Lake District Delights – day #3. Too much good food in Keswick….

Another visit to the award winning Fitz park this morning to work up an appetite….. then it was off to Bryson’s for pastries which we took back to our apartment to share with Nana and Raroo. Have to admit that these are some of the best pastries I have ever had- especially the mixed fruit Danish – unbelievably good!

Bryson's bakery in the centre of Keswick

After a bit of shopping, it was off to Treeby and Bolton’s – we had to go there because it was my Dad’s favourite. Great food and although there was no children’s menu, they gave us a plate to share bits of our meals with Abbie… which she generally prefers anyway! Treeby and Bolton’s speciality as far as my Dad is concerned are there platters. You can choose between meat, fish and cheese – we tried both the meat and the fish – which were festooned with local goodies such as smoked salmon, mackerel, huge prawns, smoked duck, chorizo and sausage.  They were made for one hungry person as they also come with crusty bread, but can easily be shared.

Platters in Treeby and Bolton

After lunch it was off to Hope Park. Time for a spot of crazy golf and …

Yet another English Lakes ice cream!

Abbie and I did our own thing for dinner and I hastily rustled up an easy, but tasty bowl of pasta in our tiny kitchen.

The sauce is made by frying 4 rashers of smoked bacon with a clove of garlic (finely chopped). When sizzling and cooked, add a handful of freshly podded peas (I didn’t want to buy a bag of frozen for one week), and a splosh of double cream. Bubble for a few mins, chuck the pasta in and stir to combine. Serve with a sprinkling of grated parmesan.

Our tiny but well-resourced kichen

Abbie tucks in!

Luckily a long, hot climb up the Catbells followed the next day to ensure that we didn’t just go POP!

Quick lunch on the go! Citrus zucchini pasta…

Oh my goodness – it has been a while since I posted. Just been through the last two weeks of school…. panic meetings before the end of term, field days, two Science fairs, a visit from a falconer for our younger students, speech day (which I took Abbie to) and a ‘Last night of the Proms’ concert at my husband’s school in which we were both singing…. so Abbie came too! All in all, there has been cooking and gardening, but no time to write about it, so I will try to catch up now!

This was a quick lunch I made for myself as I was dashing back and forth from school to home and back again last week… I call them zucchini (we Brits know them as courgettes) because my daughter professes not to like courgettes, but will eat zucchini!! So it has stuck! You fry the zucchini, which gives them a totally different flavour to when they are boiled and the lemon juice cuts through what would be the greasiness of the dish. Feta is the perfect cheese to complement as it has a citrus, sharp note to it and its chalky texture contrasts well with the soft zucchini.

Citrus zucchini pasta – Feeds 1

75-100g tagliatelle (or your choice of pasta)
1 large zucchini/courgette, sliced at an angle to create long rounds (see photo)
1 tblspn rapeseed oil (or olive)
small squeeze garlic puree/chopped clove of garlic
1/2 lemon
25g feta, chopped

• Cook the pasta in plenty of salted water, to packet instructions
• Heat the oil in a frying pan and when hot, place the zucchini slices in. Check regularly and turn over when browning, so that both sides get caramalised.
• When cooked, remove to a warm plate, squeeze in the garlic and stir around the pan for about 30 sec while you zest 1/2 the lemon into the pan, then squeeze 1/2 the lemon into the pan.
• Add the cooked pasta and stir to coat in the lemony, oily juices
• Put pasta into a bowl or onto a plate, top with the zucchini slices, chopped feta, a good pinch of sea salt and a grinding of pepper

Citrus zucchini pasta

Can I feed my family for 50 pounds?? I’ll have a go!

I always pick up recipes from supermarkets and I have to admit that rather like those that I cut out of magazines….they remain unused as I once again return to my favourite books.  However,  I have now picked up a couple of mini-mags from Sainsbury’s that I really wanted to give a go…. one of them is the ‘Feed your family for 50 pounds’. It is a seven day programme of family-friendly meals which comes with a shopping list which will do you the week.

