Poached Peaches with Ginger, Lemon & Cardamom

Apricots, strawberries, peaches, cherries, raspberries are all abundant at the moment and we've been ordering them by the box load at Cook House. The window between not ripe and overripe can be small, sometimes overnight on a hot day... Remember those, we had a few before we hit monsoon season...

We're pickling cherries by the bucketload, using a Diana Henry recipe with vinegar, sugar, cloves, black pepper and juniper, they are totally delicious with cheese... I want to keep plenty for autumn however as I think they will be brilliant with some autumn game; duck, venison, pigeon... The syrup even has a use when the cherries have all been eaten, a splash of soda and you have yourself a brilliant cherryade! Add gin at your own discretion... 

I've been poaching the apricots and peaches, to serve with a cardamom panna cotta and also with yoghurt and granola for breakfast. I love the flavour of both and I think poaching them really brings it out, it's like that peak ripeness that you get for 5 minutes extended into something that keeps for a while. It also takes me back to those tins of fruit that my granny used to serve with ice-cream and a wafer. I always liked the peach, the bright red cherries were the best, and I staunchly avoided the gritty white bits which I guess were pear perhaps? 

I've been poaching them in a 1 part sugar 3 parts water syrup, it isn't overly sweet, I prefer it this way as I want to taste the fruit not a sugary sweet syrup, but if it is not sweet enough for you just increase the amount of sugar.

Take 400g sugar and add to a pan with 1.2litres of water and heat to dissolve. I've added a few different flavourings, I really like a bit of fresh ginger, if the peaches are quite ripe they need a bit of lemon and today I added 2 bashed pods of cardamom. Other ideas I might try are rosemary, juniper, thyme, pepper, star anise, fennel seeds...

I added 1 lemon, the juice squeezed in and the squeezed halves added in too, 6 or 7 slices of fresh ginger and 2 bashed pods of cardamom. Simmer this for 5 minutes, then add the peaches. I used 6 large peaches cut into quarters with the stones removed. Simmer the peaches gently for between 5 and 10 minutes, until soft. It will depend on how ripe they are to start, it's better to be a bit under cooked as they can fall apart when overcooked. The skins will fall away as they cook, just pull them off. Cool them in the syrup and keep them in the fridge.

They are delicious with yoghurt for breakfast, or with a bit of thick cream for pudding. I've been serving them on top of a cardamom panna cotta too which is bloody lovely!

Butter & Cardamom Buns

I was back at the School of Artisan Food again this month, for their Food for Thought lecture weekend; not as a speaker this year, but a guest. Which meant I could fully enjoy it with no nerves. It was a brilliant weekend last year and proved so again this year. It's almost a bit overwhelming listening to that many fascinating speakers.

Over a sunny weekend on the Welbeck Estate we listened to Bronwen and Francis Percival talk about cheese, about tracing flavours back to what the cow eats in the field and everything along the way. Nicole Pisani and Oli Pagani spoke about the move from professional Nopi chefs to running school canteens for over 500 children. We heard about biodynamic soil, Pakistani seasons from Sumayya Usmani, spices, the power of food social media from Felicity Cloake, diet myths and gut microbes from Tim Spector, sustainable diets for the future from Professor Tim Lang, small food revolutions and much more besides, it was utterly fascinating, hugely educational and inspiring.

The School of Artisan Food is an amazing place, with the baking at the school being particularly impressive, over breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea we were served sour doughs, focaccias, malt loaves, crackers, cookies and amazing brownies...

I've been baking a bit more recently, we currently have a pork bun on the menu at Cook House. Pork we buy direct from the farm in Medomsley, it's a mangalitza, saddleback, middle white cross and it is so delicious, a real depth of flavour that I've not had the like of before. It seems only right to give it a freshly baked bun each morning. I guess these little buns have similarities with a brioche style bun, slightly sweetened, inspired by reading the Nordic Bakery book.

Get everything ready before you begin. Weigh out 500g of strong white bread flour and add a 7g sachet of dried yeast. Weigh out 75g of sugar and add 1 teaspoon of salt. You can add flavour at this point, I have used ground fennel seeds, ground cardamom or black pepper in the past, my favourite is the cardamom, add half a teaspoon of your chosen spice.

Weight out 75g of softened butter, and beat one egg in a separate bowl.

