A Spoonful of Sugar

I'm a real sucker for cute fruits.

I found some little donut (or saturn) peaches at the supermarket and after exclaiming in delight at their shape, I bought a few with nothing in particular in mind.

Fast forward a few days, and after trying one, I thought it might be best to poach them. It might just have been that one peach, but it wasn't as juicy and sweet as its fragrance had led me to expect. Poaching is a great way to improve disappointing peaches (and other fruit).

However, I only had two little peaches left and it seemed mean to just serve up one fruit apiece for dessert. So I threw the fridge door open and waited for inspiration to hit me. And it did.

In the depths of the fridge sat a half-full pot of cream and a tub of low-fat Greek yoghurt. Combined with some toffee-ish eucalyptus honey and gelatine, I knew they'd make an awesome panna cotta. Yoghurt--or yogurt if you're across the pond--may not be a traditional ingredient of panna cotta, but it really does make a superb modern version. Seriously creamy, without burdening you with too much guilt, and a lovely little tang at the end that keeps you coming back for more.

I poached the peaches in some wine syrup. Alas, no recipe here. I just chucked the end of a bottle of cava into a pan, threw in some sugar and let it boil for a few minutes before adding the peaches. They poached for no longer than 10 minutes before cooling in the now rosy-pink liquid. I think the best thing about the donut peaches is popping out the stone from the middle of the fruit and being left with a perfect ring of white peach. So cute.

Finally I also made some pine nut brittle to add some crunch, since both the peaches and panna cotta were very smooth. Making brittle is really easy as long as you avoid burning the sugar mixture. My first attempt involved a sugar thermometer and resulted in some ghastly-tasting burnt brittle as I chose to believe the thermometer rather than my nose. The damn thing's going in the bin.

I'm pretty proud of how well this dessert turned out. The panna cotta was just set, with that sexy wobble that is the hallmark of all great panna cottas, and it was incredibly creamy. The peaches turned out fresh, juicy and silky smooth with an incredible fragrance enhanced by the wine. And let's not forget the crunch factor! The slightly salty crunchiness of the pine nut brittle was fantastic with the other components.

If there was such a thing as a dessert Olympics, this would run a very close second--maybe even a photo-finish would be required--to the strawberry soup. It's that good.

Continue reading "Yoghurt Panna Cotta with Pinenut Brittle" »

Pesto can be found everywhere these days, but making your own still yields the best flavour and best of all, you can customise the texture (or indeed the ratio of the ingredients) to your own tastes. There are no definitive recipes... just whatever tastes good to you.

I had planned to use my home-grown basil to make the pesto, but the current crop is pathetically small. So, to fulfil my desire for pesto I bought a few packs of the supermarket stuff and supplemented it with as many leaves as I could scrounge off my poor little plants. (I've since discovered that they were root-bound, so they now live in much bigger pots.)

One of the traditional Ligurian ways of serving pesto is on troife pasta. Troife is a simple, hand-rolled pasta shape that looks like little twisted spirals--also reminiscent of a unicorn's horn--which cleverly catches pesto in its spirals and grooves. If you fancy trying to make your own trofie, directions (with photos) can be found here.

I don't know who first had the idea of adding green beans and potatoes to pesto and pasta, but they are an unsung hero. This was such a great combination, and it could only get better if you leave your pesto coarse and get a different flavour combination with each forkful. So fresh and peppery from the pesto with smooth, almost buttery slices of potato and a nice crisp bite from the beans.

Absolutely delicious and so easy to do, too.

Continue reading "Trofie al Pesto" »

With a glass of Pimm's in hand, I am rather prone to floating off into a fantasy of middle-England village life, complete with village fêtes and all their inherent competitions. Naturally I always win the blue ribbon for the best Victoria Sponge and my jams are renowned throughout the entire county.

Picturesque fantasies aside, Pimm's, to me, is as quintessentially English as watching cricketers out on their village green and thatched cottages. Before I moved to England that was my view of the entire country, and while I know that England is far more than romantic stereotypes--both in good and, sadly, bad ways--I still get a weird little thrill every time I see our village team out practising in their whites.

I guess I'm an old romantic...

But back to Pimm's. Its a bit of an odd drink. On the face of it, a drink of spirts infused with vegetables and herbs just doesn't sound attractive. However, add some lemonade and some ooograh as Detritus the Troll would describe a sprig of mint, some slices of cucumber, and maybe a slice of lemon or orange, and you've got a little slice of heaven in a glass.

It's just so refreshing and drinkable. That's the down-side of it, unfortunately. You can sink quite a few glasses of Pimms while completely forgetting that it's boozy, and only remember when you try and stand up. But it's worth it.

And so to the sorbet... While happily drinking Pimm's pre-Wimbledon, it struck me that it would make a fantastic sorbet. So, after some research into just how much Pimm's No.1 I could get away with using, I made a syrup infused with the usual suspects--orange, lemon, mint, cucumber--and added Pimms.

The resulting sorbet was everything I had hoped it would be. Clean, refreshing, and complex in flavour. Unmistakably Pimm's.

Continue reading "Beat the heat with Pimm's Sorbet" »

Last week our friends Grant and Sarah came over for dinner, so I decided to make a huge mess in the kitchen a bit of an effort.

After drinks, we began with this luscious Pea and Goat's Cheese tart which I served with some ultra-trendy pea shoots tossed in an apple vinaigrette. We then moved on to Apricot and Pistachio Stuffed Pork with Herby Polenta and Courgette Linguine--sadly this fell into the tasty but ugly category--and finally ended on a triumphant note with my new favourite dessert, Spiced Strawberry soup, Honey Frozen Yoghurt and Strawberry Granita.

I was aiming for a light, summery menu using mostly seasonal ingredients and I think I did pretty well. I could have used fresh apricots to stuff the pork but I was worried that they'd disintegrate and slither out during cooking, so I stuck with good old dried apricots. In retrospect, I could have used my Boozy Apricots. Oh well.

This tart makes an ideal starter for a dinner party. It can be made in advance and is served cold. What could be easier than cutting a few slices, daintily arranging them on plates and adding a bit of salad? Hmm, this makes it sound as though I was really lazy. Trust me, I worked hard! I even braved the supermarket on a Saturday morning for ingredients, and I'm pretty sure even the Knights of the Round Table would have baulked at that particular quest.

Anyhoo, the tart went down very well indeed. Grant isn't a big fan of goat's cheese but really enjoyed the tart as the evil was hidden. If I were you, I'd interpret that compliment as the tart being a good way to introduce goat's cheese to someone who is a bit dubious about it! The rest of us--die-hard goat's cheese lovers--adored the tart. The pea and cheese were balanced beautifully and despite using frozen peas--I rarely manage to find truly fresh peas--it tasted of summer.

This recipe is definitely a keeper, and I was so taken with the tart that I'll actually be repeating it on Monday for lunch with friends, including a bunch of toddlers. (I reckon this is pretty toddler friendly. I base this on the fact that Mr Fussy aka Lucas devoured his slice in seconds. Considering how fussy he's been lately, this is miraculous and the tart should immediately be given a Sainthood.)

Continue reading "Pea and Goat's Cheese Tart" »