Leek & Gruyerre Tart

Blimey, it's like the good life in these parts at the moment! Our good friend Sarah is a landscape architect (available if anyone has any positions at the moment!) but she's also a very good gardener and between her and another friend Iona I'm soaking up their green fingered knowledge. Sarah was coming to tea on Sunday and in exchange has brought me loads of lovely plants for the garden including a 50 year old peony from her granny's garden (better treat that one well). So in exchange I've made her some dinner. The tart is easy to make and I'm not going to apologise I used ready made short crust pastry and served with roasties and some pan fried courgettes which I marinaded in a little lemon juice, olive oil and sea salt then just fried on the griddle.

1 packet of short crust pastry
300ml single cream
3 x beaten eggs
Gruyere cheese (about 2/3 of a good wedge)
Sea salt and pepper
4 leeks

Head and tail the leaks, cut in half and then slice. Fry the leeks in olive oil with S&P and the juice from half a lemon until soft.
Line a flan dish with butter and place the pastry in, cover with grease proof paper and fill with baking beans then bake blind for 20 mins.
Mix the cream with 3 beaten eggs, season.
Place the fried leeks at the bottom of the tart. Cube the Gruyere and scatter over the top then cover in the creamy mixture. Bake for about 45 minutes. Check the tart with a skewer, if it's dry then the mixture is cooked. It was yummy, especially straight out of the oven and still warm and gooey.

Elsewhere this weekend, I went to a vintage fair in Headingley and bought Deano a great tiki bowling shirt, a car boot sale at Yeadon and got a great 'shabby chic' gilt mirror for 2 whole pounds and went for a good curry at Akbars with Mat and Emma. So all in all a great weekend.

Summer Pasta

Sometimes I feel like the pasta queen, we eat it all the time, it's our fast food in this house. Probabbly my expanding tummy has something to do with this... Deano bought me a pasta maker which I have as yet not tried...please don't let it become one of those gadgets in the cupboard. I now solemnly declare to try it out this bank holiday..I promise to post the results or take my girl guides homecooking badge away from me.
Anyway, tonights tea is a fresh summery kind of meal that's quick, easy and you can do other stuff whilst it's doing it's thing.

Linguini
1 courgette - cut it into slithers with a potato peeler or mandolin
Slices of mushrooms, I used about 8
a handfull of quartered cherry tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
A few sprigs of thyme
About 4 tablespoons of olive oil

Place the courgettes, mushrooms, tomatoes, oil, garlic and lemon juice along with oil into a large bowl. Add S+P along with the leaves of the thyme and leave to marinade for about 1/2 hour.
Boil the linguini aldente then toss in a bit more oil and salt. Then add the mixture and mix well. Serve with parmesan.

Pan Fried Mackerel, Spanish Squid, Babaganoush and lemony Potatoes

Good evening, a lovely weekend with lovely food. Friday after work was a gorgeous evening and just right for a pint in a beer garden, the first of the summer. we decided to go to The Royalty near Otley Chevin but to our horror it was a pub without beer, A PUB WITHOUT BEER!! not sure what was going on but they didn't have a license so we swiftly left and went to The White Hart at Poole which was very nice and a good place to go if you are ever in these parts.
Saturday, my friend Rosie came to visit so after a nice walk in The Hollies (Dean over did it and his leg has been killing him since!) and a trip to the donkey sanctuary we headed home for supper. Squid and babaganoush was a bit over exciting for blix so we gave him his toddler tea, Rose bathed him and I started on the supper. I love teas like this, loads of seafood and yummy Mediterranean stuff to pick at. I served with sourdough bread and olive and balsamic dipping oil. YUMMY.
For pudding I tried something I've wanted to do for ages good vanilla ice cream topped with a cup of espresso...it's that easy and very, very delicious.

Babaganoush
Take 2 Aubergines, slice in half and bake in the oven for about an hour but keep checking, what you are after is really soft flesh which you can scoop out. Place the flesh into a mixer and add 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (the wonder stuff), juice of 1 lemon, tablespoon of olive oil, 3 garlic cloves and sea salt and wizz. Season further to taste.

Mackerel
Fillet the mackerel and sprinkle with S&P and a few dried chili flakes and drizzle olive oil over, leave to marinate for about half an hour then fry on a grill pan, only a few minutes each side is necessary.

Lemony Potatoes
Boil new potatoes in their skin, once soft drain and put back into the pan, put the lid on and shake vigorously to bruise and crush the spuds. Add juice of 1 lemon, s&P and chopped parsley and mix well.

Hot Spanish Squid - a recipe by Rosie Lovell
1 red pepper
4 garlic cloves
2 chillies
lots of olive oil
tsp smoked paprika
tsp ground cumin
tsp caraway seeds
3 tubes of squid
tsp golden caster sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 bunch fresh parsley

De seed the pepper and cut into hunks, whizz with the peeled garlic and chillies to make a paste.
Warm olive oil in a pan and fry the paprika, caraway seeds and cumin for a few minutes then add the puree. Cook the mixture for about 1/2 hour until reduced, add a tablespoon of water if required.
Prepare squid and cut into rings - add this to the pan last minute along with the sugar, lemon juice and parsley then cook for a few minutes.

