Grilled Peaches with Cheese - Sweet or Savory

I had some amazing peaches arrive at Cook House a few weeks ago, the perfect sweetness and the perfect ripeness, I have been putting them on the menu at home and at events as much as possible ever since. It's a good time for these late summer fruits; apricots, nectarines, grapes too... I've been cooking, grilling, pickling, poaching and more.

We held a big BBQ night at Cook House a few weeks ago and decided to do every course on the BBQ, including pudding and cheese accompaniments... When you have cooked all the meat and vegetables on your BBQ it often gets to the point that you think it's a shame that you still have such a nice fire and nothing else to cook. So I loaded the grill up with fruit! Grilled grapes are delicious with cheese I've found, just pop them on the BBQ at the end until they start to blacken and burst, let them cool a little and let people pick at them with some lovely local goats cheese.

Grilled peaches are my current favourite, and can be served in a number of ways, just with a dollop of cream or here I've included two recipes; a lovely lunch dish with feta on toast, and also served as a pudding with a delicious sweet whipped cheese.

Your peaches need to be ripe to start with, there is just no point in putting on a rock hard under ripe peach. This might mean buying them a good few days before you need them if they are not ripe in the shops.

Run a knife round to half them and twist to free from the stone, then lever the stone out with a knife. Brush the cut side with some oil and place cut side down on the grill. I grill them for about 5 minutes on this side, don't move them around, just leave them, if your fire is particularly hot they may need less time. Then using a fish slice scrape them free and flip over, and leave them to grill until hot and juicy, until they look like they are starting to collapse a bit. The fire brings out all the juices and delicious sweetness. Remove from the heat when you think they are done, they can be served hot or left to cool to room temperature.

They are great in a salad, with crumbled cheese, toasted nuts and rocket or with some cured meats. Here I have included a savory lunch dish and a sweet pudding both based on the same idea of fresh cheese with peaches and mint...

Grilled Peaches with Feta & Mint on Toast

Toast some sliced sour dough and drizzle with some good quality extra virgin olive oil, crumble over some feta cheese and top with the room temperature grilled peaches, some torn up mint leaves, a bit of black pepper and some more olive oil. The sweet peaches are delicious with the salty cheese and fresh mint.

Grilled Peaches with Whipped Fromage Blanc, Mint & Toasted Hazelnuts

Whip together 150g cream cheese, 100g double cream, 150g yoghurt and 75g sugar. Whip with an electric whisk until it starts to thicken, it takes a while, then add the juice of half a lemon and whip for a few more minutes. Serve this sweet cream with warm grilled peaches, a sprinkle of toasted hazelnuts and some torn mint leaves. The sweet cheese is a bit like a cheesecake topping and is so delicious with the juicy peaces and the crunchy toasted nuts.

On Toast...

I've written before about my love of things on toast. Since opening Cook House I have been working on my repertoire. It has become a staple menu item, changing topping week to week, depending on what's in season, what I've spotted in books, magazines, or on my travels. I came home from Mallorca with a couple of Sobrasada in my suitcase last week. I'm not entirely sure that's allowed, so don't tell, but that made up last week's toast; the spicy chorizo type paste that is specific to the Balearics spread on hot toast, topped with creamy homemade ricotta, good olive oil and some dressed pea shoots.

We're talking about an open sandwich in basic terms, I find it a lot more interesting than thinking of sandwich fillings however, and find inspiration from around the world. Everyone has their own variation whether it's called a taco, a pizza or pintxo...

These are ideas more than recipes... You're looking for balance; think sweet, salty, bitter and sour and see where you end up... 

Smoked Leeks on Toast with Whipped Feta and Black Sesame

I was inspired by the Trial Shift boys, when they took over Cook House for a pop up event a few months ago; I found them cooking their aubergines in the embers of my stove. Kicking myself that I hadn't thought of using the stove myself (why did I not?!), as soon as they handed the keys back I stuck some leeks into a roaring fire, totally incinerating the outside. When removed and left to cool I then carefully removed all the black outer edges and tore off ribbons of soft sweet smoked leek into a bowl and mixed with a dash of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt.

