LEMON LINGUINE

I love eating this, but trust me, it doesn't taste the same if eaten indoors! A wonderful warm sunny day so that you can eat alfresco is a must.
Unfortunately I couldn't get any linguine, and so I had to second-best it and use spaghetti, still ok but not quite the same.
When a recipe asks for pasta, lemon, Parmesan cheese and parsley you really can't go far wrong.
Some green leaves need to be served alongside this, I opted for watercress. A piece of toasted ciabatta is good too.
How to Eat by Nigella Lawson is still one of my favourite cookery books. It's packed with recipes and just a handful of photographs.
The weather forecast is good for this coming weekend, so here is something quick, simple and very tasty.

HOW TO EAT BY NIGELLA LAWSON

ISBN 0701165766 - Page 253

Serves 6 (can easily be scaled down)

750g linguine, 2 egg yolks, 150ml double cream, 50g freshly grated Parmesan cheese, zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon, 15g butter, fresh flat-leaf parsley.

1. Fill a pot with water and bring to the boil. Add some salt. Tip in the pasta, bring back to the boil and cook for a couple minutes less than it says on the packet of pasta.
2. In a bowl, put the yolks, cream, grated Parmesan cheese, zest of the whole lemon and juice of half of it, a pinch of salt and a good grating of pepper and beat together until just combined.
3. Remove a cup of cooking liquid, drain the pasta and then, off the heat, toss it back in the pan, throw in the butter and stir and swirl about to make sure the butter's melted and pasta covered by it all over.
4. Stir in the egg, cream, cheese and lemon mix and turn the pasta well, adding some of the cooking liquid if it looks a bit dry (2 tablespoons or so should do it).
Sprinkle over some just-chopped parsley and serve straight away.

FRUIT LOAF WITH FRESH LIME AND GINGER

Anyone for a slice of cake? This fruit cake is light, moist and has a lovely lime icing. The unusual thing about this particular cake is that you simply throw everything into a bowl and mix. By doing this the fruit won't sink to the bottom of the cake. If you decide to make it the 'proper' way, then as I found out, the fruit all sinks to the bottom of the cake.
Lucy Young has put stem ginger into this cake and it is a wonderful match with the limes.
I've made this cake several times and sometimes use Nigella Lawson's Malibu icing instead of the suggested one here. Below I have also given the recipe for this.
Lucy Young wrote this book for the Aga but also gives instructions for conventional cookers. Lucy works for Mary Berry and helps run Mary's Aga workshops.


SECRETS FROM A COUNTRY KITCHEN BY LUCY YOUNG

ISBN 0091896754 - Page 180

Makes 2 cakes.

175g self-raising flower, 100g soft butter, 100g caster sugar, 3 eggs - beaten, 50g raisins, 50g glace cherries - quartered, washed and dried well, 150g sultanas, 4 bulbs stem ginger - finely chopped, finely grated zest of 2 limes.

1. You will need two 450g (1 lb) loaf tins, greased and base lined.
2. Preheat the oven to 160ºC/325ºF/Gas 3.
3. Measure all the ingredients for the cakes into a large bowl. Mix well until smooth. Divide between the two loaf tins, and level the tops.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for about 45-50 minutes until golden brown or test if cooked by inserting a skewer into the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean the cake is cooked. Leave to cool in the tins.

FOR THE ICING

100g icing sugar - sieved, 2 tablespoons lime juice, 1 bulb stem ginger - chopped,
finely grated zest of 1 small lime.
Simply mix the icing sugar and lime juice together until smooth. Spread over the top of the cakes. Garnish with ginger down the centre and arrange lime zest over the top.

Recipe taken from How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson - Page 23.

MALIBU ICING (slightly adapted)

125g instant royal icing
1 tablespoon Malibu
1 tablespoon water

Simply mix together until smooth and pour over the cake.

BEEF WELLINGTON

I made Beef Wellington for my husbands birthday - he has reached an age where there is a '0' at the end of the number! Something special had to be made, to celebrate his special day.
Choosing the recipe was quite challenging, there are so many versions of Beef Wellington. A recipe from a food writer, rather than one from a chef's book, was the main criteria. I wanted this to be home cooking at its best and not me trying to copy restaurant food.
The meat was cut from the middle of the fillet and was bought from my local QGuild butcher.
I prepared the beef the day before, popped it in the fridge and cooked it the next evening.
A variety of steamed vegetables were served with the Beef Wellington.
The meat cost me a small fortune, but its not everyday you get the chance to serve prime fillet in such a delicious way.

MEAT by Joanna Farrow

ISBN 0600612627 - Page 33

Serves: 6

1.5kg middle piece beef fillet, 50g butter, 2 small onions - finely chopped, 300g chestnut mushrooms - chopped, 2 tablespoons brandy, 500g puff pastry, 200g smooth chicken pate, 1 egg - lightly beaten, salt and pepper.

1. Trim off the excess fat and season the beef. Melt the butter in a frying pan and sear the beef on all sides. Transfer it to a roasting tin, reserving the fat in the pan, roast in a preheated oven 200ºC(400ºF), Gas 6 for 20 minutes. Leave to cool.
2. Fry the onions in the pan for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and a little seasoning and fry until the moisture has evaporated. Add the brandy and fry for a further 1 minute. Leave to cool.
3. Thinly roll out the pastry to a large rectangle. Spread the top of the meat with the pate, then press a thick layer of the mushroom mixture over the top. Invert the beef onto the pastry and spread with the remaining mushrooms.
4. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and bring it up over the fillet to enclose the meat completely, trimming off any bulky areas at the corners. Place, join side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet and brush with more egg. Bake for 35 minutes, until deep golden. Leave to stand for 20 minutes before carving.

