Sweet Potato Bread...

I know that bread is one of things that can seem like too much effort and mess to make when there are perfectly good, instant options at the supermarket. 95% of the time I will go along with this and just buy those options too. Maybe trying part-baked in some warped attempt to apply domesticity to the pre-produced product and create the smell of warm, bready-comfort throughout the house.

So, I'm not going to argue that you should make this rather than buy bread because it tastes better. It's nice, but with this as an argument, shop-made will often win.

Instead, I think you should make this because the experience of making bread is equally as fulfilling as eating it. Taking the time to mix all your ingredients, 10 minutes of slow kneading, 14 hours of proving and 30 minutes of baking. That's patience. It's a calming, soothing process that focuses on quality and rushing around. It makes me think about that line from a Rudyard Kipling poem "If you can keep your head while all around you are losing theirs".

Take some time for yourself, pummel out your frustrations on the dough and sleep off any stresses whilst it proves. In the morning, wake calm and relaxed and in 25 minutes your home will be filled with the scent of freshly baked bread. You can't get that from a Hovis loaf now can you?????

Sweet Potato Bread

Ingredients (makes 1 large loaf)

• 500g strong bread flour
• 150g sweet potato
• 25g fresh yeast (see Top Tips)
• 2 tsp salt
• 250ml warm water

Step 1: Boil the sweet potato in its skin for about 30 minutes. Leave to cool, remove skin and set-aside

Step 2: Place the flour and potato in a large bowl and mix with hands, squeezing the potato into the mix as you go

Step 3: Crumble in the yeast

Step 4: Dissolve the salt in the warm water and add 2/3 to the flour mix. Combine with our hands adding more water as required until you have a firm but not sticky dough

Step 5: Flour your surface and begin kneading. Start by pummeling down the dough with your fist and then folding the dough in half. Repeat this pummel and fold process for about 10 minutes until your dough turns almost elastic

Step 6: Shape into a round loaf, place on a baking sheet and leave to prove for 14 hours

Step 7: Cook in the oven at 220c/GM 7 for about 25 minutes and leave to cool

Step 8: Slice or tear into generous pieces and serve

Top Tips

• You can get fresh yeast free from your supermarket!!! Just pop your head behind the bakery section and ask for some and they'll get it for you. Who said nothing comes for free?!
• I think this would benefit enormously from a little garlic oil and chopped rosemary. I'll be adding this to the dough next time I make it. You could always to this first time...

Enjoy!
Helen x

Read more...

Homemade Pumpkin Ravioli

There are so many factors that come into play when deciding whether to cook a dish or buy a dish ready made....Have I got the time? How much does it cost to buy? How much time will it take me to prepare? Is there really going to be a noticeable difference between the bought and made dish?.....

I think that, when faced with these questions, there are a few core staples that often get the 'buy' rather than 'make' decision. For me, there are:

• Pastry (I'm still not very good at this!)
• Bread (so much kneading and proving and waiting etc...)
• Pasta (so much equipment required and so many nice, ready made choices

However, I have learnt that when you tackle these and take on their challenge, they seem to generate happiness in abundance for you and for others. Part pride and part amazement that you can pull it off, the feeling they generate ensures that the occasional 'make' decision for these pays off.

Pasta has been the one I've avoided for some time, assuming you need so much equipment to do it. So, I bought the equipment (the pasta maker, ravioli mould etc...) and actually found that it worked better when I just used a rolling pin and my fingers! A food mixer with a dough hook will make the kneading stage considerably easier, but it's by no means a requirement. You'll just have to get your arm muscles ready otherwise...

I made pumpkin and sweet potato ravioli (inspired by a Rick Stein recipe), but once you've cracked it, you can play around with the fillings to your hearts delight! I fancy making a goats cheese and pesto filling next time.....

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Ravioli with Sage Butter (serves 4 as a starter)

Pasta

• 225g plain flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp olive oil
• 2 medium eggs
• 4 medium eggs, yolks only

Filling

• 300g pumpkin and sweet potato mix (I used Sainsbury's prepared bag)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp fennel seeds (grind lightly in pestle and mortar)
• 1 medium egg, yolk only
• 25g Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 amaretti biscuits (crushed)
• 15g fresh white breadcrumbs
• seasoning

Sage Butter

• 75g salted butter
• 20 sage leaves

Step 1: Preheat oven to 200c/GM 6. Spread the pumpkin and sweet potato in a even layer on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and roast for 30 minutes

Step 2: Whilst vegetables are roasting, make the pasta. In a large bowl (or food mixer bowl) add all the pasta ingredients and mix together. Then you'll need to knead. If you have a dough hook, attach to mixer and let it do it's thing for 10 minutes. If you haven't, flour your surface and knead for 10 minutes. Essentially you need to create a pliable, elastic dough.

