Vicar's Kitchen – Old Faithfuls

Confession time...I am still in hibernation mode. I know, I know. It is a shiny new year full of possibility and potential etc etc and that is very true but, well, sometimes the change you need to make is no change. Instead you need to settle down with a three series box set of Mr Selfridge and chocolate cake from M&S and go nuts. Just me? Ahem....!

While I am in this particular mood I have found myself gravitating back to some old faithful recipes, some of which I realised that I had forgotten about over the years. A recent reminder was of Roast Veggie Enchiladas which I used to make all the time. When this bad boy re-emerged this weekend my husband actually cheered, bless his heart!

from www.simplyrecipes.com

I picked up this recipe from my stint in the church kitchens in Aberdeen. I volunteered there for a few years cooking meals for people attending a course to develop their marriage. I was pretty hopeless most of the time being in my early twenties and not much familiar with any kind of cooking that required more than' 'pierce lid and put in microwave'. But I learned a lot and it was one of the factors that kick started my love of cooking.

So here is one my absolute favourites and true old faithful of a recipe. It is warming and comforting but actually rather good for you given that it is packed to the gills with veggies. Enjoy!

Roast Veg Enchiladas

You will need:

A selection of veggies to roast, my fav combo is:

• Butternut Squash
• Peppers
• Courgette
• Red Onion

Olive Oil
A pack of tortilla wraps
One small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
A teaspoon of chopped red chilli (I use Really Lazy Chilli, it is fab!)
A tin of chopped tomatoes
A generous pile of grated cheddar

• Start by preparing your veg for roasting. Chop into roughly equal size chunks and toss in a roasting tray with a couple of tablespoons of Oil. Roast for 30 minutes or until the veg is soft and nicely browned.
• Meanwhile make the Tomato sauce for topping the enchiladas. Fry the onion until soft in a small pan, add the crushed garlic and chilli and fry for a minute or so more. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for about ten minutes until the sauce has reduced right down. It needs to be like the consistency of salsa, If it is too runny then it will soak through the enchiladas and stop them crisping up. Bad news!
• When the veg are done, split them into the number of wraps you are hoping to make. I like to make two wraps per person and have them nicely full so for two people I would split the veg mix into four portions. Spoon into the centre of the wrap the fold up ends and roll in the sides like so.....!

Skills!! From http://visual.ly/brassas-mexican-grill-how-roll-burrito

 

• Place in a lightly oiled baking dish. You can pack them snuggly together. Top with the tomato sauce and with the grated cheddar.
• Pop back in the oven (at about 200) for twenty minutes. The edges of the wraps should be nicely golden and the cheese browned and bubbling.

Let me know how you get on!

P.S Today I have linked up this post with #PickNMix hosted by the lovely A Cornish Mum and Mummy and Monkeys. If you have found me through that then welcome! :)

Vicar's Kitchen - Christmas Baking

As soon as December 1^st hits out come the Christmas cookbooks. This year I pulled out Nigella Christmas to find a whole load of bookmarks still in it from last year. Turns out my tastes haven't changed much in the last twelve months – Gleaming Maple Cheesecake, yes please!

There are a few things that are always on my to bake list this year, including my Christmas Cake packed with what sounds like a weird combo of prunes and cocoa but it is absolutely delicious, I promise you. I am also temped by this Gin and Tea Christmas Cake from Good Housekeeping but two Christmas Cakes is just gluttony, right?!

 

 

My to bake list also includes Christmas muffins made with clementines and cranberries and Cranberry and White chocolate cookies both from my idol, the glorious NIgella. Anything with cranberries in is good in my book, especially at this time of year.

from Nigella.com

 And of course I will be eating plenty of mince pies, by the box load, and washing it down with generous servings of mulled wine. I will also be cracking out the edible glitter with abandon. No one gets to leave my house without a smattering of glitter on them at this time of year. Seriously, get yourself a pot. My favourite is gold hologram rainbow dust. With a name like that, how can you go wrong!?

 

So what are your favourite Christmas bakes?

Vicar's Kitchen - Cauliflower Cheese Soup

Suddenly England seems to have been plunged into bleak mid winter eh? It is at times like this that I am reaching for anything that is warming and cosy or bowlfood as I mentioned in my last Vicar's kitchen post. One of my favourite lunch options at the moment is this little beauty, Cauliflower Cheese Soup.

Knock up a pan of this at the start of the week and you'll laughing in the face of frost as you snuggle up with big bowl of hearty, cheesy deliciousness.

Enjoy!

