Jen Arnall-Culliford Knitwear

Plenty: Aubergine and lemon risotto

I LOVE AUBERGINES.

Oh my goodness me! This was one of the loveliest things I've eaten in a long time!

Just looking at the picture is making my mouth water quite a lot. It's another of the recipes from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi.

I didn't entirely follow the instructions on how to burn the aubergine, as to me it looked unnecessarily complicated. Someone must tell me if there was a reason for doing it as described... I simply spiked the aubergine all over (to avoid an aubergine explosion), and then placed it under the grill on its highest setting. I turned it regularly, and left it there until it was burnt. Simples! And it didn't smell too bad or make anything much in the way of a mess. This will definitely be on my must-cook-regularly list.

Did I mention that I love aubergine, and that this was just awesome?!

In other cooking news, we made the Leek Fritters from the same book on Monday evening. They were really nice too. But we had to conceed that the tastiness to washing up ratio for that recipe doesn't really fall the right way round, so sadly I don't think they will be on the regular cooking list.

If you haven't entered the book giveaway, for a copy of Sweet Shawlettes, then what are you waiting for? All the details can be found here: Sweet Shawlettes Book Tour

Working my way through Plenty

I just can't seem to stop making recipes from Plenty... Belinda, you've got a lot to answer for!

The Sunday before I went on my travels we had a friend from church over for lunch, and the Fried Leeks seemed like an ideal starter.

The title doesn't sound that appealing, but they were completely delicious! You make a crème fraîche sauce with spring onions, capers and some other bits, as well as red peppers in a sweet vinegar marinade, and then serve them with leeks that you've egged and crumbed before frying. This starter was just mouthfuls of flavour. Absolutely wonderful! I'm not very good at the egg and breadcrumbs thing - it never seems to stick and my breadcrumbs aren't "crumby" enough, but it didn't in any way spoil this dish.

Last Sunday we had another friend over for dinner and Jim and I ran a tag-team for baking the Broccoli and Gorgonzola Pie. Oh my goodness! It was so scrumptious that we ate it all before I could take a half-way decent picture of it, so you'll just have to imagine it!

Before I do any more pie cooking, I need to get myself a proper pie dish and perhaps some of those loose-based tart tins too. I made this pie in a springform cake tin and while it worked, it wasn't really ideal. I feel a trip to the massive kitchen shop in Bath coming on... Uh oh!

Sewing days

On Wednesday, I took a little break from pattern-editing work, and spent the day sewing with a friend. We had a fabulous day, and it has left me all fired up for more sewing plans!

I worked on a couple of disappearing nine-patch quilt tops. I think that I might be a bit addicted to the simplicity of this design. I've got another pair of quilts planned around it after these...

I started the day with all my fabrics cut into the required 5" squares, and I made 24 of these blocks.

We had all of the things needed for a lovely day spent with a friend - namely cake and plenty of tea/drinks! For lunch we cooked a bean, chorizo and butternut stew, which was so delicious that I finished it off for my dinner!

And by the time Sarah left at 5, I had completed two matching centre panels.

They just need borders, basting and binding now. I'm hoping to have some time to put them together over the weekend, before I get on the road. One of them is promised to an old friend, and the other will be for one of the many new arrivals that are expected over the coming months.

In the evening I made my way around half of the edging on my Flukra shawl, so the end of this lovely pattern is sadly imminent.

Cooking...

Last week I received a wonderful parcel from Belinda. She sent me a copy of Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. I had a weekend of over-eating very rich food, and this has been the perfect antidote.

On Monday we had a meeting of team Fyberspates, and I cooked the Soba Noodles with Aubergine and Mango. I added some firm tofu to make it a main dish rather than a starter, and I can't begin to tell you how delicious it was!

Hopefully the picture will convey some of its deliciousness! I made one other modification from the recipe as written. Rather than frying all of the aubergine in a lake of oil, I chopped it and put it under the grill for 10 min or so, and then finished it off in the pan with the tofu (and much less oil!). It was a real delight to eat.

