Kentish cobnut pesto

I always like to experiment with new ingredients so I was delighted (and somewhat surprised) to find these fresh cobnuts at my local supermarket, still green and in there husks as nature intended. Cobnuts are a cultivated variety of hazelnut and a speciality of Kent, they are slightly larger than normal hazelnuts and have a delicious mild and milky flavour when eaten raw but a much more robust and nutty flavour when toasted. They are also a very seasonal ingredient, only available for a few weeks at the beginning of September.According to the Kentish Cobnut Association children used to play a version of conkers with cobnuts but I had a much better use for them. I was torn between two possible recipes for my wonderful cobnuts. One was a cobnut and apple cake which I'm sure would be a perfect combination, the other, and the recipe I settled for was a cobnut pesto using toasted cobnuts, flat leaf parsley, olive oil and Parmesan.

Shelling cobnuts is a time consuming task but by the time I had reached the last of the nuts I had become quite proficient at cracking the shells using a meat tenderiser, one swift whack and off the shells came. I dry toasted all but a handful of the shelled nuts in a hot pan until they were golden brown, the smell of toasted nuts was too good to resist nibbling on a few as I grated some Parmesan.Once The nuts had cooled I added them to the blender along with a large bunch of parsley, a big handful of grated Parmesan and a generous quantity of olive oil which I added in a steady trickle until the consistency looked just right.

Served tossed through tagliatelle pasta with a handful of wild rocket leaves, a few tomatoes and sprinkling of chopped raw cobnuts for a bit of crunch this made a delicious alternative to the usual basil pesto. If you can't find cobnuts this would work almost as well with good hazelnuts.
Cobnut (or hazelnut) pesto recipe (Added to pasta will serve at least 4)

Ingredients:

• 450g/1lb cobnuts in there shell (or about 200g shelled nuts)
• A large bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley
• A good handful of grated Parmesan
• The best olive oil you have

Method:

• Shell the nuts and toast in a hot dry pan until golden brown, nuts burn very easily so watch them!
• Set the nuts aside to cool while you grate the Parmesan cheese
• Add the cooled toasted nuts, parsley (stalks and all), Parmesan and a good slug of olive oil to a blender, blend everything together to a paste and add more oil until the consistency is right, it should be quite loose not thick or dry.
• Toss through pasta or use in any recipe where pesto is called for

Alternatively you can use a pestle and mortar to make this, follow the steps above but grind everything in the mortar.

Honey glazed Bara Brith

Bara Brith is a classic and very traditional Welsh fruit bread. The name Bara Brith literally translates as "speckled bread" as it is liberally speckled with raisins, currants, sultanas and mixed peel, it is made with brown sugar and flavoured with a mixture of spices such as cinnamon.Bara brith is sold in bakeries and tea shops all over Wales and is available in two varieties, one is risen with yeast which gives a more bread like texture, the other is risen with baking powder which results in a cakier texture. The yeasted version is the more traditional of the two but they are both equally good, if you ever find yourself in Wales make sure you stop by a tea room and order a slice.

Bara Brith is one of those strange foods that's right on the line between bread and cake. On the one hand it is sweet and full of fruit like cake, on the other hand it contains no added fat and can be toasted like a bread. Whatever you call it it is undeniably delicious and just perfect with a good cup of tea.The recipe I used comes from North Wales Tourism, I figured if ever there was an authentic recipe this would be it.
The first part of this recipe is also the most important, the mixture of dried fruit must be soaked in strong tea until it has become swollen, plump and juicy. It is vital that the fruit is soaked so that the finished bread is tender and moist not dry and crumbly. Once you have soaked your fruit the recipe is a doddle to make, just mix the ingredients together and bake in a greased pan, the mixture takes a long time to bake so you may need to cover it with foil halfway through to prevent the top from burning. Once cooked give the top a liberal brushing with honey and leave to cool. Serve spread with butter, Welsh of course!

The recipe can be found here.

Beef satay skewers with peanut dipping sauce

I know, I know, it's been way too long since I last posted! I'm sorry. After I finished my exams (which I passed, yay!) I just kind of ran out of inspiration. It's not that I haven't been cooking just nothing particularly blog worthy.

A couple of weeks ago I was skimming through the Serious Eats newsletter when I came across a recipe for beef satay. Now I love satay but normally it's made with chicken and the peanut sauce is cooked onto the meat this recipe is different and it instantly grabbed my attention.Unlike the more usual chicken this satay is made with cubes of beef which are marinaded in a mixture of soy and fish sauce with garlic, chili, coriander, onion and a little brown sugar. The marinade alone is unbelievably good, it's salty, sweet and slightly spicy and would make fantastic steaks just simply grilled.
For the satay part of the recipe a peanut sauce is made with peanut butter, chili, garlic, coriander and brown sugar. It makes a wonderful creamy yet spicy sauce to dip the skewers into or pour over the top.Ideally these would be cooked over charcoal for an authentic charred and smoky flavour, when I cooked these it was cold and raining so I just used a very hot griddle which worked well. I served them scattered with chopped coriander leaves and a squeeze of lime juice. Thai Jasmine rice makes a perfect accompaniment.