Cauliflower Cheese Soup

20g butter
1 white onion
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 cauliflower
1 bay leaf
A couple of potatoes (to about the size of a baking potato!) peeled and chopped into about 3cm chunks
500ml milk
500ml veg stock
1 teaspoon mustard (any kind will do!)
100g Mature Cheddar, grated

• Melt the butter, add the onions and cook gently until they are soft. Add the garlic, bay leaf, cauliflower and potato. Put the heat down low, cover the pan with a lid and cook for ten minutes. Stir occasionally and add a little splash of water if the veg are sticking.
• Pour in the milk and the stock. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the veg are nice and soft.
• Remove the bay leaf and blitz the soup.
• Stir in the grated cheese and the mustard over a gentle heat to melt.
• Taste to check the flavour and add more cheese and mustard as you like. You can also thin the soup out with some more stock if you prefer.
• Serve with a nice chunk of crusty bread and enjoy!

Vicar's Kitchen – Butternut Squash and Sausage Pasta

Now that the dark nights are here I am really enjoying snuggling down with some warming winter meals. I recently bought Nigella Lawson's new book. Simply Nigella, and her description of this kind of food really struck a cord with me – it is 'Bowlfood'. The kind of food you settled down with in a comfy chair that is served just in a bowl with a fork to dig in. Food that is hearty, and nutritious and warms you right down to your sock clad toes!

Well this recipe is definitely in the bowl food category. It is quick to do, really tasty and uses easy to find and every day ingredients. I love butternut squash recipes at this time of year. Squash starts to become cheap in the supermarket as it comes into season and one big squash can do several meals. As well as this recipe I'm a big fan of squash soup, squash curry and squash lasagne – but those are perhaps recipes for another day!

So for now this neat little pasta dish to add to you winter meals, enjoy!

Butternut Squash and Sausage Pasta with Feta – Serves 4



A little snap of a similar dish from my Recipe Binder that I pulled from a magazine

Butternut Squash (about 700g) cut into 2cm cubes.
2 tbsp olive oil
360g penne pasta
6 pork sausages
Half a teaspoon on Real Lazy Chilli, or 1 red chilli, chopped.
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
100g feta

• Preheat the oven to about 200 degress or gas mark 6. Toss the squash with olive oil on a baking tray. Roast for about half an hour until the squash is tender and starting to brown at the edges.
• Cook the pasta as per packet instructions.
• Meanwhile, snip the sausage meat out of its skins and place into a frying pan over a medium to high heat. Fry off the sausage, breaking it up with your wooden spoon, for about ten minutes. The sausage should be nicely browned.
• Add the chilli and garlic to the sausages and fry for a couple of minutes. Then add the balsamic vinegar and stir to combine.
• Add the butternut squash and the drained pasta to the frying pan and give it a good mix.
• Serve with a scattering of feta over the top and enjoy!

Vicar's Kitchen – Autumn in Prague

We just got back from an amazing few days in Prague. I didn't have many expectations of the place which, I've found, is always nice. You can then be surprised by what is there and open to explore whenever something catches your eye.

We are big fans of the Insight Step-by-Step guides which give you guided walks around major cities. They pass by all the main sights but also take you to unexpected little corners that are often really wonderful. Wandering around Prague felt a bit like living inside a Disney movie! It is all turrets and spires, figures emerging from the mist on the bridge and the sparkling lights of the city's many, many spectacular buildings unfolding out below you.

 

 

All this walking around requires some good solid fuel and Prague certainly didn't disappoint in that regard. It struck me as the perfect place to come in the autumn or winter. On the streets are people selling hot wine (really, really good mulled wine basically) and you can quite easily walk about the streets with a pint in hand without anyone really raising an eyebrow. I had the most amazing sour cherry beer from a street seller accompanied by the worlds largest sausage in a bun slathered in mustard and ketchup. Amazing.

Dining out was such a relaxing experience in Prague because everything is so wonderfully informal. We came across a fair few breweries doing amazing food with their unending supply of tankards of beer where we tucked into to warming winter dishes like goulash, beef in cream sauce with dumplings, sausages cooked in beer and chicken schnitzel.

The stews were like something else and made me realise that when it comes to them I have been doing it ALL WRONG. The goulash was spicy, thick and flavoursome. So much so that I was half tempted to lift up the bowl and slurp down the last few bits. Prague being as brilliant relaxed as it is, again, no one probably would have batted an eyelid!

So now the inevitable hunt begins for some stews to rival the Prague breweries, some hot wine for these cold evenings and where on earth can I get sour cherry beer?! I think another trip might be in order....

