended tricks such as adding Cream of Tartar or white vinegar into the whipped egg white and sugar. The best tip is to ensure your whisks and bowl are totally free of grease (wash beforehand in very hot water) as any trace of fat will give you flaccid meringues. For an 8” Pavlova, you’ll need 3 egg whites and 55g of castor sugar per egg. Whisk the egg whites on slow speed for 2 minutes, then pump up the power for another minute until the mixture is light and fluffy and forming peaks. Gradually introduce the sugar, one tablespoon at a time as you continue to whisk. Place onto a baking sheet and cook at 140C for one hour. Then leave in the oven overnight (this will prevent cracking)


Next day:
Whip the cream, then add a couple of tablespoons of lemon curd and combine well. You can use the leftover yolks to make your own, but when short of time, I just use a good quality shop bought curd.  Assemble, stand back and admire, then tuck in with gusto.

Ingredients:

3 egg whites

6 oz castor sugar

2 tablespoons lemon curd

300ml whipping cream

A couple of sticks of rhubarb

Brown sugar

As a final flourish, enjoy a Ginger Prosecco cocktail with your pudding. This is a slightly sour cocktail, but a perfect partner to sweet Pavlova. Muddle some chopped ginger, approximately 1” of fresh root, a spoonful of castor sugar and the juice of one lemon (muddling is apparently Cocktail Mixology lingo; I bung it in a pestle and mortar and bash it about). Strain this into a glass and top with Prosecco, or if feeling ultra decadent, champagne. Serve with a sliver of root ginger to decorate the glass.

Ingredients:

Fresh root ginger

Sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Prosecco

Mmmmm Chocolate Cake

Mmmmm Chocolate Cake, a photo by soul_babycakes on Flickr.

Hello Boys !


Ingredients

· 200g good quality dark chocolate , about 60% cocoa solids

· 200g butter , cut in pieces

· 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules (I like to use Percol espresso powder)

· 85g self-raising flour

· 85g plain flour

· 1⁄4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

· 150g light muscovado sugar

· 150g golden caster sugar
· 25g cocoa powder
· 3 medium eggs
· 75ml buttermilk (5 tablespoons) I have used crème fraiche as an alternative when I couldn’t get buttermilk)


For the Ganache

· 200g good-quality dark chocolate , as above

· 150ml carton double cream (pouring type)

· 2 tbsp golden caster sugar

To decorate

· grated chocolate or curls, to decorate


Method



1. Butter 2 loose bottom cake tins and line the base. Preheat the oven to fan 140C/conventional 160C/ gas 3. Break the chocolate in pieces into a medium, heavy-based pan. Tip in the butter, then mix the coffee granules into 125ml/4fl oz cold water and pour into the pan. Warm through over a low heat just until everything is melted - don't overheat. Or melt in the microwave on Medium for about 5 minutes, stirring half way through.

2. While the chocolate is melting, mix the two flours, bicarbonate of soda, sugars and cocoa in a big bowl, mixing with your hands to get rid of any lumps. Beat the eggs in a bowl and stir in the buttermilk. No need to be too lighthanded; the worst results have been when I have gently folded everything. Bung it all in and mix it up !

3. Now pour the melted chocolate mixture and the egg mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until everything is well blended and you have a smooth, quite runny consistency. Pour this into the tins and bake for between 50 mins / 1 hour depending on the efficiency of your oven - if you push a skewer in the centre it should come out clean and the top should feel firm (don't worry if it cracks a bit). Leave to cool in the tin (don't worry if it dips slightly), then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

4. Make the ganache: chop the chocolate into small pieces and tip into a bowl. Pour the cream into a pan, add the sugar, and heat until it is about to boil. Take off the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Let it cool. If it’s too runny to be spreadable, whisk it with an electric mixer for a few minutes until it is almost like a mousse.




5. Sandwich the layers together with some of the ganache. Spread the rest over the cake and down the sides and smoothing to cover with a palette knife. Decorate with grated chocolate or a pile of chocolate curls. The cake keeps moist and gooey for 3-4 days if covered loosely with cling film.

Shooters Sandwich

SDC13223, a photo by soul_babycakes on Flickr.

Picnic Heaven

Eating alfresco is a joy, a simple pleasure that we British embrace with gusto, at any clement opportunity. A picnic in the park with a group of friends, or with the object of your affection, is often a memory in the making. Picnics remind me of past times; sports events and ‘Speech Days’, burgeoning romances and the occasional youthful tipsy excursion to Cranham Woods with a ghetto blaster, lots of beer and a few pork pies.

What is the perfect food to eat “en plein air” I asked my friends? Go to Marks & Spencer was the overwhelming response, and one that I have previously resorted to myself, but surely nothing will taste as good as the food you personally prepare.

As much as I love barbeque, the other mainstay of outdoor eating, I find it a bit tedious, unless someone else is tending the coals. The stereotype of the ‘man of the house’ hovering over the grill, wielding a pronged fork falls short of reality in my world; my husband has never shown any interest in wearing an apron and a comedy chef’s hat, more’s the pity. When it comes to BBQ season – the Nightingales eat at the invitation of others.

So for the purpose of this article I fall back on the staple of the British Picnic; the sandwich. Oh, but what a sandwich, what a truly exceptional example of the genre this is. Ladies & Gentlemen – I give you Mrs. Nightingale’s version of The Shooters’ Sandwich; with the supplement of a glorious Gloucestershire ingredient, Tewkesbury Mustard.

A sandwich is functional, portable and easy to prepare. The magic is in the ingredients contained within. This is something special - a meal in itself, satisfying beyond compare. The Shooters’ Sandwich groans with Edwardian tradition. It is customary to prepare a Shooters’ Sandwich with rare beef and a mushroom & shallot duxelle, rather like a Beef Wellington sandwich; I also like to add blue cheese to jazz it up.

Method

The first process is to make the mushroom mixture. Fry 3 shallots and a clove of garlic in a little olive oil, then add a couple of finely chopped Portobello mushrooms. Add the herbs and a splash of Masala wine if you like, season and cook for five minutes,

Next step – pan fry a couple of pre-oiled & seasoned steaks (not too thick) until they are still fairly rare. No need to rest them – we want the steaks to be juicy. Then take (or make) a round crusty loaf and lop the top off. Hollow out just enough of the bread from the centre of the loaf to make a cavity for your ingredients.

Smear the steaks with Tewkesbury mustard. Use Dijon & horseradish sauce if you can’t find our magnificent indigenous mustard, but in deference to true culinary ‘Cotswold Style’ let’s celebrate this wonderful local product.

Tuck the first steak in the hollowed bread, mustard side next to the bread, then add a little blue cheese of your choice – Stilton works well but you could use St. Agur or Dolcelatte according to preference.

Next comes a generous addition of mushroom duxelle, topped with the second steak. Pop the “lid” back on top, wrap and tie up tightly in greaseproof paper, then wrap again in foil. Weight this down (a heavy chopping board, perhaps with a couple of bricks on top) and keep cool for about 5 hours, or overnight.

Ingredients

3 x shallots
1 x clove of garlic
2 x large Portobello mushrooms
2 x rump steaks
1 x large round crusty loaf
Blue cheese
Tewkesbury mustard
Pinch of Thyme

Take the unwrapped parcel along to your picnic, and slice up into wedges to eat. This is so filling you probably won’t need much else in your picnic basket, bar a meaty red wine. Raise a glass to the King of Sandwiches !