Parmesan crusted chicken with tomato and basil sauce

Right now is probably my favourite time of year, the weather is good (well most of the time), the days are still long(ish) and best of all there is good fresh food in abundance.

I took a trip down to my local market recently to see what looked good and was really spoilt for choice. There were plump and juicy Victoria plums, bright red tomatoes on the vine, lettuces, courgettes, aubergines, peppers, fennel, cherries.... You get the picture.

While I wobbled home from the market having bought far more than I should I came up with an idea for a dish that would use up some of my newly acquired tomatoes. I was going to encrust a chicken fillet in parmesan and serve it with a tomato and basil sauce. Not only did it seem like a great way to use some of the tomatoes I had bought (way too many really) but I knew it would be delicious too!

The first thing I did was made the sauce by gently simmered cherry tomatoes with olive oil, crushed garlic, salt and a little sugar until they were very tender but still holding their shape. To prepare the chicken I bashed the chicken fillets flat with a rolling pin, a fantastic way to releive stress! I cooked the chicken on a lightly oiled very hot griddle pan for a couple of minutes on each side. To serve I put a fillet on each plate, stirred a large handful of roughly torn basil into the sauce then spooned it over the chicken.What I really like about this dish is how quickly it all comes together, it's the perfect after work dish. I'm sure I will be making this reguarly from now on, for as long as I can get beautiful tomatoes from the market anyway...

Scottish butter tablet

First off I should apologise for not posting as reguarly as I would like to and not visiting all your blogs and leaving comments as much as I want to. It's been a busy few weeks recently and I've not had a lot of time to do much of anything, hopefully I'll have a bit more time soon!. I did however find time to make one of the most delicious sweets you could ever make, Scottish tablet....

Scottish tablet is a traditional Scottish sweet made from sugar, butter, cream, vanilla and that most wonderful of ingredients, condensed milk. With that list of ingredients you just know it's going to be good, right?Tablet is very sweet and very rich similar to fudge in almost every way except that tablet has a crumbly rather than smooth texture. Eating it reminds me of my childhood holidays, it's the kind of thing you can pick at seaside stalls and gift shops, I used to buy it as a holiday gift for my Grandma out of my pocket money!

One of the things I was most worried about when I first made this was that it just wouldn't set, that I'd be left with a sickly sugary gloop in a pan rather than crumbly cubes of butter tablet. I needn't have worried, it turns out this recipe is almost foolproof, as long as you cook the mixture for the full length of time and never, never leave the pan and stop stirring then I give you my guarantee that this will set.The traditional, and my favourite flavour for tablet is pure vanilla but you could add other flavours if you really want to. Whisky would work quite well or you could try chopped nuts, or dried fruit.

The recipe is adapted from Barbecues And Grilling by Antony Worrall Thompson, I'm not really sure what it has to do with barbecues but it's a good recipe! I've adapted his original recipe, changing the quantities slightly, I also added some sea salt, I just love the combination of salt and caramel flavours.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 can of condensed milk (397g)
• 150ml of milk
• 2 vanilla pods
• 450g Demerera sugar
• 100g butter, diced
• A good pinch of sea salt

Method:

• Grease and line a 20cm square tin
• Split the vanilla pods and scrape out all the seeds, put the pods and seeds in a large saucepan along with all the other ingredients.
• Place the pan over a medium heat stirring all the time, the mixture should start out golden and gradually become darker. Cook for 15 minutes stirring continuously.
• After 15 minutes remove the pan from the heat and beat the mixture for about 5 minutes, this will give your tablet it's wonderful crumbly Texture.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and leave until completely cooled before cutting into squares.
• Enjoy!
  

Spanakopita - A foray into Greek cuisine

Although I really enjoy Greek food I very rarely cook it. Greek food is simple and healthy using fresh vegetables and herbs, fish and meat, it shares many of the characteristics of my favourite cuisine of all -Italian- most notably it's wide use of olives and olive oil.

Clearly something had to be done about my lack of Greek cooking experience, and what better place to start than with one of Greece's most famous dishes, Spanakopita.Spanakopita is a spinach and feta pie made using filo pastry. Filo, meaning leaf or sheet is a type of pastry that unlike other pastries comes in wafer thin sheets which are layered up before being filled and baked. The resulting pastry is very light and wonderfully crispy and crunchy.

Normally I would make my own pastry but when it comes to filo there's no shame in buying it ready made. For the filling I used spinach, feta, spring onions, dill, eggs and a little nutmeg, it's probably not very authentic but hey, it if tastes good...