Vicar's Kitchen: The Spicery

A while back I wrote about my new years resolution to cook more curry which, thanks for asking, has been going swimmingly. Curry is now a regular feature in our house and I swear my Korma is (channelling Tina Turner...) Simply the Best! My interest in spice cookery was really sparked though by a really great little company here in the UK that I thought I'd bring to your attention if you too are new to the world of spice.

The Spicery is a bit of a revelation really(and I'm not getting paid to say this!!). Each month, if you take up a subscription, you get a box with spices and recipe cards for a three course meal for four. We had a subscription for Friday Night Takeaway which was a different classic Indian takeaway dish for you to make at home.

The name of each dish is pretty much where the comparison to takeaway ends, however, because the dishes you produce with these gorgeous little sachets of freshly ground spices bears so little resemblance to what can often be a bland and same-y experience of ordering a take out. Instead they are absolutely bursting with flavour and knock the socks of every ready made sauce going.

The Spicery also have a World Foods option which is just great for expanding your food horizons. This was how I discovered Indian flatbreads coated with egg, fried and stuffed with lovely chicken We recently ordered a jumbo lucky dip box and are now looking forward to a night of Jamaican food and working our way through the most amazing ginger cake I have ever eaten.

But one of the great things about The Spicery is that it is an easy way to become confident with spice cooking, with ready measured sachets and easy to follow instructions, which opens up a whole load of new culinary possibilities. Learning to cook the Indian favourites opened up a whole new way of cooking for me and I am now happily whipping up South Indian curries mid week from my own little spice store.

So if you fancy trying something new then I'd say they are worth a go. It makes a great date night and a cheaper alternative to eating out. Love it!

Vicar's Kitchen - Venice to Istanbul

I can't say that I really need much more prompting in the travelling and eating department, being fully, whole heartedly devoted to both, but Rick Stein's latest series has had me clutching my passport to embark on a culinary adventure in his footsteps. Those of you in the UK have been lucky enough to have the series on your screens for the last few weeks but those further afield, never fear, there is a book to accompany the series which is an absolute dream

 

The premise was this, embarking on a food adventure from Venice to Istanbul via Croatia, Albania, Greece and ending in Turkey. It was an adventure in the footsteps of the spice routes, following the spread and exchange of recipes and ingredients across the region. The whole series was sun soaked and vibrant, and made me want a kitchen overlooking the Aegean, very, very much indeed!

 

I loved the kind of food featured and that the recipe book is packed with, it is proper rustic and hearty food. Meats cooked in the oven until they are falling off the bone. Everything with garlic, lemon juice and liberal use of olive oil. Fresh tomatoes and the kind of vegetables that will even have you forgoing the meat.

 

 

I love eating that way which is why I love the route that Rick took in the series. It is why Greece is my favourite place to have a meal. Last time we were there, in lovely Crete, the restaurant owner pulled a courgette right off the plant next to us to whip up some fritters. Hearty and fresh food made with love, you just can't get better than that. I love how the series and cookbook feel infused with that, of the goodness of just sitting down with a great glass of wine and big bowl of something delicious.

 

Get the recipe here

 

I would really recommend the book, it is beautiful and inspiring, but at the moment (likely for a limited time) there are a few of the recipes online too. This recipe from Turkey of Oven Roasted Chicken with sumac, pomegranate molasses, chilli and sesame seeds is exactly what you can expect from the book. I also love the Greek chicken with orzo in the cookbook which Rick cooks on the show, do check in out if you get the chance. Orzo, tiny rice shaped pasta, really is a bit of a revelation as a new addition to our house. We love it.

So there we go, foodie inspiration in abundance. I do hope you enjoy!

Vicar's Kitchen - Pasta, Pronto!

Ever since my trip to Bologna last Easter my mind has been set on mastering the art of fresh pasta making. Sitting down to buttery ribbons of tagliatelle swirled with meat ragu was one of the best food experiences of my life. I savoured every last little bite. And then promptly ordered dessert!

A little while back I came across a Pasta Maker in a charity shop in my home town all the way from Italy. I wasn't really convinced that I would be able to get decent pasta out of it for a while figuring it might be a bit like bread making for me. Seems like a great idea but I am yet to produce much that I rivals anything I could just pop out and buy. It's more bullet like baps and baguettes like truncheons but hey ho!

I was delighted to discover, then, that not only is pasta making really quite fun it is also pretty easy. I went with a recipe from Antonio Carluccio's book Pasta to make some fresh lasagne sheets. This basic recipe can be used for all kinds of pasta so it is a very handy little recipe. 

 

All that was required was 300g of '00' Italian Pasta Flour and 3 eggs. I popped all of this into my food processor and whizzed it up till it formed a ball. I then cut the ball into slices about 2 cm thick and ran them through the pasta maker on the widest setting. This produces a lovely thin and silky sheet of what is already recognizably pasta.

