The joy of a fish-finger sandwich

I recently had lunch in a rather good pub in the village of Welwyn in Hertfordshire. The Wellington had a fairly extensive menu featuring all the gastropub classics alongside a few more adventurous choices. On this occasion however I was transfixed by a particular item on the menu. Although my mind kept telling me that I should order the fish pie packed with monkfish and pollock and smoked haddock or the aromatic slow roast pork belly, my heart kept coming back to the same dish. It was wholly inappropriate in so many ways. Yet I couldn't get it out of my head.

The dish that took my fancy that Saturday lunchtime wasn't a slow-cooked stew or even a classic Cesar salad. No folks. I'm (slightly) ashamed to admit that it was... a fish finger sandwich. Described on the menu as 'the chef's treat', I knew I wouldn't be happy unless I ordered it.

The humble fish-finger sandwich holds a place in my heart and takes me back to my student days when it was a regular feature on the menu. The perfect snack late after a night at the pub, the ideal speedy lunch when running out to a lecture, the tasty cheap and cheerful option when student overdraft has been maxed to the limit.

The Wellington had tarted the fish finger sandwich up a little. The bread was rather better than the humble white sliced staple of student days and the tangy tomato relish and homemade tartare sauce were extremely welcome additions. And there was cheese too. My student sandwiches always had cheese.

Sadly I didn't photograph the sandwich but it certainly hit the spot. Last week though, I found I couldn't get the sandwich out of my mind. One lunchtime I found myself strangely lurking in the freezer section of my local corner store. Next thing I knew I was back at home and the fish fingers were cooking under the grill. A quick smear of cream cheese and ketchup plus a few leaves of little gem and I was again in fish-finger heaven.

It felt a bit naughty. I wasn't sure that I'd confess my sin... But it was just too good not to share!

I know that all us food bloggers love to cook from scratch with fresh ingredients but I wonder just how many of you have similar guilty pleasures such as this?!

Leftover chicken hash

Perhaps not the most appealing title to this post. I tried to think of a more enticing name for this delicious way with leftover roast chicken but my imagination eluded me! I'm not exactly sure what constitutes a 'hash' and when I try to search on the internet, I simply get guided to information on cannabis. For those concerned, I can assure you that this dish is 100% legal!

Basically, what I understand by a culinary 'hash' is a dish involving left-overs which is thrown together rather haphazardly - a mish mash, or hash I suppose!

This particular dish is closely based on a dish in Nigella's Christmas book. Her recipe is one for leftover turkey and came to her via her agent. I cooked it up at Christmas with one of my nephews as sous-chef and it was a huge hit. When recently I found myself with lots of leftover chicken and most of the other key ingredients, I decided to cook it up again.

The important thing about this dish is that it is entirely flexible - you can use whatever you may have knocking about in the fridge. I'd suggest that they key elements are the peppers, flaked almonds, olives and Parmesan. The rest you can meddle with 'till your heart is content. My recipe deviates somewhat from Nigella's - she uses soured cream whilst I only had creme fraiche. I added courgettes and, at Christmas, added some frozen peas.

Quantity wise this is equally adaptable. At Christmas I made this for a crowd of eight. Last week I made it into a speedy supper for one. Nigella gives precise measurements but in the spirit of the 'throw it together' nature of the dish, I've tried to keep it simple with handfuls and mugfuls. No matter that your hands are bigger or smaller than mine - the recipe is a flexible one!

Chicken hash
Modified from 'Ed's Victorious Turkey Hash' from 'Nigella's Christmas'

Ingredients to serve two

handful of flaked almonds
Knob of butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped

1 stick of celery, chopped
2 red peppers, cored and chopped into chunks
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped or crushed
2-3 generous handfuls of cold shredded chicken
generous handful of pitted lack olives, roughly chopped
1 courgette, sliced in half lengthways and sliced into half-moons
2 tbsp creme fraiche or soured cream
2 tbsp chicken stock or hot water if you can't be bothered!
1 large egg
few dashes of Tabasco sauce
Handful of flaked Parmesan cheese
handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley

1. Toast the almonds in a hot dry pan and remove to a plate until needed.

2. Melt butter and oil in the pan and add the onions, peppers, celery and courgettes. Cook over a medium heat for around 10 minutes until nicely softened. Stir from time to time.

3. Add in the garlic and give a good stir. Cook for a minute or so before adding the chicken. Cook until piping hot - about 10 minutes. Season with pepper and a little salt (remember that the olives and parmesan are salty).

4. Add the toasted almonds and olives to the pan and stir to combine.

5. Whisk together the cream, stock and egg and then pour over the top of the hash. Quickly stir it all together to mix and combine and then shake in Tabasco sauce to taste.