Find the plan for this week here: http://www.sainsburys-feed-your-family.co.uk/MealPlan/  This will be current until the new plan launches on 15th June.

We have delayed doing the whole shebang until the summer hols as Jon, Abbie and I all get fed at lunchtime when at school… but I had to try one recipe in the hope that I could get Abbie to eat courgette…. and IT WORKED!  Jon and I referred to the aformentioned vegetable as ‘zucchini’ and it is grated in this recipe.  This coupled with the usual technique of mixing the new with the familiar and we were onto a winner!

We made ‘Spaghetti Carbonara’ – have to admit that I ommitted the mushrooms as this could have been one step too far – maybe later in the summer!

So the link to this recipe is @: http://www.sainsburys-feed-your-family.co.uk/MealPlan/Detail/2/1

BUT just in case it disappears…

You will need:

• 1 onion, peeled & finely chopped
• 200g mushrooms, sliced
• 250g courgettes, coarsely grated
• 500g Basics spaghetti
• 2 free range eggs, yolks only
• 150ml 1% fat milk
• 150ml single cream
• 60g British mild Cheddar, finely grated
• 60g British cooked ham, torn
• Make it veggie…
  Try swapping the ham for fresh young spinach leaves, stirred in with the sauce and spaghetti.

From your store cupboard:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, peeled & finely chopped

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and cook the onion for 5-10 minutes, until soft. Add the mushrooms and courgettes and cook for a further 5 minutes, until golden, adding the garlic for the last minute. Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti following pack instructions.
2. In a separate bowl lightly whisk the egg yolks, milk and cream. Stir in half the grated cheese.
3. Drain the spaghetti and return to the pan. Stir through the mushroom and onion mixture, the ham and the creamy sauce. Toss together well.
4. Return to the heat for 1-2 minutes and toss until cooked through.
5. Season with plenty of freshly ground black pepper and sprinkle over the remaining cheese.
   

   An absolutely delicious, nutritionally balanced supper!

We are definitely going to try some more of these great recipes and saving ourselves a few pennies along the way!  If you try any of the other meals, let me know…..

Lasagne to die for and a tarted up dessert!

My mother-in-law came for lunch on Sunday – all the way from Bucks so I had to make a meal worth driving for! This lasagne (from Jamie Oliver’s ‘Jamie’s Dinners’) is the best that we have ever had and we make it over and over again. It is brilliant when you are entertaining because you can get all the bits ready individually and then layer and bake at the last moment – straight to table when you’re done, no messing!

The addition of the butternut squash (I always want to say squatternut bosh after Ross in ‘Friends’!) makes it really moreish and works incredibly well to lighten it up for a summer lunch. The other great feature is the ‘no cook’ white sauce – less work, more yum!

Find the recipe @: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/simple-baked-lasagne

First make your components... roast butternut squash and slow cooked meat ragu

.. the start layering; pasta, squash, meat, cheese sauce... etc.

 

and... voila! ready to go into the oven

and then to table for the hungry Kemptons!

I had some margarita ice cream leftover from when the girls came over on Wednesday and I knew that my mother-in-law is always on the lookout for easy desserts (they are her nemesis!) so I thought I would show her this one! I tarted it up with a quick rhubarb granita, made with a few weedy thin sticks of rhubarb I pulled from the garden this week – a little wine and vanilla sugar and cook for 8 mins to make a syrupy mush, the cool and freeze – stir with a fork and freeze again. It only made a tsp each, but that was all we needed!  See an earlier post for the ice cream recipe!

How to tart up already delicious margarita ice cream - rhubard (from the garden) granita and fresh raspberries!

Lemon linguine… yum yum! A family favourite!

A busy morning today.. swimming and gardening! Abbie is still very confident in the water since our holiday and spent her time jumping in and swimming between us, on our backs and practising swimming on her back! Jon and also managed to get a few lengths in ourselves and consequently we all worked up a healthy appetite! So I didn’t feel guilty about our calorie laden lunch….