 

 

You then reduce the space between the rollers and keep running the pasta through until you have your desired thinness. Then lay the sheets out on a clean tea towel, chop them to the lengths you need and you're done! All in all it took me about fifteen minutes and was really rather theraputic. Running the pasta through the machine was really quite soothing, especially when accompanied by a sing a long to Michael Buble and a glass of white wine. Ah, Sunday afternoons!

 

 

But of course the proof of the pasta is in the eating and, thankfully, I wasn't disappointed. The lasagne came out creamy and soft and lovely, lovely, lovely. All in all pasta making was a whole lot easier than I expected, much quicker and well worth it for the end result. If you fancy giving it a go, here is my Veg Lasagne recipe which showed off the fresh pasta a treat!

Vegetable, Feta and Pesto Lasagne

Pasta

300g '00' Pasta Flour

3 eggs

Filling

2 aubergines

3 peppers (any colours will do)

2 courgettes

4 tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

A good sprinkling of dried oregano

500ml passata

2 tablespoons pesto

100g feta

15 (ish!) black olives chopped in half

Sauce

50g butter
50g plain flour
900ml whole milk
Some parmesan to top it all off!

• Make the Pasta as above.
• To make the filling preheat the oven to 200 C, chop the vegetables into roughly equal chunks (about 3cm across is good). Place into a roasting tray and cover with the olive oil and oregano. Pop in the oven for about twenty minutes or until the veg is soft and browning at the edges.
• When the veg is done pour the passata over the veg in the roasting dish and add the pesto. Give it all a good stir.
• Make the white sauce by melting the butter and adding in the flour. Cook the resulting paste for a minute or two before gradually whisking in the milk. Bring to the boil adding a little more milk if it becomes too thick.
• To make the lasagne layer a third of the veg on the base of a large dish and top with a third of the olive and a third of the feta. Top with sheets of lasagne. Top this will a layer of white sauce.
• Repeat for another two layers finishing with lasagne and a good amount of white sauce. Top with the grated parmesan.
• Pop into the oven at about 180 C for 40 minutes or until the top is golden and the filling is bubbling nicely at the edges.

Enjoy!

Vicar's Kitchen - The Delicious Delights of Crete

Reader, I am well and truly in withdrawal. Not just from the beautiful sunshine and unending glittering turquoise seas of the Med but also for the most amazing week of food. Ever. I've long been a fan of Greek food from my first trip where I was taught by a new Greek friend to make tzatziki the proper way (i.e. fully loaded with garlic!)

Sissi, Crete
 

I was really excited to try Cretan food having heard that it has some interesting specialities of its own as well as drawing in some middle eastern flavours due to its more southern location in the Med. I lapped up Yotam Ottolenghi's programme on Crete before I went so I was fully prepared to seek out a couple of delicacies, sweet cheese pies with honey and Dakos in particular.

Dakos from http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/oct/04/dakos-onepot-chicken-recipes-ottolenghi

Dakos was a particular revelation and it only took me about 20 minutes from landing for me to curse myself for not bringing some of it home and start googling for recipes. Dakos is a dark twice baked roll made in the highlands of Crete.

When you eat it, it is all crispy but topped with crushed tomatoes and olive oil which soaks into the roll and makes it softer and oh so delicious. We ate Dakos daily topped with piles of feta. Swoon. I've already been on the hunt for a Greek deli in the UK that stocks Dakos rolls so watch this space for a recipe in the future.

 

A pretty gorgeous view for lunch!

 

Meanwhile I am making use of something I did think to buy and bring home, some lovely herbs including a big bag of Greek Oregano. To ease my post holiday woes and attempt to bridge the gap between meze lunches on the beach and soggy sandwiches I've been making a Med Veg Cous Cous with Feta for lunch this week. It is very easy, good for you and beats a sarnie and a bag of crisps any day of the week!

Med Veg Couscous with Feta

1 large aubergine

1 large courgette
2 red peppers
2 red onions
A sprinkling of oregano
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
100g couscous
100g feta

Chop the veg into roughly equal size chunks and toss with the olive oil and oregano in a large roasting pan. Pop into a high oven, about 200 C, for half an hour to 45 minutes. You want the veg to be slightly blackened at the edges and lovely and soft.

Meanwhile make the couscous. Place at the base of a large bowl, pour over boiling water until the couscous is just covered. Add the lemon juice. Leave for five minutes and then fluff up with a fork.

Mix the veg into the couscous, top with feta and serve. Yum!