Then yesterday, I whipped up Warm Glass Noodles and Edemame Beans for our dinner. It took me 25 minutes from start to finish, and I hustled out of the door to Stitch n Bitch with a tub of noodle-dinner warm in my hands!

The crummy iPhone picture really isn't doing this any justice, but it was honestly wonderful! I can see that we are going to be eating much more vegetarian food over the coming months, and I'm really excited about it!

In knitting news I have very nearly finished my Flukra shawl. It has been a complete delight to knit from start to finish, and I'm hoping to have some pictures to share at the weekend.

I'll be on the road with work from Monday next week, so blogging might be a bit thin on the ground. I will aim to have a post of two up my sleeve before I leave. Fingers crossed!

The Signature Menu

As celebration for our tenth wedding anniversary, Jim and I had a special lunch at the Bath Priory Hotel. It was absolutely incredible. The head chef is Sam Moody, with Michael Caines as executive head chef, and we went for the Signature menu, which is a selection of Michael Caines' classic dishes from the sister hotel at Gidleigh Park. We were thoroughly spoiled from arrival to departure 5 hours later. Here is a brief run-down on the food.

To accompany gin and tonic on the terrace, we were treated to canapés - smoked salmon mousse on the left and horseradish cream with bresaola on the right.

We then moved indoors to the nicest table in the restaurant. It was in a large bay window with views over the spectacular gardens.

First up was scallops with pea puree and parmesan foam. I ADORE scallops and these were melt in the mouth delicious. Jim had a glass of fruity Riesling that wasn't too sweet.

I was trying not to be too annoying with taking photos, so these are all taken on my iPhone, and therefore not the best. But I hope they will give you an idea of how great the meal was. Jim went for the matched wine option. This was delivered by the delightful French somellier, who talked us through each glass (one for each course).

I didn't take a picture of the duck liver terrine, but it was accompanied by madeira jelly and a green bean salad with truffles. I couldn't believe the taste of the salad (I had forgotten about the truffles - they were incredible). We also had a selection of freshly baked breads to crunch on. My favourite had big pieces of sun-dried tomatoes in it. Yum! The wine for this course was an Argentinian Chardonnay - very good it was too.

Next up was Brixham sea bass on a ratatouille base with roasted artichoke heart. The wine to go with this was particularly delicious - a Saumur so nice that I had a small glass of it as well.

 That's really not a good picture of the main course, sorry! It was white beef fillet with a fricasse of something I can't remember. The green stuff at the bottom was a watercress puree of some sort - very good. The somellier brought Jim a glass of Haut Medoc to accompany the beef.

Possibly my favourite (or at least tied for first place with the scallops) was the cheese course. There was a delightful Parisian cheese dude, who talked us through all of the options. We chose 6 different cheeses to share, after his expert advice. He also placed them in order of increasing strength, so we didn't ruin our tastebuds by eating them out of order. In the top right of the plate is the cheese I would like to find more of - a soft cheese from Corsica covered in rosemary and herbes de Provence. To go with the cheeses there was quince paste, walnuts, grapes, crackers and more amazing bread (I went for pain de campagne at this point, followed by a fig bread). There was a special port, whose name I have forgotten, to go with the cheese. I couldn't stop smelling it!

 
It might look simple, but the pre-dessert was an exotic fruit salad with a passionfruit sorbet. This packed a punch like you wouldn't believe, and was a welcome cleanse before the main pudding action.

And what a pudding it was! Dark chocolate and orange confit mouse, with chocolate ice cream and orange confit sorbet. The orange sorbet was sitting in a chocolate bowl. Delicious doesn't really cover it. To finish off his epic wine journey, Jim had a glass of orange Muscat, which was wonderfully sticky.

And then the meal was completed with petit fours and coffee. This was pretty much another whole pudding course, with panna cotta, two different tuile biscuits, chocolate truffles and passionfruit jellies. And of course the kind wishes of the team.