Herby, Gurdy Man

Hi all,
We have been eating but lazy meals or variations on a theme but I wanted to check in and let you know about Deano's pie. It was delicious and a real treat for a weekend. It was time consuming (or at least it was for Deano) but worth the effort. This pie would be really good on a spread and a nice change for that pesky vegetarian who comes to dinner. We are all fine but have been going out and about a bit lately. Last week was Easter and we had dinner at a friends and then took Blix jousting at the Leeds Armouries. This weekend was Homebase nightmare on Saturday then off to York Airfield today....what fun.... lots of planes...I know I should have stopped off at that retail park on the way!
Do you know what, this is very lazy I know but follow the link below to yummy herby happiness. I like this blokes receipes, sometimes he uses strange, unheard of ingredients as I think he is from Iran, which I don't know much about but his receipes are always interesting and delicious.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/20/herb-pie-recipe-vegetarian-ottolenghi

Easy Musrooom Stroganoff

Hi there, yes I know I'm like a bus, nothing then 2 posts in one evening! I've been busy... Our band was great the other night, The Jim Jones Revue... rock and roll tastic... 40 year old men all with died black hair, as my friend said, made us look like natural black heads! Brilliant band, check them out on the tinternet.
Well the bank holiday is upon us and I have grand plans to paint our garden wall blue, I've been meaning to do this for about a year so this weekend definitely has to be P - day! We are also going jousting at the Leeds Armouries, well just watching but blix will love it, I can't wait.
I have loads of veg left this week as my cooking has been a bit lazy and a veg box due on Thursday so I'd expect a few recipe's this weekend.
Deano shock horror may be cooking tomorrow night so I'll post it if he does ....

For now here is another easy tea that tastes good and can be knocked up in a few minutes.

Chopped fresh parsley
Lots of mushrooms - I used shitake and portobello
Chopped red onions - chop in thin half moons
2 crushed cloves of garlic
1 chopped tin of tomatoes
Smoked paprika
S&P
Chili flakes
Creme Fraise

Fry onions in olive oil until soft but not browned then add the mushrooms and garlic, continue to fry until mushrooms are soft.
Add tomatoes, 2 tsp paprika, pinch of chilli's to taste and S&P
Add 2 tablespoons of creme fraise and a handful of chopped parsley then simmer for about 10 mins until reduced.
Serve with rice

Aubergine with Fresh Pesto & Feta

Hello,
I urge you to make this. If you can't be bothered to make your own pesto then try and buy the fresh stuff from the chiller, not the jarred stuff... I find aubergine quite a good substitute for meat, no really I do, especially when you add the pesto. You could serve this as a starter with just one slice but I like a few as it's soo delicious. It's really just a posh cheese on toast!

Pesto
Approx 2 handfuls of basil
2 cloves of garlic
A good glug of olive oil but you may need to add more
A handful of grated Parmesan
S&P
2 aubergines
Feta cheese

Throw the basil, oil and garlic into a blender and whizz - check the consistency and add more oil if necessary. When just right then add the Parmesan and season.

Slice the aubergine length ways and liberally sprinkle salt over the slices then leave for about 10 mins - this draws out the moisture. Then just wipe the salt off with kitchen towel. Heat a griddle pan or frying pan until smoking hot then throw on the aubergine. Cook for approx. 3 mins each side.

Spread the pesto over each slice and then cover in sliced feta (not too thick) then place under a grill until browned.

Tom Yum Soup

Yummy Tom Yum!

Hi all, hope everyone who reads this is ok, we are all fine. Dean's leg is on the mend, I am busy at work and Blixa is a cute little monkey as always! I am getting excited as we are going to see The Jim Jones review on Sunday who are rock n roll-tastic! it's keeps us happy to see a band every now again and reminds us of our hey days when beans on toast was the best meal we had and Jack Daniels was better than a cuppa! Blimey we sound old...

Tonights tea is a one pot wonder and boy was it delicious! It's dead easy to make my cheats version but I bet the 'real' cooks out there would shake their heads...

I tend to use a pre chopped stir fry mix which includes mushrooms, beansprouts, waterchestnuts and a selection of veg but you could chop up peppers, shitake mushrooms or any veg you think would go and then all the other bits.
1 tin of coconut milk
About 2 inches of fresh, grated ginger
2 crushed cloves of garlic
Sprinkle of dried chillis to taste
2 tablespoons of fish sauce (nam pla)
Pepper and salt but wait until the end to add salt as the fish sauce is already quite salty
Vegetable stock
Noodles (rice or egg) - about 2 layers
Fresh chopped corriander or tonight I used some basil leaves or chicken
Tofu or you could use prawns

Simply stir fry the veg then add the coconut milk and about a litre of stock.
Throw in the ginger, chilli and garlic and then the fish sauce along with the tofu and leave to simmer for about 10 mins then throw the noodles in. Once the noodles are cooked then it's ready.
Finally add the herbs and season to taste