Step 3: Wrap your pasta dough in cling-film and rest for 20 minutes

Step 4: Remove your roasted vegetables and puree them (either with a blender stick or the back of a fork). Add to the vegetables all of the remaining filling ingredients and stir through to combine

Step 5: If you have a pasta machine, divide your dough into manageable pieces and feed through the machine (you'll need to work it down to setting number 2 for ravioli). If you've not got a machine, don't worry! Just take small pieces of pasta and roll them into a thin disk on a lightly floured surface
Step 6: Cut the pasta into squares (about 8cm squared - but you don't need to be too exact!) and add a tsp of the filling in the middle

Step 7: Fold the pasta over the filling so all the sides meet. Squeeze out any air and press the sides together to seal them (you may need to add a little water to the edge with your finger if it's not sticking). Repeat until all of your filling has been used (should make about 16).

Step 8: Boil a saucepan of salted water and reduce to a simmer. Gently place your ravioli into the water and cook for about 4 minutes

Step 9: Whilst the ravioli is cooking, make your sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan on a high heat. Add the sage leaves to fry in the butter (the butter should start to foam). Remove from the heat.

Step 10: Drain you ravioli and place on warmed dishes. Pour over your sage butter and serve.

So there you have it. Fresh pasta, straight from your kitchen! Realistically, this takes a least 1 hour to prepare, so I think it's more of a special occasion dish...on week nights I'll revert to the ready made option!

Top Tips

• There are a few tools you can invest in if you want to create less rustic ravioli....

....Lakeland Ravioli Press (around £14)...

...Pastry Wheel (about £22)...

• A pasta maker will be a good investment if you want to make lasagna sheets, spaghetti etc.. You can get manual or automatic ones...Honestly though, I think you need to make pasta quite a lot to justify the investment

Hope you enjoy,
Helen x

Read more...

A-meze-ing Meze

Oooooohh meze!! Virtually the only way you can justifiably try everything on the menu without spending an inordinate amount of money or being perceived as the greediest person at the table.

Authentic meze takes effort. Little dishes must warrant their place at the table with big, gutsy flavours and surprising textures. Ideally they must also complement each other, with a theme of ingredients running through the collection of dishes.

On the face of it, making ten different dishes at home, that each delight and marry together is a little daunting (finding the time to cook one meal can be hard enough!).

So, this is my easy approach to meze, practised with some friends over the weekend. Dishes are generally Helen-invented (i.e. not authentic Greek dishes), but inspired by Mediterranean ingredients and recipes.

I've been quite brief with the method, as the dishes aren't complicated and you can easily tweak things.

Meze Dish 1: Pitta Stuffed with Spiced Lamb

Method
Dry fry 2 tsp cumin seeds and crush in pestle and mortar with a pinch of dried chili flakes. Mix in with 200g lamb mince, a healthy glug of garlic infused olive oil, 1 tbsp sesame seeds and seasoning. Roll into balls and press into patties. Bake in the oven 160c - 180c for 20 minutes (you may need to drain some fat during the cooking time). Serve in toasted pittas with grated carrot.

Meze Dish 2: Hot & Smoky Sweet Potato

Method
Slice 3 large sweet potatoes into wedges. Mix with seasoning, 1 tsp smoked paprika and a good glug of chili oil. Bake in the oven (160c) for 20 minutes until golden.

Meze Dish 3: Sweet and Savoury Nuts

Method
Melt a knob of butter in the microwave. Mix with 1 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp ground cumin and ground sea salt (amount depends on your taste and concern about sodium levels!). Stir in 200g chopped nuts and spread mixture on baking try. Roast at 160c for 10 minutes. Remove and leave to cool before serving.