The service, as you would hope, was absolutely wonderful throughout the meal. It was attentive but not conspicuous, and all of the staff were excellent at explaining each course/wine/cheese as appropriate. It couldn't have been a more special meal - I just wish I had an excuse and the funds to return before too long!

I will leave you with the grin on my face, having eaten that lot!

Marvellous making (part 1)

Isn't the word marvellous... well, marvellous? I've been giggling on Twitter with the lovely Mooncalfmakes about the word marvellous, and today's post required its use.

We had a perfect weekend. It feels like ages since I had a regular weekend off, so I enjoyed the treat-like feeling of two days and no specific plans. It ended up pretty jam-packed (pun intended) with making-action, so it was a perfect weekend.

First up was the ritual of the farmer's market followed by coffee and knitting at La Strada (no pics as you've seen it many times before!). We purchased Water Buffalo sausages, 2 quiches, cheese from Wootton Organic Dairy and some delicious brown mushrooms. Yum!

Earlier in the week we had finally given in to the inevitable, and Jim cut down our Damson tree. It hadn't been happy since it was first planted three or four years ago, and at this time every year the leaves all went mouldy and fell off. In taking the tree down, Jim collected our first proper crop of Damsons. Sad, but we would much rather give garden space to a plant that's happy and fruitful. So on Saturday afternoon we whipped the 2kg of Damsons into shape as jam. It's one of my favourite treats, so I think there are likely to be scones at some point in the week. Double yum!

Isn't the colour gorgeous?

During the jam-making fun, England won the test-match against India and became Number 1 at Test Cricket. Amazing! And well deserved. I find myself enjoying listening to cricket more and more. Possibly it's just that it makes such a good accompaniment to knitting, sewing and baking, or it might be the brilliant Test Match Special team (if you click through this link, be sure to look at all of the cake photos in the photo stream - it's tradition to send the team crazy cakes...). Who knows? But I'm definitely being sucked in.

I'll be back tomorrow with another finished sewing project. They are just flying off the production line at the moment!

 

French food heaven, and the joys of Chantilly

I can't get over the pleasure of cooking and eating in France. Even a simple trip to the supermarket is a world away from visiting our local in the UK. The fish counter is more like an aquarium than a shop in its diversity. At home we get a choice of 4 or 5 basic fish and a couple of shellfish. In Normandy there were too many choices to know where to begin. Jim and I are going back over to France shortly, so I aim to work my way through the options available. Jeni and I were tired after the ferry last week, so we contented ourselves with a very pleasing Moules Marinières.

Creamy-mussels with shallots and a side order of baguette.

It's a quick dish to make once you've scrubbed the mussels, and even that didn't take too long. We slightly over-estimated the quantity of mussels needed - 1.5kg would have been plenty.

Restaurant heaven...

Once we were down in Lot, we threw ourselves on the mercy of the local restaurant in Marcilhac-sur-Célé. And the dinner we had was so good that I ate it two nights in a row! It was a pork steak, marinated in garlic and all sorts, with ratatouille and rice. Start was a simple but delicious tomato and mozzarella salad, with salted butter caramel ice cream for pud. Truly Scrumptious!

Food went slightly more surreal once we were in Marseille though, as we were treated to Chantilly cream from a shop devoted to... Chantilly cream.

Yes. That is indeed a parcel from a shop called the Kingdom of Chantilly (and this in a nation that's very proud to be a Republic!). And yes, they specialise in Chantilly (and some Italian food products, but really it's all about the Chantilly).

Not only is there one shop, but Marseille is home to a chain of Royaume de la Chantilly shops. My flabber is officially gasted.

It doesn't look much, but I can assure you that it was amazing. And if there's any left over (which can't happen very often), it freezes to make a fabulous ice cream.