Ingredients:
A packet of filo pastry
olive oil
A couple of handfuls of spinach blanched, chopped and excess water squeezed out.
A small bunch of dill chopped
2 eggs
2oog feta crumbled
5-6 large spring onions/scallions, chopped
A grating of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Tip: Once you have opened the packet of filo you should keep it covered with a damp tea towel to stop it drying out - it dries out really fast!

• For the filling mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, season and set aside.
• Take a baking dish and lightly brush with olive oil, lay a sheet of filo on top and brush with oil. lay another sheet over the first and continue to layer up. Filo sheet, oil, filo sheet, oil until half the pastry is gone.
• Fill the lined dish with the spinach mixture and top with the remaining pastry brushing each sheet with a little oil as you go.
• Bake at a medium heat about 180c until golden and crispy.
• Serve with buttered new potatoes and steamed vegetables.
  

Salmon steaks with lemon and caper butter sauce

I awoke last Friday morning to find that a large white box had mysteriously appeared on my back doorstep, it took me a while -I was still half asleep- to work out it was the salmon that Able and Cole had sent me to try.Inside the box were two pristine organic salmon steaks surrounded by ice packs to keep them cool. I could tell it was top quality fish the moment I looked at it, the two steaks were perfectly cut and prepared, they looked really fresh too.

When I have ingredients of this quality I like to prepare them simply so as not to mask their flavour. For these steaks I prepared a lemon butter sauce from lemon juice and zest, butter, capers and salt.I gently fried the steaks in a little olive oil, I was worried they might break apart as I cooked them but in the event they held their shape perfectly. The flesh was succulent and tender, the flavour which was mild and delicate was perfectly complimented by the lemon sauce. I served the fish alongside some dill potatoes, quite simply boiled new potatoes tossed with chopped dill and butter.

Overall I was really impressed by the service and the quality from Able and Cole, as sadly few of us have access to a proper fishmonger nowadays it's good to know that it's still possible to buy expertly prepared fish and with the added bonus of it being delivered to your door. My only criticism -and it's only minor- is that for the price it would have been nice if they had cut the steaks a little thicker.

Salmon with lemon butter sauce and dill potatoes

Ingredients:

• 75g Butter
• A shallot or half a small onion very finely chopped
  
• A large juicy lemon, zested and juiced
  
• 2 tbsp chopped capers (rinsed if packed in salt)
• Salt
  
• 1 Salmon steak per person

For the potatoes

• New potatoes
• Butter
  
• Dill finely chopped
  
• Salt

Method:

• First make the sauce. In a small saucepan melt the butter and cook until it just begins to brown at this point add the chopped shallot and lemon zest and mix well.
• Next add the lemon juice and capers to the pan, stir the sauce and taste it should be quite sharp. Season with salt if you think it needs it.
• For the salmon heat a little olive oil or butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Season the steaks on both sides then add to the pan. Cook for 4-5 minutes per side turning halfway through cooking. The time will depend on how thick your steaks are so check they are properly cooked before serving, they may take longer or less time than mine did.
  

For the potatoes:

• Boil some new potatoes in salted water until cooked.
• drain and add the butter and dill, mix well and serve.

Serve the salmon steaks with the sauce poured over the top and the potatoes on the side.

Roasted peaches with vanilla mascarpone

A good peach is a thing of beauty, sweet smelling, fragrant and juicy, and they're at their best right now. The peach season is short so if you haven't been devouring them with reckless abandon like I have may I suggest you pick up a punnet next time you go shopping, before it's too late.

Some of my favourite ways to use peaches -besides eating them raw- are to add them to cakes, crumbles and pies. These are all delicious and fantastic ways to use this wonderful fruit but my favourite is perhaps the easiest of all, I like to roast halved peaches with butter, brown sugar and a little cinnamon.The peaches come out of the oven golden and caramelised, the juices run and form a delicious syrup which can be spooned over the top, like everything that's roasted the flavour is intensified and becomes intensely sweet and peachy. I served mine with vanilla mascarpone for a bit of luxury, you could of course use cream, ice cream or nothing at all.

How to make roasted peaches with vanilla mascarpone

There isn't really a recipe for this but here is the rough method:

You will need:

• 1 peach (or nectarine) per person
• Brown sugar
• Cinnamon (optional but it works really well)
• Chopped almonds (again optional but really good with this)

For the mascarpone

• 125g Mascarpone
• Icing sugar
• Vanilla extract

Method

• First halve your peaches and remove the stones.
• Put the peaches in an oven-proof tray and put a dab of butter in each of the hollows that the stone came from.
• Mix some brown sugar and cinnamon together, about one teaspoon of sugar per peach half and as much cinnamon as you like.
  