A beautiful Cretan morning

Vicar's Kitchen - The Mighty Halloumi Burger

I don't know about you but I am really trying to eke out the rest of the summer. I'm still convinced that we have a good view barbecuing days to go before autumn sets in and its down with the boots and on with the coats. Meanwhile, I'm entertaining myself with a recipe that doesn't require a barbecue (though would taste pretty darn amazing cooked on one!) and that has been universally loved by everyone I have cooked it for.

The mighty Halloumi burger!

I'm all over halloumi at the moment because we have just moved near to a Lidl so Greek cheese and massive pots of yogurt have become somewhat of a household staple. All credit for this particular recipe, however, has to go to Bills, a gorgeous chain of restaurants that I'm sure many of you UK based peeps have now come across. If you are a bit further afield, however, then you can sample all the Bill's goodness for yourself by getting a copy of the Bill's Cookbook.

 

Bill's Cookbook, with bonus foot!!

The book is gorgeously vintage with many lovely illustrations.

 

 

Recipe wise, the Halloumi burger is a definite favourite as is the Hot Chorizo sandwich and Blondies made with gingernut biscuits. The book is arranged seasonally and makes use of all the freshest fruit and veg from around that time. I tend to dip into all the different sections throughout the year but it is lovely to greet a new season with a flick through the relevant section to remind yourself of all the goodies you have in store!

 

As a little taster here's the delicious halloumi burger recipe to try as I make it:

Halloumi and Red Pepper Burgers – for 2 burgers

2 burger buns or soft rolls
4 strips of Halloumi about half a cm thick
1 Red Pepper, deseeded and chopped into 4
A couple of tablespoons of Red Pepper Houmous
Sweet Chilli Sauce
A handful of rocket

• Preheat the oven to 200 C. Toss the peppers in a little olive oil, pop them on a baking tray into the oven for 20 minutes or until they are a little charred and soft
• Meanwhile slice the buns and spread the houmous on one side.
• Heat up a non stick frying pan (it really does need to be non stick or you will have a cheesy disaster on your hands!) until it is nice and hot. Then lay in the halloumi lifting gently with a fork after about thirty seconds to see if the underside is brown. You want it to look like this so that it will taste gooey not squeaky! Flip over and cook the other side too.

from www.just-eat.co.uk

• Layer up the burger with the halloumi on top of the houmous, topped with the peppers, a little swirl of sweet chilli sauce and some rocket. Top with the other half of the bun and ta da! Easy peasy and very yummy halloumi burgers!

Vicar's Kitchen - The Best Meatballs in the Entire World

In my life there is one area of humongous, dramatic pride in which I cannot help but shamelessly boast whenever I get even half a chance. My Meatballs. I have travelled all over and eaten meatballs in a scandalous number of places and yet I always end up waving my fork with skewered meatball aloft and proclaiming 'Not as good as mine!'

All this pride is slightly misplaced though given that I have Jo Pratt to thank for my superior meatballs. Have you seen any of her cookbooks? They aren't massively well known as far as I am aware but she is one of my favourite food writers and I wax lyrical about her recipes when I get half a chance.
 

Her recipes are often designed for two, which I love. It is less family food more, 'Ooof go on, you have no kids, eat a massive Brie risotto for dinner!'. She separates her first cookbook In the Mood for Food into sections based on how you are feeling that day like feeling healthy, needing comfort food or feeding your bestest gal (or guy!) pals.

 

As well as her meatballs I love her Cauliflower Cheese soup which, I agree with Jo, is one of the best things going when you have a cold as it is packed with nutrients and feels like a great big warm hug for your insides. I also love her Saucy Banana pudding which has a gooey caramel layer and is divine with cream.

But anyway, back to the meatballs...I now adapt her recipe for what I believe is the optimal meatball but the credit really has to be hers for giving me the beginning of my greatest ever recipe and allowing me to unashamedly proclaim myself 'Meatball Queen'.

The genius of the recipe also comes from the fact that they go straight in the oven and so require minimal fuss. Do blitz the onions in a food processor if you can because it makes all the difference to the finished meatballs. No giant chunks of onion in sight!

So here it is, the recipe of all recipes. Use it wisely.