Frome Farmer's Market

Yesterday was an unexpected delight. Scooter (AKA Fat boy cat) woke us up bright and early at 5.20 and I couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up and finished seaming Jim's squishy cashmere jumper (more on that later in the week). Walking into town at 08.25 was pure pleasure. I got a nice shot of my favourite view, looking down Catherine Hill and out to the hills and fields beyond. I love the fact that I can look out and see the countryside on my way into town.

View down Catherine Hill, Frome

Jess and I had made a date for an early coffee and croissants at my favourite, La Strada, before heading to the Farmer's Market for some food shopping. There was no-one around on Cheap Street so we sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine. I even fitted in a few rounds on a work knitting project. Blissful! 

Jess enjoying her croissant.

The highlight of the market is the quiche and pie stall. I have to admit that I came home with three medium quiches - they are completely addictive and as far from supermarket wet soggy quiche as you can imagine.

The stall was also proudly selling their very own Knob pies - a Dorset treat that has been featured in the Telegraph and on Have I Got News for You! How could I not treat you to a picture of pies emblazoned with the word knob?

Knob pies.

I also stocked up with Fussels mint mayonnaise, garlic oil and sunflower oil. We devoured far too much of the mint mayonnaise on new potatoes with the quiche at lunchtime.

Fussels Mint Mayonnaise.

Finally, I was really pleased to spot Mead Nursery with a stand. They were one of my favourite nurseries when I ran my gardening business. The plants are always in such good, sturdy health (as opposed to the lush floppy things you get from the garden centre, that keel over after a couple of weeks). I couldn't resist these 3 Dianthus plants, which we potted up as soon as we got home. A lovely addition to the patio!

The remainder of Saturday was divided between chores and attending an evening talk by Michael Wood on "England in the time of Bishop Thomas Ken". Thoroughly fascinating, and the knitting time it afforded saw my work project cast off too. Look out for knitting-related posts later in the week!

Not fast enough!

Fruit and marzipan cake.

I wasn't fast enough to get a smart picture of this cake - it was scoffed, still warm from the oven. I can tell you it's very tasty though! It was baked in order to use up the marzipan that was left over from my birthday Simnel muffins. I'm sure that this has been done many times before, but in case you would like to try this fruity sticky cake, here's what I did.

275g self-raising flour
3 tsps ground mixed spice
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
125g spreadable unsalted butter
125g dark  brown Muscovado sugar
275g mixed dried fruit
2 medium eggs
4 tbsps milk
250g white marzipan
2 tbsps Demerara sugar 

Preheat the oven to 170C (Gas mark 3). Combine the flour, spices, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Mix in the butter and sugar (I use my KitchenAid mixer to do this) until the fat is thoroughly combined with the dry ingredients. Stir in the fruit.

In a small bowl, beat the eggs and mix with the milk. Pour the wet ingredients into the fat-flour-fruit mixture and stir well to make a sticky mixture.

Grease and line a 20cm cake tin, and pour in half of the cake mixture. Roll out the marzipan to make a circle the same size as the cake tin, and place the disc of marzipan on top of the cake mixture. Gently press it down, so that there isn't too much air caught under the marzipan. Spread the remaining cake mixture over the marzipan and smooth it flat. Sprinkle the Demerara sugar over the top and bake in the oven for 90min. Test with a skewer (or metal double-pointed knitting needle!) and continue to cook until the tester comes out clean. Some marzipan may stick to the tester even once cooked - it is raw cake mix that you are checking for. Please ensure that your cake is fully cooked before eating it.

When cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool fully before trying to remove from the tin.

Enjoy it!

A great birthday present

I have toyed with getting my own blog for some time now, and last night I finally caved in. I consider this to be a great birthday present to myself.

There's no specific birthday cake to celebrate the day, but instead here are some rather yummy Simnel muffins that I will be bringing to knitting group this evening. You can find a similar recipe here: Simnel Muffins

I have a few posts up my sleeve as I spent most of my Easter holiday making things, so I need to take lots of pictures and get used to the idea of blogging. If there is anything in particular that you would like me to blog about, then do leave me a comment and let me know. I'm new to this, so do share!