6. Just before you remove from heat, shave over a generous helping of Parmesan and stir until it starts to melt. Sprinkle the chopped parsley over the top just before serving.

Chocolate and wine matching

With Easter just around the corner, culinary thoughts may well be turning towards chocolate. On Sunday, the Easter Bunny will hopefully arrive bringing chocolate eggs, rabbits, truffles and other scrumptious goodies.

There are people who claim not to like chocolate. This is something that I've never been able to understand though I frequently wish that I fell into that category (...I'd be a great deal less rotund). However, I have to tell you that over the past few days I have been suffering rather from chocolate excess. Yesterday I found myself unable to even look at a chocolate.

Shocking, isn't it?

The reason for my sudden chocolate aversion is due entirely to over-indulgence. On Saturday I hosted a chocolate and wine matching workshop for work and have been munching on the sublime leftover chocolates ever since. They were amazingly good (especially the salted pralines) but deeply intense and 'serious' chocolates. I've definitely eaten too many.

However, for the greater good, I have decided to post about chocolate despite my current aversion. Or rather, I've decided to post about matching chocolate and wine. It isn't an obvious combination certainly. In fact, in many cases, the combination can be downright disastrous. Chocolate's delicious melty texture coats the palate, making is tough for any wine to get through. The intense flavour of good quality chocolate plus the high sugar content of some render the brown stuff even less wine-friendly.

However, all is not lost! There are wines which can work with chocolate (and chocolates for that matter).

My tips, for those who are interested, are as follows:

1. Fortified wines often work best. The extra alcohol stands up to the texture and intensity of chocolate. There are plenty to choose from. My top choice might be a Malmsey Madeira which works particularly well with any chocolate dessert featuring nuts.

Sherry is another good choice - choose either a sweet oloroso (oloroso dulce) or for ultimate decadence, try a Pedro Ximenez poured over chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Divine.

Port can work - I've had chilled tawny port alongside many a chocolate torte and the match is reasonable.

Look too at fortified reds from the South of France - Banyuls or Maury for example. For me, these work well with chocolate deserts featuring red fruits.

2. The Muscat grape is your friend. Or rather, it is chocolate's friend. In most of its forms actually. Of course, the deep and sticky fortified raisined muscats from Rutherglen in Australia work a treat but you can go off-piste here too. A real winner from our tasting at the weekend was a light and frothy Moscato d'Asti. This fun and frivolous Italian classic is especially good with white chocolate (not that there is such a thing per se) and also with creamy milk chocolate truffles. It would also be worth a try with a light and airy milk chocolate mousse.

3. Sparkling Shiraz is not for everyone but I've met many who really enjoy it alongside a slice of chocolate cake. Certainly better than a glass of dry Champagne to accompany the cake at a birthday party.

4. Finally, it is important to know which wines to avoid when serving up your chocolate-fest. Avoid anything dry or tannic - ideally you need as much if not more sweetness in the wine as in the dessert. A dry, tannic red will be stripped of its fruit by a mere mouthful of chocolate. Avoid classic dessert wines such as Sauternes - save these lighter, creamy puddings or even blue cheese.

With that, I wish you all an extremely Happy Easter!

Bakewell Tart

I've been quite busy in the kitchen over the past few days and I've struggled to decide what to post first. I've gone for the sweet option first of course - I am known for my sweet tooth and this is certainly sweet.

In fact, it is almost offensively sweet. This is because I decided to ice my bakewell tart in true Mr Kipling fashion. If you like things a little less sweet, you could serve it topped with toasted flaked almonds and serve it warm with a dollop of custard.

This delicious treat has its roots in Derbyshire - a pastry case houses a rich frangipane and layer of raspberry or cherry jam. This version, taken from an old 'Simply Delicious' recipe card (no longer in existence as far as I can tell) incorporates marzipan into the frangipane, making it especially rich, moist and gooey.

The dedicated amongst you will no doubt make your own pastry, in which case you could flavour it with almonds perhaps. I cheated and used good quality ready-made from the chiller section of the supermarket. There were no complaints!

Bakewell Tart
Serves 6-8

Ingredients

8oz shortcrust pastry
4tbsp raspberry or cherry jam (or another flavour of your choice)
1 oz ground almonds
3oz butter, cubed
10oz marzipan, cubed
2 large eggs (organic and free-range preferably)
approx 3 oz icing sugar
5 glace cherries (or real cherries if you have them)

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Line an 8 inch loose-based flan tin with the pastry and prick the base with a fork.

2. Spread the jam all over the pastry base.

3. In a food processor, blitz together the almonds, marzipan, butter and eggs until you have a smooth batter. Pour the mixture into the pastry case.