Heat 250ml of milk until warm, not hot, test it with your finger to check. Remove from the heat and add a couple of spoonfuls of the warm milk into the egg, mix, then add the milk and egg back into the milk pan. Then add in the sugar, salt and spice and whisk until it is all dissolved.

If you are using a stand mixer or Kitchenaid combine everything into the bowl, flour, yeast, butter and the milk mixture, and put it on to mix with a dough hook for 10 minutes.

If you are doing it by hand combine everything in a large bowl, bring it all together with a spatula and then turn out onto a floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes. It is quite a light sticky dough, so you may need to keep flouring your hands.

Bring the dough into a ball and leave it in a large bowl, covered with cling film in a warm spot for about an hour or until it is doubled in size. It starts about the size of a melon. The weather and temperature of the day have a huge difference on how quickly this happens, it won't take long on a warm sunny day and you'll get sick of waiting in the winter! After this time knead again for 10 minutes either by hand or in the mixer.

Now it is time to form the buns, tip out the dough and weigh it, for tiny buns divide by 20 and for larger buns divide by ten. If you do ten they end up roughly the size of a burger bun.

Cut off the correct amount of dough, it is usually about 95g for the larger buns, then holding your hand like a claw with the dough under it, move the dough round in circular motions on the work surface. You might need a little flour if it is really sticky but I find it easier to form without. The motion should be pushing the edges round and under and forming a neat little ball. I then dip the bottoms in flour and place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof a few inches apart.

Cover them all with cling film and let them sit for another half an hour. Then wash the tops with beaten egg and you can sprinkle on seeds or spice too.

Bake at 200˚C, 10 minutes for the tiny buns and approximately 15 minutes for the larger ones. I turn the larger ones after 10 minutes if they are not browning evenly, you want an even golden colour all over and they should sound hollow when you tap the bottoms. Then leave them to rest for half an hour before you dive in...

They are so bouncy and delicious, slightly sweet and buttery and especially good with cold butter or slow roast pork!

Wild Garlic Harissa

The wild garlic is back in abundance, I looked a few weeks ago and it had just started, a few shoots here and there, but nothing more than a dainty garnish. A little bit of sunshine and suddenly there's a carpet of it. I filled a bin bag full last week and started to think of things I could do that I hadn't tried before...

I've made a lot of wild garlic pesto in the past, it's good in obvious things like pasta or a poached chicken salad. I like it drizzled into soup, particularly a new season nettle soup. I made some in Cook House last year and loved it. I also hadn't known until then that the new young nettle shoots don't sting you, you can just pick them with your bare hands... I'm still quite tentative though...  

Last week I made a form of green harissa for some canapes I was serving; a little fresh cheese and green harissa tart with sumac and pine nuts, they were really pretty tasty. I used coriander, parsley and rocket as the green base, but thought it would be good with wild garlic too. This green harissa is a mild form of Zhoug, a middle eastern green chilli paste.

I used two chillis, deseeded and chopped up, 60g coriander, 60g wild garlic, juice of quarter of a lemon, a pinch of salt, a good grind of black pepper. Then lightly toast half a teaspoon of coriander seeds, half a teaspoon of cumin seeds and half a teaspoon of cardamom seeds, and crush them until they are a fine powder in a pestle and mortar. Add this to your green mix and blitz the whole lot, gradually adding a stream of olive oil until you have a thick paste. It's delicious, a bit like a pesto but it has heat and spice and depth to it. It was delicious with my homemade fresh cheese.

I also added it to a salad of beetroot, feta and green lentils, lovely. A warning not to have it and go straight to a meeting, it tends to stay with you for a little while! Next up I'm trying some wild garlic oil, which you can use to drizzle into soups or salads, but sounds like it might be good to make mayonnaise with too... fried chicken and wild garlic mayo I'm thinking...

Apple and Cardamom Tart and a Pop-up Feast

I'm really excited to be starting a new project, a pop-up feast, that will hopefully become a regular feature. It will be at Ouse Street Arts Club, a new artist led venue that I have been working on as part of my day job with xsite architecture, our very own venue to host all kinds of events...

The Ouse Street Arts Club (click for a link) is two converted ISO shipping containers situated in the lower Ouseburn Valley, on Ouse Street, immediately behind Hotel du Vin. We have been working hard for months, could be years, to get them ready and they are finally nearly there, painted, lined out, electricity, doors, windows, water... It's taken a long time but has come together in a perfect little space that I love going to, hopefully you will too!