 

The Best Meatballs in the Entire World

 

For the Meatballs:

500g pack of lean mince beef

One slice of white bread whizzed into breadcrumbs in the food processor

One small onion whizzed up in the food processor
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 tsp of sweet paprika
2 tablespoons of finely grated parmesan
½ tsp of Very Lazy Red Chilli (or half a fresh red chilli)
1 egg, whisked
A little salt and pepper as you like

For the Sauce:

 

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

Dried Basil

1 tsp of caster sugar

A good splash of red wine

• First make the meatballs by mixing all the ingredients together. Just stick your hands in there and go nuts. Don't over squish or work the mixture longer than it takes to combine the ingredients. Over squishing makes for tough meatballs.
• Roll up the mixture into little balls and place into an oven proof dish. This should make about 20.
• Pour over a little olive oil and put the dish of meatballs in the oven preheated to 200 C or Gas Mark 6 for 10 minutes.
• Remove the meatballs, they should be started to brown nicely on top, and turn them over gently using two forks. Pour a splash of wine over the meatballs, just enough to pour a little over each one, about 150 mls in all. Return to the oven for another ten minutes.
• Pour over the tomatoes, sprinkle on the sugar and basil and return to the oven for 20-25 mins. By now the sauce should be bubbling nicely and the meatballs will be soft and lovely.
• Serve with couscous or pasta. And GO NUTS!

Vicar's Kitchen: Polpo – a Venetian Adventure

After extensive, and I mean extensive, consideration I can confidently say that my favourite food is Italian. There is little better than a pizza with a perfectly crispy base topped with gooey mozzarella, or a bowl of fresh pasta scattered liberally with parmesan. As you will have picked up from the last Vicar's Kitchen post I am also a big fan of tapas so you can imagine my joy at discovering the restaurant Polpo in London which I can best describe as an Italian tapas sensation.

The restaurant is well worth a visit if you are in the neighbourhood. Tucked at the back with a bottle of red and two tumblers amongst the rickety tables and simple linens is an absolute joy and well worth a trip. But if you happen to live further afield, fear not. Good old Polpo also have a cookbook. A whole new world of Italian masterpieces to try can come to you!

Polpo's founder Russell Norman drew his inspiration from one of the most surreal and spectacular places I have ever visited, Venice. The cookbook is beautifully laid out and full of pictures of this extraordinary city, its waterways and back street cafes whose food inspired the recipes in the book.

 

 

The concept of the book is based around sharing. There a little bites to start things off with, Cicheti, including my favourite of all mini-bites the mighty Crocchette. In the restaurant we had some delicious Salt Cod Crochette and the book has a recipe for a Parmesan and Potato version which looks amazing.

Another revelation of Polpo are the Pizetta, think little mini pizzas to share that are feathery light and with innovative toppings. We had topped with Prosciutto and Gorgonzola that was amazing. The book has several versions like Zucchini, Mint and Chilli and Pork and Pickled Pepper.

 

 

Meatballs are another speciality of the house and ours came on little toothpicks like the world's greatest lollipops! I can't wait to try making the Lamb and Pistachio ones in the cookbook. But the crowning glory of the whole experience was definitely the dessert, Nutella Pizetta and chocolate salami.

 

My Chocolate Salami

 

I immediately went home with plans to make my own chocolate salami which I made to a bit of a mash up of the Polpo and Nigella Lawson's recipe in Nigellissima. Nigella adds Amaretto to hers which I consider to be a stroke of genius, you can find here recipe here. It is totally messy to make and hugely decadent but absolutely brilliant fun.

My own little Venetian Adventure! 

 

So there we have it, a highly recommended assortment of Venetian cuisine from my kitchen to yours. Now where did I park my gondola?!

Vicar's Kitchen: Tapas Hour

It is a year now since I was in Barcelona for a month working for a church over there. Lots has stuck from my trip and I look back on it as a very happy, happy time but one thing in particular that has gone the distance is the introduction of a summer time Tapas hour!

I absolutely loved this about life in Spain. Because people tend to eat later, after the worst of the days heat has begun to fade away, about five or six, when you get in from work, is the perfect time to have a few little plates of tapas and a nice glass of something.

 



In Barcelona this evening ritual was held on the balcony of our apartment from which I could see the sea and the church perched on the top of Mount Tibidabo. Here in good ol' Blighty it is held on my patio or in our dining room with all the doors open.

There isn't so much of a view, just our garden shed with tumbling ivy growing down over it and a few pots filled with lettuces that I'm growing but it is still pretty lovely with the birds chirping away and soaking up the last of the days heat.

 

A very special Barcelona view from our roof terrace

So if you fancy instituting Tapas hour in your house, here are a few tips!

1.Keep it simple

The best tapas dishes for Tapas hour, in my book, are the ones that come straight out of the fridge and require minimal preparation. A block of Manchego sliced into little strips (Tesco Finest does a really delicious and pretty inexpensive one), some chorizo chopped and briefly fried until it releases its orange juices and crisps a little and a pot of olives and sun dried tomatos. Grab some tooth pics, put your feet up and go to town!