4. Bake in the oven for approx 30 minutes until golden and firm to the touch. Leave to cool before removing from the flan tin. Chill for 1/2 hour until firm.

5. Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and mix with 2-3 tsp warm water to make a fairly thin icing (mine was a little too thick). Spread over the top of the tart and decorate with cherries. Leave to set for around an hour prior to serving.

Excuses, excuses

I've been an exceptionally bad blogger over the past month. I can only apologise. Life seems to have got in the way. I could offer a whole ream of excuses... Too much work, too little time, a holiday, the flower-sender, illness, a broken fridge... All I will say is that I endeavour to be better in April. Spring is in the air and I'm feeling inspired and ready for action in the kitchen once more.

In case you are concerned that I've not been eating this month, I have a few culinary highlights to share. I've been lucky enough to have been cooked for several times this month. Particularly enjoyable was a visit home to the Isle of Wight and a dish of boiled mutton with caper and onion sauce.

This old-fashioned dish made its way onto the table due to my father. This is a surprise as he rarely takes much interest in the cooking - he can just about fry a rasher of bacon but that is about his limit. Fortunately, my mother more than makes up for it by being a wonderful cook. Anyway, he had heard through a friend in the pub (!) that there was good mutton available at the local farmers' market. He was reminded of a dish he used to enjoy at a golf club in Liverpool in his younger days (he is now in his eighties) and had his heart set on my mother recreating this flavour of his youth!

My poor mother. The recipe that she found was one of the most time-consuming, labour-intensive recipes imaginable. When we greedily devoured the finished dish and declared it delicious, she didn't know whether to be pleased or not. She certainly didn't want to have to make it again in a hurry.

It was the first time I'd eaten mutton and I really enjoyed it - the flavour wasn't as strong as I'd imagined and the meat was perfectly moist. The onion and caper sauce went beautifully too - well done Mum!

A couple of weeks ago, I was also treated to a deliciously good lamb curry cooked by the flower-sender. What was unusual about this curry is that it was cooked in the oven in the same way as one might cook a casserole. I've not cooked a curry this way before but it was extremely good.

Other highlights of the month included a lovely day spent at Borough Market - we bought a good-looking joint of venison which I marinated in red wine and crushed juniper berries before sealing in a hot pan and roasting briefly in the oven. Served with dauphinoise potatoes, it was very flavoursome but a little on the tough side.


Finally, I must mention the picnic I enjoyed with my niece and nephew a couple of weekends ago. It was a glorious sunny day and so I planned to pick up some goodies in M&S before taking them to Battersea Park for a feast of cheese, cold meats, dips, olives, fruit and chocolate biscuits. No cooking involved - I didn't have time. Upon their arrival, I asked my niece to name her favourite picnic food so that I could be sure to include it in our feast.

Her reply: 'chocolate-covered strawberries'!

Not quite what I had in mind. As I opened my mouth to tell her that we couldn't have her favourite item, I realised that we could make our own before heading off to the park. The children loved dipping the enormous strawberries in the melted chocolate and waiting for them to set on the greaseproof paper. The out-of-season strawberries tasted all the better for their coating of chocolate.

Here's to being a better blogger in April - lots of deliciousness heading this way soon!

Spicy chicken and sweet potato soup

One of the good things about my spending an increasing amount of time with the flower-sender is access to a whole new world of cook books. Not only do I have my three shelves worth, but I now have his shelf to browse through when looking for inspiration. He needs to watch out though as I've already pilfered one of his books and it is now residing in my kitchen.

At first glance it might not sound that exciting. It is a book of soups. I'm keen on soup. Especially in the winter months. But I tend to stick to the same kind of soups. Smooth, vegetable-laden soups are generally my thing. I've never experimented much with soups containing lumps. These have always been less my thing. I've always rather thought that a soup with lumps is really a stew in disguise.

I take it all back. This marvellous book contains a total of 500 different soups. Well - it probably contains around 100 soups actually, but each one is accompanied by a page listing four or five variations. There are soups to tempt everyone from hearty chowders to delicate Asian broths, chunky minestrone to smooth and velvety creamed soups.

Despite my smooth-soup leanings, I found myself drooling over the pages dedicated to 'meals in a bowl' and the first soup I tried was this superb spicy chicken and sweet potato soup. It was a real hit and one I'll make again and again. You can vary the ingredients as you wish - I threw in some green beans and broccoli that I happened to have lying around. You could leave out the chicken. Swap it for prawns or pork. Make it entirely vegetarian. The world is your oyster so to speak.