My first pop-up will be a Joe Beef inspired bonfire night speakeasy type affair on Saturday November 3^rd. Think smorgesbords full of Grazer made salami, pickled herrings, beer cheese, pickles, toasts, gin cured salmon; followed by pulled pork, apple chips, secret beans and a scattering of pudding pots. For more details or to book a place please email annahedworth@hotmail.com subject 'The Grazer's Joe Beef inspired bonfire pop up'.

Over in allotment land, my apple tree is laden with apples, more than ever before, I'm going to be using them as much as possible at my pop up feast for apple chips and pickles, but these were the first two fellas to be ready this year. What better way to use them than an apple tart, buttery pastry, sugar, apples, what's not to love... This is an Elizabeth David recipe for a basic apple tart that I have adapted into this spiced cardamom version, that adds perfume and spice to a traditional tart recipe.

I made my own pastry, buy it if you want, I often do, but this shortcrust is pretty simple and delicious. Mix 225g of plain flour with 120g of soft butter until it is like fine breadcrumbs, then add a beaten egg, a pinch of salt and a splash of water, about a tablespoon and bring it all together into a ball, knead it a little then leave to rest while you deal with the filling.

Finely crush the seeds of 3 cardamom pods and mix with 100g of caster sugar. Peel 2 large cooking apples, keeping the peel, and slice into thin segments. Then roll out the pastry and line a tart tin about 30cm wide. Arrange the apples in neat concentric circles and sprinkle over the cardamom sugar evenly. Then bake it in the oven at 160°C for 30 minutes.

Finally I made a glaze that you brush over the finished tart, melt 2-3 tablespoons of caster sugar in a small pan with all the left over apple peel and a piece of lemon rind, until you get a sugary syrup. Use a brush to paint it over the top of the tart when it is ready and cooled.

The home made pastry is rich and buttery and warm, soft sweet apples in thick sugary syrup perfumed with deep cardamom spice. I can't think of anything better for pudding on a cold autumnal day, just add a dollop of cream...

Smoked mackerel and spinach kedgeree with cardamom rice

I am suddenly busy constantly, most evenings I can remember back, and loads I can think of forwards. It seems people have decided that the early year hibernation is over and there is a new flurry of birthday parties, ballet outings, supper with friends out, supper with friends in, engagement parties, family gatherings... Spring is in the air, they are saying... The sun is out and the crocuses too, hopefully it will warm up soon.

So I need something for the sister to eat when she comes to visit; something warming with a hint of spring for tonight, and something long and adventurous to try when we have some time at the weekend.

We had all the ingredients for the Mackerel and horseradish salad, but I think it needed to be a little bit more warming than that, perhaps with a bit of rice and some spices. I found a lovely recipe for kedgeree, it had smoked mackerel flaked through it, wilted spinach, rice perfumed with cardamom pods and a soft boiled eggs on the top, this is based around that recipe. These amounts will serve two people.

Thinly slice half an onion and cook it on a low heat for about 10 minutes in 25g of butter, until it is soft and golden. When it is, add a teaspoon of medium curry powder and cook for another 3 minutes.

While the onion is cooking bring a small pan of water to a simmer and lower in 2 eggs, let them continue to simmer for 6 minutes. You're aiming for a soft yolk and a just done white, mine were a little bit under so I couldn't cut them up on the top, more of a very careful balance... When they are ready run them under a cold tap so you can handle them and gently remove the shell. You should be able to cut the into quarters... unlike me...

Put 120g of basmati rice in a small pan with 10 cardamom pods and a good pinch of salt, add 225ml of boiling water and let it simmer with the lid on for 8-10 minutes, or until the water has gone; then turn the heat off and allow it to sit for 10 minutes continuing to steam with the lid on.

Finally put 4 or 5 handful of spinach, about 120g, into the onions and allow it to wilt, then add the cardamom fragranced rice, with the pods removed. They taste of a shot of perfume if you accidentally bite into one... not nice... Flake in 180g of smoked mackerel fillet in bite sized pieces and allow everything to warm through. Add salt and pepper to your taste and a good squeeze of lemon.

Finally place the quartered soft egg on the top and serve. The mixture of curried onions, cardamom rice and smoky fish is really lovely.