2.Wash it down with something special
 

Part of the joy of Tapas hour is the chance to let the day go with a big 'ahhhhh!' To aid the relaxation process a lovely glass of something nice certainly helps. In Spain I often had a glass of Rioja, here I tend to have a bottle of Sherry in the fridge which I either have as it or as a Sherry Spritzer. To make a Sherry Spritzer pop some ice cubes in a glass with some lemon slices. Fill the glass a third full with sherry and top up with soda water. Lush.
 

 

 

3.Good company

One of the joys of Spanish life was the amount of time that people just happily sit. Nothing was rushed, lunches ran on for several hours, sitting and just staring off into the beautiful view was a completely acceptable, in fact highly recommended, past time. I love Tapas hour at home because it creates that same feeling. We both work odd and sometimes long hours so Tapas hour gives us a chance to touch base, catch up on the day or just enjoy the sunshine and quiet together.

So there we have it, Tapas hour from my house to yours. Enjoy! x

Vicar's Kitchen: My Greek Kitchen

I love Greek food. The love affair started early with a trip to Athens when I was 18 where I stayed for six weeks. Given that my repertoire at that time cooking wise was chucking a Birds Eye Chicken Pie in the oven or pouring a sauce over pasta it was no small miracle that some of the local ladies managed to get me into the kitchen. Alcestis, a woman with a truly beautiful soul who rescued stray animals and fed stray English students, taught me how to make proper Tzatziki. Tip: lots and lots of garlic!

Where I long to dine!

Now that the weather is warming up nicely I find myself craving those Greek flavours and none more so than the trinity of Greek ingredients, Olive Oil, Garlic and Lemon. Put that on pretty much anything and you've got yourself a meal but I have recently managed to perfect lemon oven baked potatoes which, if you haven't tasted them, are like a mix between boiled and roasted potatoes and just sing of summer.I served this recently with a new slow cooker recipe I have discovered for Lamb Stifado. It was absolutely beautiful topped with a generous helping of feta.

One of my last Greek meals actually in Greece

So here are a few Greek favourites for a summer dinner, enjoy!

Alcestis' Tzatziki

Grate one cucumber into a sieve and give it a good squeeze to release some of the water. Into this add two crushed garlic cloves (this is for some seriously garlicky, i.e. proper, Tzatziki. Adjust as you prefer!) and about half a tub o Greek yogurt. Just add as much yoghurt as you like for you desired thickness. Leave the Tzatziki over night if possible for the garlic to really infuse.

Courgette Balls

I have been looking for a good recipe for these yummy morsels for an AGE and finally came across this one from Abel and Cole. The secret -  halloumi! They are delicious served warm with a dollop of Tzatziki.

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Slow Cooker Lamb Stifado (serves 2-3)

500g lamb shoulder in bite size pieces
1 tablespoon of flour
400g red onion
2 bay leaves
A sprig of rosemary
A Sprig of oregano
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 cloves
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato puree
100ml red wine
200ml chicken stock
50g feta cheese, for sprinkling

- Coat the lamb in the flour and add to the slow cooker basin
- Peel and quarter the onions and add to the slow cooker with the herbs and spices
- Mix in a jug the vinegar, tomato puree, red wine and chicken stock and pour over the lamb and spices in the slow cooker
- Cook on Low for six hours. Serve sprinkled with feta.

Lemon Oven Baked Potatoes

400g large potatoes
2 tablespoons lemon juice
A pinch of dried oregano
1 garlic clove finely chopped
Salt and Pepper
2 tablespoons of olive oil

- Peel the potatoes and cut them into wedges (as an idea for a fist size baking potato I would get about 8 wedges from this).
- Place the wedges in an oven proof dish, add the lemon juice, garlic and dried oregano. Top with some salt and freshly ground pepper. Leave this for one hour.
- Add the olive oil and cover the dish with foil. Bake in the oven (at about 180 degrees C or Gas Mark 4) for an hour. Remove the foil and bake for another half an hour.

Have a fab time in your Greek kitchen!

Vicar's Kitchen: Spring TIme Tea Party

If you are anything like me (and happen to be living in the UK!) then you will have spent the last few weeks basking in this glorious Spring sunshine we have been having. It has been gorgeous - all daffodils in bloom, green fields and frolicking lambs and in my house....cake!

I decided to host a tea party for some of my closest friends as a farewell to our house. We have just short of eight weeks no until we will be en route to the new place (that we don't actually have yet...not at all stressful!) so we have begun the sad task of getting ready to leave to this lovely village that has been home for the last few years.

It seemed like a fitting last gathering for my best friends at our little abode to have a tea party. As I am now officially on vacation after the busyness of Easter I had lots of time to bake and mess around with china. And as it is such a beautiful Springtime here I dug out my daffodil tea set. It's from the 1930s and is utterly swoony.