As well as a filling and satisfying supper, this also made a great lunch to take to work the next day... Or at least it would have done had I not left it on the counter when I raced out of the house.

Spicy chicken and sweet potato soup with coconut milk
Serves 4
Based on recipe from '500 Soups' by Susannah Blake

Ingredients

Sunflower oil
1 finely chopped onion
3 garlic cloves finely chopped or crushed
2 inch fresh ginger grated
2 green chilies, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
2 large sweet potatoes, cubed
2 skinless chicken breasts, cubed
400ml can half-fat coconut milk
800ml chicken stock (from a cube is fine)
Handful of green beans, chopped
Other green vegetables to taste (broccoli or spinach would both be good)
Large handful fresh coriander

1. Heat some oil in a large saucepan and add the onion. Sweat for around 3 mins before adding the garlic, ginger and chillies. Fry for a further couple of minutes.

2. Stir in the ground spices and heat for another minute or so.

3. Add sweet potatoes, chicken, coconut milk and stock to the pan. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes before adding any other hard green vegetables. Simmer for another 5 minutes. If using spinach, add to the pan for just a few minutes. The soup should simmer for approx 15 minutes in total - until the potatoes and chicken are cooked.

4. Using a slotted spoon, fish out around half of the sweet potato. This is a little fiddly, but not too time-consuming. Mash/crush half of the sweet potato before stirring back into the soup to mix.

5. Chop the coriander and stir half into the soup, reserving the remainder for garnishing the soup.

Raisin and Oatmeal Cookies

What is the first rule of cooking from a recipe?

Read it through thoroughly before you start.

That way you can be sure you have all the ingredients and equipment you require before you start and also you get an idea of what is involved in the preparation.

Shame I don't follow my own advice really. If I had, I might have noticed that Martha Stewart's recipe for oatmeal and raisin cookies makes five dozen of the chewy, delicious babies. Five dozen.


What is a girl supposed to do with five dozen cookies on a Friday evening? When she lives alone. When she can't take them into work. When there are only so many she can force-feed to the flower-sender.

To be fair, between the flower-sender and I, we have managed to eat an astonishing number of cookies over the weekend. This is mainly due to the fact that they are seriously good. The recipe comes from my newly favourite cook book. I bought it in New York and is entitled 'Martha Stewart's Cookies'. This glorious book is packed with over 175 different cookies and is divided into enticing sections called things like 'light and delicate', 'cakey and tender', 'rich and dense' and 'crisp and crunchy'. Each divine creation is photographed in such a way that you can't wait to get into the kitchen a whip a batch up pronto. On my list to bake soon are gingersnap palmiers, chewy molasses crinkles, cashew caramel cookies, maple-pecan shortbread, brown-butter toffee blondies, earl grey tea cookies and chocolate-ginger brownies. I could easily go on.

In the back of the book you'll find tips on technique and great ideas for presenting your bakes as gifts. The only downside of this glorious book is that not all the ingredients are readily-available to the non-American cook. In most cases though, you can probably think up a reasonable substitute. And life is made easier if you get yourself a set of cup measures too- they are not expensive and it means you don't need to convert the measurements.


Oatmeal and raisin cookies have for some time been a favourite of mine. I love the chewy texture and, as these ones contain wheat germ, oats and raisins, I can kid myself that they aren't actually that bad for me. In fact, with those ingredients they are practically a health food, no? (...let's overlook the whole pat of butter and stack of sugar!!). Bake these. You won't be disappointed. You may want to reduce the quantities though!

Here is my version of Martha's recipe.

Martha Stewart's Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies
Makes approx 40 cookies!


Ingredients

3 cups of rolled oats
1 cup plus 2 tbsp plain flour
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
8 oz unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup caster sugar
1 packed cup light soft brown sugar
2 large eggs (free-range, organic if possible)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups raisins

1. Preheat the oven to 175C.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, four, wheat germ, baking soda and powder, cinnamon and salt. Set to one side.

3. Cream the butter and sugars until pale and fluffy. This is easiest in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment if you have one. Mix in the eggs and vanilla and then mix in the bowl of dry ingredients until combined. Finally, mix in the raisins.

4. Using a dessert spoon (or similar), take spoonfuls of the dough and shape into balls. Place on baking sheets lined with greaseproof paper - be sure to space them around 2 inches apart as they will spread. Flatted each ball slightly. Try to make sure that each doughball is similar size so that the cookies bake evenly.


5. Bake until slightly golden and just set - around 12 minutes in my oven. Rotate the baking sheets halfway through the cooking time.

6. Allow cookies to cool slightly on the baking sheets on wire racks for 5 mins before transferring the cookies to coo completely on the wire racks.

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.