The recipe can be found here.

I haven't been abducted!

It's just that I have piles of essays, reports and exams to do! Normal service will resume shortly....

Chocolate Guinness cake for St. Patricks day

St Patrick's day isn't really a big celebration here but I couldn't let it pass by without a mention, especially as I had found the perfect recipe for it.

Anyone who knows me could tell you that I love chocolate and I love Guinness so the idea of combining the two together in a cake had instant appeal, the fact that I had all the ingredients and it's st Patrick's day left me with little choice but to try this recipe out.The cake itself has a whole cup of Guinness in it as well as cocoa, flour, butter and an alarming amount of sugar. I hope you can see from the photo just how moist soft and rich it is, you really can taste the Guinness too which I was particularly pleased about. The topping is a simple cream cheese affair of the kind you'd put on a carrot cake, I've flavoured mine with Irish whiskey but you could also use Baileys to good effect.I've made a lot of chocolate cakes in the past and I can safely say this is one of the best, it's deep flavoured, rich and not at all dry. Perfect!

There are recipes for this cake all over the Internet, I found this one over at Moveable Feasts who got it from the New York Times. It looks like originally it came from Nigella. I should have guessed...

Recipe

For the cake:
Butter for pan
1 cup Guinness stout
10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/8 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar
3/8 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

For the topping:
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
A splash of Irish whiskey to flavour

1. For the cake: heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, combine Guinness and butter. Place over medium-low heat until butter melts, then remove from heat. Add cocoa and superfine sugar, and whisk to blend.

2. In a small bowl, combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add to Guinness mixture. Add flour and baking soda, and whisk again until smooth. Pour into buttered pan, and bake until risen and firm, 45 minutes to one hour. Place pan on a wire rack and cool completely in pan.

3. For the topping: Using a food processor or by hand, mix confectioners' sugar to break up lumps. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add the whiskey and mix until smooth and spreadable.

4. Remove cake from pan and place on a platter or cake stand. Ice top of cake only, so that it resembles a frothy pint of Guinness.

Haddock with chorizo, peppers and potatoes

You may remember a few weeks back I wrote about the hamper of foody goodies I won from Unearthed, in amongst the feta, salami and olives was a little tray of mini chorizo sausages which were just crying out to be turned into a dish that was vibrant, colourful and summery. So that's what I did.Foodycat suggested I try pairing the chorizo with squid which sounds like a wonderful combination, unfortunately I didn't have any squid but I did have some Haddock fillets so in keeping with the seafood idea I used those instead.

I've mentioned before how much I like one-pot recipes and this is another on of those, it's a quick and easy recipe that gives fantastic results.

• First I fried the little chorizos until their deep red paprika infused oil began to fill the pan then I added chopped new potatoes, tossed them in the oil and left it to sizzle for a few minutes with the lid on.
  
• While the potatoes and chorizo were cooking I chopped some red and yellow peppers and crushed some garlic, I added these to the pan along with a generous splash of sherry and covered it again for five minutes more.
• When the peppers had softened I added a handful of cherry tomatoes, laid the haddock fillets on top and covered the pan once more.
• Five minutes later it's done! serve with the cooking liquid spooned over the top and some good crusty bread to mop it up.
  

Slow-cooked cottage pie

It's been a long time coming but here it is, my cottage pie recipe!

Although there's no sign of it today I have been confidently assured that spring is no far away, with that in mind I've been cooking up some of my favourite winter dishes before the weather turns back to spring and the time for summer recipes returns.

One of mine (and I think everybodies) favourites has to be cottage pie. My cottage pie is a slight twist from the classic recipe as I used braising steak instead of the usual mince, after slow-cooking the steak for several hours it became so tender it just fell apart and left me with a fantastic rich, meaty stew, the perfect filling for my pie.I really love the crispy crusty bits on top of a cottage pie, to achieve maximum crustiness I always fluff up the top before baking and then flash it under the grill before serving.
Recipe:

For the filling: -

• 400g braising/stewing steak cut into large chunks, seasoned and dusted with flour
• Sunflower or other cooking oil
• 2 medium onions roughly chopped
• A stick of celery finely sliced
• 3 carrots roughly chopped
• A pint of beef stock
• A couple of bay leaves
• Salt and pepper

For the topping: -

• 3 large potatoes peeled
• Milk
• Butter
• Salt and pepper

Method: -

• To prepare the filling first put a large casserole dish on the hob at a medium heat
• Add a little oil and cook the meat until it is well browned
• Add the onions celery and carrots and cook for a minute longer
• Tip in the stock, add the bay leaves and bring to a gentle simmer
• Cover the casserole dish and turn the heat right down, leave it to cook for at least an hour, preferably 2 or more.

• To make the mash topping simply boil the potatoes until tender, drain, add hot milk, butter and seasoning then mash!

• To assemble pour the filling into an oven proof dish
• Spoon the potato on top and fluff up well for extra crustiness
  
• Bake at gas 4 for 1-1 1/2 hours until golden
• If the top isn't crusty enough just stick it under the grill for a minute.
• Serve!