This recipe is taken and adapted from ‘How to Eat’ by Nigella Lawson and is a great one to make with children as you can make the sauce up whilst the pasta is cooking and there is no cooking involved in this stage…

Lemon linguine – fed 2 adults and 1 child – our quantities

200g linguine
1 egg yolk,   1/2 lemon
Good splash cream
Good handful grated pecorino/parmesan
Big knob butter (25g)
Chopped fresh corriander

• Basically – cook the linguine for how long it says on the packet…
• Meanwhile mix up egg yolk, cream, 1/2 a lemon zest and juice and the pecorino
• When the pasta is drained, add the butter to the pasta pan until melted and chuck the linguine back in to coat it
• Add in the creamy sauce and stir until all the pasta is coated and you can’t see any bits of cheese
• Serve with a sprinkle of the corriander on top
• If you would like the Nigella recipe and method for a larger quantity, you can find it here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/lemon-linguine-recipe/index.html

mixing the creamy sauce...

chopping the corriander with a mezaluna

'such fun' to eat.... clearly I have been watching Miranda too much lately!

Alongside our creamy, moreish pasta dish, we had broccoli and some baby salad leaves foraged whilst thinning out my lettuces…. delicious!

A bicycle made for two…. and the best meatballs ever courtesy of Nigel Slater

Another day of fantastic weather! After putting up with her parents loading and unloading two car loads of crap at the dump, I thought that Abbie deserved a treat….. so I finally fixed her new tag-along and we went for a spin – TWICE!  Abbie absolutely loved cycling and has now insisted that we go out every day ‘even if itis raining Mummy’!  This will definitely help towards next month’s Healthmonth pledge!

After a couple of long cycle rides and some much needed work in the garden… we made ‘Pork and lemon polpettine’ from Nigel Slater’s ‘The Kitchen Diaries.  Abbie and I used the mixer to speed up the meatball making process and then formed quite a production line to make and flour the balls.   I served them with buttered pasta and brocolli. Abbie loved the meatballs and even had seconds!

To the recipe…

70g cup white breadcrumbs

500g ground pork

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 large handful of parsley, chopped

6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped from stems

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

10 anchovy fillets, chopped

Flour

 

To cook:

2 tablespoons olive oil

40g butter

200ml chicken stock

 

Combine the breadcrumbs, pork, lemon juice and zest, parsley, thyme, Parmesan, and anchovy in a big bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

Roll 18 or so balls of the pork mixture. Place them on a baking tray/chopping board that you’ve dusted with flour. Roll the meatballs in the flour just before cooking to coat.

 

 

 Heat the olive oil and butter in a heavy sauté pan over medium-high heat. Fry the polpettine in batches, careful not to overcrowd the pan. Cook for five or six minutes, turning for even browning. (I rolled them only twice during this time, to create a good crust on each side and make sure they don’t fall apart.) The meatballs should be crisp and golden. When they’re bronzed, put them all back in the pan, reduce the heat a bit, and sauté until they’re cooked through, an additional seven or eight minutes.

 

Now, remove the meatballs and pour out most of the fat. Add the chicken stock. Let it simmer down for a few minutes, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Serve and enjoy ‘A meatball to beat them all'(Nigel Slater).

 

 

 

#Healthmonth here we come! Wish me luck….. and join up too!

I got a tweet from my friend and twitter expert (would that be called a twexpert??), Andrzej, who invited me to join his team for Healthmonth – a social game which encourages you to be healthy – definitely AJs thang – 8 mile runs in the morning and so forth.  Health at the moment… not always mine and although I am currently in my skinny jeans (yay!), there are definitely areas that I could address!