• sprinkle the sugar over the peaches, followed by the chopped almonds.
  
• Bake the peaches in a medium oven basting every now and again. The cooking time depends on how ripe your peaches are, mine were still a bit hard and took one hour.

• To make the mascarpone simply mix the mascarpone, sugar and vanilla together.

serve with the peaches with the mascarpone and pour any juices from the roasted pan over the top.

Tomato and basil bread

For me fresh bread still warm from the oven slathered with melting butter is one of the greatest culinary joys there is, it's just one of the reasons why I've almost entirely stopped buying bread from the supermarket. Not only does fresh homemade bread taste amazing but it's also cheaper to make and much better for you than most supermarket breads.

Normally I just make plain white or wholemeal loaves, all purpose bread that's as good with Nutella as it is with a big wedge of cheddar. Every now and then though I like to be a bit more creative by adding different flavours to my bread or making it using new methods and techniques to make it. A few weeks ago I came up with an idea for making tomato bread, instead of adding water to the flour to make a dough I used a tin of chopped Italian tomatoes.The result is this beautiful loaf of bread not only did it taste amazing and have a fantastic soft texture but it also had a brilliant reddish colour, I only used white flour so all the colour you can see is purely from the tomatoes. I added some basil simply because it works really well and is one of my favourite combinations.This would make the perfect accompaniment to soup, especially something Italian such as minestrone, it also works really well with cheese, ham and obviously tomatoes!

Tomato bread recipe

Ingredients:

• 500g Strong white bread flour
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Sugar
• A 7g Sachet of dried instant yeast
• 2-3 Tablespoons of oil
• A 390g Tin of chopped tomatoes

Method:

• In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Mix well.
• Make a well in the flour mixture and add the tomatoes and oil, bring everything together to form a dough using either you hands or a wooden spoon. Alternatively use a stand mixer with a dough hook attached. You may need to add a little more flour if your dough is too wet, it should be slightly sticky but not cling to your hands.
• Knead the dough (by hand or in the mixer) for around 10 minutes then cover with a piece of clingfilm which has been smeared with oil (this stops the dough from sticking to the clingfilm) and leave to rise for around half an hour or until doubled in size.
• Once the dough has doubled in size knock it back and knead for a few minutes more then, either shape the dough however you want it and place it on a baking tray or place it in a loaf tin.
• Cover again and leave until it has doubled once more then bake in an oven preheated to gas 6/200c/400f for about half an hour until the top is golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
  

Spatchcocked chicken with lemon, thyme and chilli

I cook up a nice roast chicken at least a couple of times a month, it's one of those dishes that never fails to please, unless you're a vegetarian of course. I normally add herbs, spices or marinades to my roast chicken to make it a bit more interesting, lemon and thyme is a good combination, Moroccan spices work well and I have had a lot of success with stuffing bacon under the skin before roasting.

Recently I've been experimenting with a completely different way of preparing the chicken - spatchcocking. Not only is it fun to say it's also a really good way to cook chicken, spatchcocking is a simple method for preparing chicken that results in it being spread out flat.One of the brilliant things about using this technique is that unlike on a conventional roast chicken where the bottom tends to stay pale and soggy, on a spatchcocked chicken all the skin is on top which means you get loads more delicious golden crispy skin when it's done. not only that but it cooks in about half the time of a conventional chicken and it's perfect for the barbecue too!

To prepare a spatchcocked chicken is actually really simple, essentially all you do is turn the bird breast side down and using some good strong scissors cut out the backbone (save the backbone for stock). Turn the bird the right way up again and press down firmly on the breast until you hear a crack and that's it! I said it was simple.

Lemon, thyme and chilli marinade

I came up with this marinade to go with my spatchcocked chicken, it's the perfect blend of sweet and spicy.

Ingredients:

• The zest and juice of 1 lemon
• A large handful of finely chopped fresh thyme
• A heaped teaspoon of flaked dried chillies or a couple of whole red chillies chopped
  
• 4-5 tablespoons of olive oil
• 4 tablespoons dark soft brown sugar
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together well then rub all over your chicken, leave for as long as possible, an hour will do but preferably overnight before cooking.

For detailed instructions including photos on how to spatchcock a chicken why not visit Mike at Mike's table HERE. I forgot to take photos of the preparation, sorry!