Play with your food

I can't pretend to know anything about parenting, but from my own experience of growing up cooking alongside my own, I can't help but think that the earlier we take an interest, the more chance we have of enjoying a tastier, varied and more natural diet. Eating processed meals take away so much of our ability to make food choices, e.g. if you saw two tablespoons of salt going into your food, would you eat it? 

My 18 month old niece abbie has made good headway already with baby-led weaning, and now, helping out my sister with the baking! 

And yes, rice krispie cakes can be part of that aforementioned balanced, varied diet...!

Nx

Soup: in sickness and in health

I'm poorly. Have been for a few days now. Being poorly is rubbish unless you're young and accompanied by a paying adult, because there's no one to look after you. 

When I was young and off school, I got endless amounts of sympathy from my mum. She bought me the best tissues, the best baker's loaves and, invariably, a Terry's Chocolate Orange. One winter when I had been struck down with something particularly crappy, she even bought me the Muppet Christmas Carol. But for me, being ill is saved by one culinary wonder - and that's soup.

Sometimes mum would cheat and go for the Heinz Chicken Soup (it really is their best offering - though sadly doesn't align with my ethical efforts in the present day), but most of the time I was treated to her experimentation with Cranks recipes - her favourite school of cooking thought of the time, and what a school it is.

Being ill nowadays, I'm either at home alone in a shared house or at home with housemates in a shared house. Neither of these really lend themselves to relying on others to look after me. Adapted from the Cranks recipe, Tomato and Lentil soup is the cheapest, easiest, most adaptable recipe to make with half a brain using store cupboard essentials - so you won't even need to leave the house.

Cheat's Tomato and Lentil soup

Roughly chop an onion and gently fry it in olive oil in a large saucepan; add a large handful of red lentils and stir through for a minute or so; stir in a tin of tomatoes - if you've got any fresh ones chop them up too; make up a pint of vegetable stock and throw it in the pan with a generous teaspoon of marmite; season with herbs, salt and pepper, cover and simmer for about 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Throw it all in a blender, blitz it up and serve with grated cheese and a nice chunk of bread. 

It's hearty, warming, healthy and perfect for a cold but the best bit, you barely even have to be awake to do it. 

Keep warm. Nx

Conscientious omnivorism - the journey

It’s been a big couple of weeks for animal welfare. Hugh’s been doing fantastic things with the fish fight campaign. It’s struck an amazing chord with the public with over half a million people having now signed the petition to the discard problem. What’s more, the shows have provided a balance in crazy, cruel fishing methods while offering an education in a sustainable alternative. I have a can of tuna in my cupboard and having seen the show, I revisited the label. Dolphin friendly? Apparently so. Line caught? No. There lies the dilemma, oxymoron even. Without the guarantee of an individually caught tuna, Greenpeace exposed horrifying footage of dolphins, sharks, mantaray and turtles being caught up in Ghanaian nets sourcing Tesco, among other suppliers. So, dolphin friendly? No, not even a little bit. In contrast, it was a good night for Sainsbury’s.

On Tuesday I was lucky enough to get a ticket for a sold out Festival of Ideas event in Bristol. Funnily enough, the previous event I attended by the same organisers was with Hugh FW.

Jonathan Safran Foer, most well known for his debut novel Everything is Illuminated, spoke on the approach to the release of his new non-fiction book, Eating Animals. He admitted this veer into non-fiction was accidental, but inevitable following the details he had discovered about factory farms and farmed animals’ welfare. Articulate, passionate, funny and devoted are just some of the ways I’d describe JSF, but, refreshingly, at no point did I feel he was preaching. Instead, he laid out his argument like a hand he’d been dealt, the knowledge he now had could not be un-known.

During his talk, he spoke of his friends who strived to be conscientious omnivores. I too, fall into this group – including the ‘striving’ part. The easy part is being in control of what you put on your own plate. Buy free range, outdoor reared, non-imported meat and to keep monetary (and environmental) costs down, appreciate foods other than meat a few times a week. The problem falls when you go out to eat, when your friends or family cook for you, or when you buy a sandwich on the go. To truly call yourself a conscientious omnivore, is to avoid meat altogether in these situations – to go meat-free and therefore bad meat-free. He relayed his friends’ struggle with this situation which mirror my own. It’s now harder to be a conscientious omnivore in a restaurant than it is to be a vegetarian. So is it a labelling problem? Is it a government problem? Is it a personal problem? Either way, Jonathan’s tour of America and now the UK, with his book backs up his notion that talking about the problem makes it real, and makes us confront the industry we are buying into, in its billions, every single day.

Finally, just today I found a great blog on the Guardian by Jenna Woginrich, who went back to eating meat from the ‘apathy’ of being a vegetarianism. “Your fork is your ballot, and when you vote to eat a steak or leg of lamb purchased from a small farmer you are showing the industrial system you are actively opting out.” I hope soon to call myself an entirely conscientious omnivore – without hurting anyone’s feelings in the process.

Fondant films

Check out Total Film's feature on Disturbing Movie Cakes!