You pick from diet, physical, mental and other targets and then commit to 3 ways to improve your health for a month – you then win points for your team based on how well/consistently you perform the tasks that you have set yourself.  Then you can have a reward if you reach your targets, but have to set yourself a punishment if you don’t! I have picked 1) drink more water 2) exercise twice a week for at least 30 mins and 3) wake up early – no snoozing the alarm!  The last one is going to be tough as I am on holiday for the whole of April, BUT not as tough as one of the targets for my HB Jon – he can only eat 3 portions of fried food a week. Let’s just say that yesterday he had a donut and there is a huge double decker in the fridge….  healthy! His reply to my question about the benefits of these for his health was ‘Healthmonth doesn’t start for 2 more days….’ not really sure this is the right attitude. 

In the spirit of Healthmonth, I made a quick, vitamin-filled pasta dish, with some fire to warm my tired body.

Spaghetti aglio olio con brocolli e pepperincino (doesn’t that make it sound fancy – am sure my Italian is not quite right!) – feeds one tired parent

75g spaghetti

Handful or more of brocolli florets – cut large florets into half

splash olive oil, squirt of garlic puree, pinch Maldon salt, sprinkle of dried chilli flakes and grating of pecorino

1) Cook spaghetti in large pan of salty water – add brocolli for final 5-6 mins cooking

2)Drain pasta and leave in colander for a moment…. put a splash of olive oil into the pan, back on a low heat, add garlic puree and pinch salt and stir until it sizzles.  Add back in the pasta and brocolli and stir to coat.

3) Pour it all into a wide bowl or plate and add chilli flakes to taste – grate over some pecorino.  Enjoy the warming sensation which runs to all the extremities while you bask in your healthiness!

A deconstructed pesto with spaghetti and ‘the 3 P’s’!

Just needed to do something quick and easy after a busy Sunday and this fitted the bill and used up our leftover Basil….

Easy peasy and a real child-pleaser!

Spaghetti with deconstructed pesto – feeds 2 adults/1 child well

225g spaghetti

Handful pinenuts

2 tablespoons oilve oil

1 tsp Garlic puree

Handful basil leaves, torn up

Pecorino/parmesan cheese – grated (to taste)

1. Cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted water until al dente (see packet for timing) – reserve half a cupful of the starchy water near the end of the cooking time
2. About 5 mins before the spaghetti is cooked, dry fry the pine nuts until smelling nutty and toasty
3. Add oil, heat through and then add garlic puree and stir.
4. By now your spaghetti should be cooked – drain and add to the garlicy pan.
5. Add the basil and the pasta water and toss to combine everything.
6. Grate over pecorino and also a grind of black pepper.
7. Serve, adding more pecorino if you want!

Pesto has always been a favourite of Abbie’s – the jarred stuff used in our classic dish ‘Pasta, Pesto, Peas’ or the ‘3 P’s’ as it is also known in our house. For this dish – cook pasta shapes, add a small handful of peas per child to the pan in last 2-3 mins. Drain pasta and stir in about tablspn of pesto.

To increase the ‘P’s’ we have also grated over parmesan/pecorino and added cook pancetta – there can be many variations!!

Just a quickie tonight!

 Abbie’s eaten at my Mum’s, Jon (my husband) has dashed off to touch rugby…. so it is dinner pour moi at home.  Luckily I have a bit of auberginey chunky sauce leftover from a previous meal; think it was with seared tuna… – see below for the recipe for that.  I cook a small serving of pasta twirls, chuck in some olives and feta cubes and then stir through the pasta sauce, grate over parmesan and voila! Super fast pasta!



The final dish

Ingredients for tomato sauce

1 tblspn Olive oil

Garlic (I use puree here for easiness)

1 aubergine – chunkily diced

Good pinch oregano

1 tblspn Tomato puree

1 tin chopped tomatoes

Splah balsamic vinegar

Handful of pitted black olives (i use one in oil)

1. Heat oil and add a squeeze of garlic and the cubes of aubergine – fry for about 5 mins on medium heat until going soft
2. Sprinkle in oregano and stir
3. Add tomato puree, stir and add chopped tomatoes and half a tin of water
4. Add splash of balsamic vinegar and the olives
5. Simmer for about 20-25 mins on a very low heat

This goes with anything….