 

No tea party is complete with scones, of course with clotted cream and jam. I suppose you have to have sandwiches too and we did find them surprisingly effective as palate cleansers in between the many, many courses of cake!

 

I went slightly into chocolate overload with the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook (well worth getting by the way). Firstly I made Brooklyn Blackout Cake which is a chocolate sponge topped with chocolate custard. This involved thickening the chocolate sauce with cornflour. This initially brought back flashbacks of a Home Economic class at school where the cornflour formed solid lumps in the middle of my sauce. Bad times. Luckily I had a little more success this time!

Brooklyn Blackout Cake from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook


I also made these incredible triple layer brownies. Think brownie, topped with cheesecake, topped with raspberry cream. My cream was a little too thin so they look a bit of a mess but my goodness, they tasted like little slices of heaven.

And last but not least I made some Lemon and Raspberry Madelines from Rachel Khoo's The Little Paris Kitchen. They are a light sponge with a raspberry centre with a lemon curd filling. You can get the recipe here.

The Madelines waiting to be baked

 

So all in all, a good afternoon seemed to be had by all. Including the dog who was utterly spent from all the attention!

 



 

Happy Spring to you all!

Vicar's Kitchen: The Tea-vangelist!

Yesterday, ironically over a cup of hot chocolate, I gave a particularly impassioned speech about tea. My husband, who was claiming to only like a cup of milky builders (sigh), responded to my ten minute diatribe with, 'My goodness, you should be a Tea-evangelist!'.

As Barney Stinston would say – Challenge Accepted! It's also about time I broached this subject given the title of this blog. I don't want you all hauling me up on trade descriptions!

Amen.

A few years ago I didn't even like tea. Looking back now on the dark time I'm not sure what I did for refreshment. I certainly didn't daily enter into a world of extraordinary flavours. I didn't have the option of deciding if I fancied a big caffeine kick or just a little caffeine nudge, as it were. I didn't have the opportunity to have Salted Caramel in my drink with NO ADDED CALORIES. It has been a revelation.

And now, dear reader, I share with you five of the best teas I have discovered on my adventures.

1. The Staunton Earl Grey - East India Trading Company

I discovered this tea while on a tea tasting at Christ Church College in Oxford with one of the East India Trading Company's tea tasters. Yes, people really get to do that for a living. This is a powerful brew containing the essential ingredient of a proper Earl Grey, neroli. In my opinion everything after you've had this is just a bad imitation. It is very fragrant and floral though so bear that in mind and brew gently!

2. Empress Grey - Marks and Spencers

This is my favourite every day tea. Where the Staunton is floral, this is full of citrus flavours. It has a light Chinese black tea as its base and is flavoured with orange and lemon peel. If you aren't a fan of the bitterness of strongly brewed black teas then this is quite different to that. It's also an absolute bargain at £1.49 for 50 tea bags!

3. Green Tea and Salted Caramel - Twinnings

This is a new one from Twinnings and it is AMAZING. Don't be put off by what sounds like a bit of a weird combination. The salted caramel adds a soft sweet note to the green tea that is just delicious.

Brew lightly with this and with all green teas giving them just a minute or so. I learned that from the East India Trading Company expert who informed us that we were all brewing our teas to death. In the case of Green Tea this is a bitter death indeed which often puts people off when they first try it. Brew less, no problem. Lovely tea goodness!

4. Cotswolds Fruits -  Huffkins Bakery

If you happen to live in the Oxfordshire area then get yourself down to Huffkins Bakery in Witney or Burford. If you happen to be here on holiday then stop by and buy all of their tea. You won't be sorry. This is a delicious fruity tea made up mostly of berries. It honestly tastes just like summer.

Lots of people have tried fruit teas and found the taste doesn't live up to the smell. That is often the case if you go for fruit teas that are more dust than fruit in the tea bag! Whole fruit pieces in this tea give a totally different and rich flavour.

If you aren't lucky enough to live near Huffkins then Tea Pigs Superfruit is similar and nearly as lovely.

5. Orange Rooibos - Trumpers Tea

I'm not a fan of pure Rooibos but I love it with added spice and I also love its wild cousin Honeybush Tea. This one is particularly lovely and is flavoured with African spices, orange peel and orange oil.

Rooibos is an African tea and it really does remind me of the feeling of the sun on my skin. It tastes like where it comes from, all sunshine and warmth. Loose flavoured Rooibos can be hard to come across but if you can't find this variety then Twinnings do a specialist loose version as do Whittards.


So there you are, the Tea-vangelist has spoken. Are you converted?!