I served this on toast with feta cheese whipped up with some Greek yoghurt and extra virgin olive oil until it takes on the consistency of cream cheese. Spread onto toast, leeks piled gently on top and scattered with toasted black sesame seeds. The sweet smoky leeks with the salty cheese and toasted nutty sesame is delicious, this is probably my favourite invention so far.

Carrot and Lemon Pâté on Toast with Feta and Pea Shoots

I have been making a carrot, lemon and yoghurt pâté for a while now. I discovered it when I was putting together a vegetarian middle eastern style mezze supper last year. I made tons of different Lavosh crackers topped with different seeds and herbs and wanted lots of tasty colourful dips to go with them.

Chop 500g of carrots into large chunks and roast at 200˚C with about 6 cloves of garlic still in their skins and lots of olive oil until the carrots are soft, about 20 minutes. Then pop the garlic out of their skins and blitz with 2 big spoons of yoghurt the zest and juice of half a lemon and a pinch of salt. It's a lovely sweet dip with a rich hint of roast garlic and sharp lemon.

Sprinkle with crumbled feta or goats cheese, and top with a pile of dressed fresh pea shoots or rocket. The rich sweet pâté is delicious with the sharp salt cheese and fresh shoots.

Whipped Feta on Toast with Pear, Pea Shoots and Toasted Seeds

The whipped feta base mentioned previously is good with lots of toppings, as it's so salty and tart my favourite is something a little bit sweet. I've found a popular menu item to be fresh sliced pear, with pea shoots or rocket and toasted seeds, sometimes hazelnuts or a bit of chopped mint too.

I have tried it with pickled grapes and mint too, delicious; sharp, sweet and tasty. I also tried sliced blood oranges with toasted walnuts, normal oranges would work too, that was a pretty good brunch dish I think...

Or you could try fresh peppery radish with mint, black pepper and ricotta. Or ricotta, slow roast tomatoes and toasted cumin seeds... Or crushed peas and broad beans with lemon, mint and crumbled goats cheese... We're in a good season for lovely fresh toppings so I'll keep working on my repertoire...

Homemade Ricotta

Faced with a small crowd of people waiting patiently for me to show them how to make cheese I suddenly felt a little nervous. At the beginning of the year Simon, who organises EAT! Festival, asked me if I would teach a few food classes at the Festival of Thift in September. I said yes of course, and agreed to show people how to make butter, mayonnaise, salami and fresh cheese, without thinking about it much further.

I know how to make these things and have done so on many occasions, but usually only with myself for company and here I was faced with real people, who had actual questions, and were watching everything I did... Cheese made me the most nervous, because it is still a bit new to me, and the world of cheese making is vast and so far I only know about a very tiny proportion of it, namely ricotta...

But the excitement I got from making my first batch of ricotta, seeing the process happen so quickly before my eyes is worth telling others about, you should all have a go really, your own cheese feels like quite an achievement! In simple terms you heat milk, add lemon juice and you get ricotta...

I used a litre of whole milk, from this you will get about 300g of ricotta. Heat the milk in a heavy based saucepan slowly. There is little point in using skimmed or semi skimmed milk, it doesn't result in anything healthier or less fatty, the process is separating the fat out of the milk to make cheese, so you just end up with less cheese. A lady in one of my classes said she once tried it with skimmed milk and got a tablespoon of cheese from two litres of milk...

You will need a thermometer, I use my meat probe. Stir the milk gently with a wooden spoon to stop it sticking to the bottom, keep it on a medium heat and you need to bring it up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, which is just below boiling point, when the milk is beginning to steam and froth a little. Remove it from the heat immediately as you don't want it to boil, and add the juice of a lemon, you need about 40ml, give the milk a stir to distribute the lemon juice and watch as the milk instantly separates into curds and whey, it's quite exciting...