Tagine dream

I love a good tagine. It was my friend Nicky who taught me that you don't necessarily need an upside-down funnel concoction to create the perfect tagine when she put together a chicken and olive feast (i believe it was adapted from this Hairy Bikers recipe) for me a couple of years ago. By her own admission, this is the one dish which proves to her that sweet and savoury can work well together (coming from the girl who insists that cranberry sauce with turkey is like having jam with your beef). 

But my ultimate tagine experience (so far) was during a lamb-themed evening (yes, you heard right) with my best bud Amy. She'd thrown all her efforts into an incredible tomato-based lamb recipe by Anthony Worrall Thompson, which simmered for hours in a huge stockpot. Now when I say lamb-themed evening, I'm clutching at straws. Having had a highly anticipated gig cancelled last minute, our plans changed and Amy was dead set on a night in drowning our sorrows watching Silence of the Lambs with copious amounts of red wine (unfortunately not Chianti on this occasion). 

The tagine to end all tagines tied together this so called lamb theme... Packed with gorgeous lean lamb steaks, apricots, dates, raisins, flaked almonds and perfectly combined spices, topped off with flat leaf parsley and coriander, and served with minted yoghurt and lemon cous cous, this feast might even interest Hannibal the Cannibal's mouth (it was in a red sauce after all). 

Since I've been embarrassing Amy with tales of her cheffing prowess, she handed over the gauntlet to me this Christmas in the form of a huge shiny stockpot. So, last night, I took on the challenge and made my own... in the words of the late turkey monster Bernard Matthews, it was booootiful. Thanks Amy, you big chef you.

Christmas countdown

After another prolonged absence I blame on correcting my back, adapting to the dark and trying not to stare at a screen for more than 12 hours a day, Christmas has completely snuck up on me. In that spirit, it seems appropriate to give a bit of a couple of my foodie highlights.

Warm, spicy red cabbage
Partly memorised and adapted from a Delia recipe, I really miss this if it’s not included with the Turkey at Christmas. If nothing else, it provides some amazing Christmassy smells which swirl through the house as the dinner is cooking. This amount will serve around 6-8 people.

Ingredients
Half a medium sized red cabbage head, sliced
One large bramley apple, peeled, cored and diced
One medium-suzed red onion, finely chopped
Two cloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
Ground cloves
Ground nutmeg
Ground cinnamon
Light soft brown sugar
A large knob of butter, cut into diced pieces
Balsamic/red wine vinegar
Salt and Pepper

Simple layering recipe
Using a large saucepan with a lid create a layer with about ¼ of the red cabbage. Sprinkle a relative portion of the bramley apple, garlic, butter and red onion on the top followed by about a dessertspoon of sugar and some salt and pepper. Now for the gorgeous spices… I go a bit nuts with these and use tons, but you should be using about a teaspoon of each spice (cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon) per layer. Finally, glug some balsamic (or red wine) vinegar over the whole thing  - just a slosh, or maybe a couple of tablespoons. Then, just repeat the process so you end up with about 4 layers of lovely spiced cabbage goodness. Put the lid on the saucepan and cook on a low heat for at least an hour and a half, stirring occasionally. It will eventually reduce and melt together with an amazingly comforting consistency. Even better, if you don’t use it all up with the Turkey, you can have it cold in your sandwiches – yum!

Easy, customised stuffing for Paxo lovers (other instant stuffing brands are available)
This came from me liking to play with leftovers and experiment with flavours. I love my mum’s homemade stuffing which she makes at Christmas. The recipe is torn from a black and white good housekeeping many moons ago. When I was young, I was incredibly fussy about food and, at Christmas, I’d only eat Paxo. Nowadays, it bores me rigid but is a really good staple to have in the cupboard to liven up any weekend warmer.

Ipso Paxo…
Make up about half a pack of standard sage and onion Paxo (will serve about 6-8 people) according to instructions and set aside. Dice a white onion, a couple of sticks of celery, a peeled, cored bramley apple and, for meat eaters, a few rashers of bacon. Gently fry the whole lot in a good knob of butter in a saucepan until it softens and starts sticking together. Then stir this mixture into the Paxo and blend together. Bake as usual for about half an hour for a much tastier, more textured version of this old faithful.

Please sir, can I have some more…
A few more of my Christmas cooking habits

• Smother your turkey in a mixture of butter and lime zest. It’ll make the leftover meat taste amazing when cold.
•  Knives blunt? Carving a nightmare? I like Jamie’s foolproof dissection technique best which lets everyone get to the best bits of the bird
•  Avoid pastry overload on mince pies. Go for a base only with a Christmas shape on top, or alternatively replace shortcrust pastry with filo layers. 
•  I’ve customised shop-bought stuffing, remember to customise your shop-bought mincemeat. Spoon the contents of the jar into a bowl and add extra cranberries, grated apple, chopped nuts, spices, even brandy – whatever you like most. It’ll make it go further too – more pies!

So, in the immortal words of Shakin Stevens, Merry Christmas everyone!

Food Hell #1

Without getting too Giles Coren on this (despite in fact finding him incredibly delicious), i thought it was time I turned this on its head with some interspersed posts on disgraces to the food world.

Food hell - offender #1: Scotch Eggs (aka EGG HELL!).

Long may meat, eggs and breadcrumbs remain hot, and on separate plates. (Just look at those sad egg eyes)

Nx

Aside: this one's for you Mark.