My son took the photograph despite all the kitchen frenzy - my husband decided to give food photography a miss. It was a day to enjoy freshly cooked hot food - we gave lukewarm food a miss for once.

MINI CHERRY TOMATO AND BASIL PESTO GALETTES

Whilst admiring Scott's Strawberry and Champagne Jam on his site I noticed that he is hosting Weekend Herb Blogging. and my canapes made with basil pesto fit the theme superbly and so here is my entry for the above.
We had a 'bit of a do' this last weekend and I made a few canapes. These in particular were very popular. They were easy to make and big on taste.
Making pesto is a doddle - I used basil from my garden and there wasn't a cellophane wrapped package of basil or a jar of pesto in sight.
The book I took this recipe from is my personal favourite - the recipes are all 'do-able', the food styling and photography is amazing. Every photograph, on every page, jumps out at you and says make me.
If you are about to have a 'bit of a do' look out for this book - you'll be glad you did!

CANAPES

Eric Treuille & Victoria Blashford-Snell

ISBN 1405305134 - Page 44

Makes: 20

15g basil leaves, 2 tbsp pine nuts, 1 tbsp olive oil, 4 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated, 200g puff pastry, 20 cherry tomatoes, each cut into 3 slices, salt, black pepper, 20 basil sprigs to garnish.

You will need a 5cm fluted pastry cutter.



FOR THE PESTO:
Place the basil, pine nuts, oil and Parmesan in a food processor or blender and pulse to a thick paste.

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC(400ºF)Gas 6.
2. Roll out pastry on a floured surface to 2.5mm thick. Stamp out 20 rounds with the pastry cutter. Place the pastry rounds onto a floured baking sheet.
3. Spread ½ tsp pesto onto each pastry round and top with 3 cherry tomato slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Bake until crisp and golden, about 10 minutes.
5. Garnish each galette with ½ tsp pesto and a basil sprig. Serve warm.

Pesto can be made up to 3 days in advance. Put into a container, place a layer of clingfilm on top of the pesto and refrigerate.
Bake galettes up to 1 day in advance.
Reheat in a preheated oven 200ºC(400ºF)Gas 6 for 3 minutes. Garnish and serve warm.

CAN I HAVE ANOTHER ONE PLEASE?

STRAWBERRY JAM

When I made the mini Victoria sponge cakes, posted below, I didn't get the chance to make the strawberry jam, Delicious Magazine made for the filling - but now I have triumphed and made two wonderful pots of fresh tasting strawberry jam.

Jam making can consist of two or three simple ingredients, but somehow they manage to terrorise me. I'm just not at ease when it comes to making preserves, even though I've read up on the subject.

When I look at my two jars of bright red strawberry jam, I must confess, I can't help feeling pleased with myself.

Unfortunately the strawberries didn't come from my garden, for the simple reason I have to share them with the squirrel. I've put netting over the plants this year, did this stop him - no! Now he just puts his teeth into them because he can't steal them, I think I would rather he stole them than left me staring at strawberries with teeth marks in them.

A slightly adapted recipe from Delicious Magazine August 2007

STRAWBERRY JAM

Makes approximately 2 x 1 lb jars

450g strawberries, hulled
500g preserving sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

1. Freeze 2 saucers.
2. Put the strawberries, sugar and lemon juice into a greased preserving pan over a medium-low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil for 6 minutes. Remove from the heat. Put a spoonful onto a chilled saucer and push your finger through it - if it wrinkles, it's ready, if not, boil for another 2 minutes and repeat.
3. Stir in a small piece of butter.
4. Let stand for 15 minutes.
5. Spoon into sterilised jars. Cover jam with waxed discs. Moisten one side of transparent cover, place on jar damp side uppermost, secure over rim of jar with a rubber band.

MINI VICTORIA SPONGE CAKES

You've probably guessed by now that I love cooking from Delicious Magazine and here is yet another recipe that caught my eye. This recipe comes from the August 2007 issue.
I've used fresh strawberries and West Country double cream as the filling.
Delicious Magazine gave the recipe for strawberry jam to be used with the cream as the filling, and I will post the jam recipe very soon.
Baking cakes and desserts is probably my most favourite part of cooking and I seem to fall in love with anything and everything 'mini' in the baking and desserts department!

Serves 8

For the cakes:
170g butter, softened, 170g caster sugar, 3 medium eggs, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 170g self-raising flour.

For the filling:
284ml carton whipping cream, a large punnet of strawberries, icing sugar for dusting.

You will need 4 x 8-9cm straight-sided individual Yorkshire pudding tins or 8 round plain cutters, sat on a lined tray. The tins will need to be greased and base lined.

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/fan 160ºC/gas 4.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Lightly beat the eggs with the vanilla, then gradually beat into the creamed mixture, adding a little of the flour. Sift over the remaining flour and gently fold in until just combined.
3. Divide evenly between the holes or rings, smoothing the surface. Bake for 20-25 minutes until risen and golden. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool.
4. Lightly whip the cream to soft peaks. Spread onto 4 sponge bases, top with quartered strawberries and sandwich with the remaining sponge discs. Dust each with icing sugar to serve. Each cake serves 2.