Meze Dish 4: Tasty Tortillas

Apply a paste of your choice (e.g. tomato puree/pesto/harisa/sundried tomato) to 1 tortilla. Top with slices of meat (e.g. chorizo, salami) and grated cheese (e.g. mozzarella). Place another tortilla on top, squeeze together and grill on each side for 3-4 minutes until golden and bubbling on the inside (be careful when you turn them over). Slice and serve warm.

Meze Dish 5: Lentil and Aubergine Salad

Method: Chop 1 aubergine into cubes. Mix with olive oil, 1 tsp ground cumin and seasoning. Roast for 40 minutes until golden. Whilst cooking, boil 150g puy lentils. When cooked, stir though 3 large chopped tomatoes, a handful of chopped coriander, roasted aubergine, 2 tsp cider vinegar and crumbled feta. Season to taste and serve.

Meze Dish 6: Tzatziki and Tortilla Chips

Method: Grate 1/2 cucumber, place in kitchen roll and squeeze out as much fluid as possible. Mix with 2 tbsp full-fat Greek yogurt, 1 tsp cider vinegar, seasoning and 2 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil. Stir, stir, stir and serve with grilled triangles of tortilla.

Hopefully you can see how easy these dishes are! They're great for relaxed evenings with friends indoors or out! You could increase the amounts and easily served as side dishes for BBQs too.

Hope you enjoy - and maybe try?!

Helen

Read more...

Tasty Pastry!

I should drop a bombshell now...

I'm not really a great cook. I know I have a food blog and that I spend an awful lot of time thinking about food, cooking food and now writing about it, but I have as many failures as I do successes! My biggest issue is pastry.

Pastry is a bit of a sore point.

I don't understand how something so simple can be so complicated! It's either too dry, or too short, too warm to handle or too wet to roll! Argggh! However, given that I have books dedicated to pastry and you can have a career in just being a pastry chef, maybe it's not so surprising after all!

So, I'm facing my fear and my pastry issues. Pie by pie and tart by tart! Starting now with the humble quiche...

I'm starting with a pretty basic pastry recipe, taken from the tomb of all things good and foody, Nigella's "How to Eat" (I love, love, love this food bible!). Following Nigella, I combined the ingredients below in my blender - I'm quite sure a purist would combine everything on the kitchen surface with their fingertips, but it's a work night and speed and tidiness are more important than pastry rules (such rebellion is, quite clearly, the root of my pastry rubbishness!).

Shortcrust Pastry (according to Nigella)

• 120g plain flour
• 60g butter (cold)
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon yoghurt (or lemon juice or creme fraiche)

When it's all combined, you need to chill it for about 30 minutes. Whilst this was happening I prepared a few fillings and the basic eggy-mixture for the quiche:

• 150ml cream
• 150ml milk
• 3 eggs

Pastry cooled, I split it in half and added grated Parmesan to one half and chopped rosemary leaves to the other (this is because I forgot to do it pre-fridge!). This addition was a little experiment on my part to make the pastry a bit more exciting. After which, I rolled it out to fit my little tart tins. Big tip here... To save putting flour all over your surfaces, roll your pastry between two large pieces of cling film. It also makes it easier to lift and keeps it cool.

I added it to my greased tins, pierced with a fork and chilled again for 10 minutes. Then, they were covered with baking paper, filled with baking beans and popped into the oven (160c) from 10 minutes. Another tip.. if you've not got baking beans, you can use uncooked rice or pulses to weigh down the pastry. I've read that you can use old holiday money too as this is a good conductor of heat (obviously the coins and not the notes!).

I then took them out and added my different fillings. To the Parmesan pastry I added a medley of blanched spring vegetables (courgette, pea and broad bean)....

 To the rosemary pastry I added sweet potato and goats cheese......

 and caramelised onions and grated mature cheddar to the other.....

They were topped-up with the eggy mixture and popped into the oven for 15-20 minutes.
Another tip...if you're making a larger quiche it might need a little longer, so pop tin foil around the pastry edge after 20 minutes to stop it browning. Then, they were prised from their little tins and served!

All this took about 90 minutes, which admittedly is quite a lot of effort on a school night! So, whilst I will continue with my adventures in pastry, next week I'll be changing tack and featuring a blog entry called 'Hasty Pastry' where I'll sin and use the ready made version and see what the result is (time gained over taste lost maybe?!).

Next entry will be posted at the weekend and focus on my Friday night dinner with friends featuring a vegetarian food, fit for non-vegetarians too!

Thank you for reading.

Helen x

Read more...