You can add a teaspoon of salt at this point if you want too, I have found that I prefer it without, it also means you can use it for sweet or savoury dishes too. Leave the pan to sit for ten minutes, then drain the cheese through some muslin or a clean jay cloth. I tie mine to the tap and let it drip for about ten minutes, you can leave it up to an hour to get a drier cheese, but I like it with a bit of liquid in it still.

So now you have ricotta! Taste it while it is hot, it is much cheesier than the stuff you buy in the shops. Then cool it in the fridge, it will keep for about a week, it is delicious and creamy, your very own cheese! You can also keep the liquid whey from the process and use it for baking, just to make you feel even more virtuous than you already do with homemade cheese in the fridge... Spread it on toast with pesto, crumble it into salads, top your spicy tomato pasta, use it to fill a lemon curd cake...

Experiments in Smoking Part 2

A few weeks ago Mr. Smokerson came out of hibernation for a day; a day of cold smoking experiments. I have previously tried cold smoked cheese, which was delicious; and have been wondering what I could turn to next. I tried some salmon which was less successful. Pretty much all of the different meats I have smoked have been good, but I am keen to branch out. I’m still a total novice and generally just bung in a big bit of meat, some wood chips and hope for the best. There is yet to be any proper science applied to my experiments, but I will continue and hopefully the whys and wherefores will present themselves in time.

Back to cold smoking day... Butter was my first thought; smoked butter must be a good thing? So I decided to smoke the cream and make my own butter, just to make it a bit more interesting; in order for the flavour to run right through, rather than just smoking the outside of a block of butter. Then I thought eggs, and finally ricotta. Mr Smokerson has a couple of shelves inside so there is room to have a few different things going on at once.

Smoked eggs, it seemed like a good idea? They were the most complicated task, I wasn’t sure whether to cook them, shell them, keep them raw, or how long to smoke them for. I did a bit of investigating and there were a lot of different ideas on timing, anything from 20 minutes to 4 hours. I tried them cooked in the end, boiled for 7.5 minutes, a couple shelled and one with its shell still on. You can smoke them raw apparently as the smoke will permeate the shell, but requires a longer smoke. I was still confident that a smoked egg was going to be a wonderful thing, I like eggs, I like smoked stuff. Winner? I read about smoked egg salad, I dreamt up a smoked scotch egg, how could that be bad?

So I was all set, with a bowl of cream, ricotta on a plate and eggs a few ways. I have a little metal mesh tray thing for cold smoking that winds round and round like a maze. You fill it with sawdust, I think mine is oak, it came with my smoker. Then you light a tea light, pop it in at one end, wait until the wood begins to smoulder then take the candle out. The wood dust then burns round the maze very slowly, allowing you to smoke things for long amounts of time.

It is interesting how the smoke affects things differently. After an hour the taste and smell of smoke in the cream was incredibly strong; the ricotta seemed just perfect, a very light smoky taste; and one of the pre shelled eggs had a very mild smoke to it, hardly noticeable at all. So I returned the other two for another hour, there was no way the smoke would have got through the shell of the egg if it has barely affected the shelled one.

I have to say I didn’t really enjoy the egg in the end, and I’m yet to make the Scotch egg version, because every time I think about it, I think ‘I don’t want to eat another egg that tastes of smoke’. It was a bit like you’d had a house fire, gone back the next day and eaten the cold smoky boiled eggs you had left behind... Doesn’t sound that appealing does it?

The ricotta was lovely, mild smoky and creamy. I made some polenta, with fried mushrooms and rosemary, with a dollop of ricotta on top. I think it would be delicious on top of a simple tomato pasta too. I had something similar in Italy in the summer, which was a rich tomato orecchiette pasta topped with aged ricotta, which was so strong and delicious.

The butter is good, very smoky, very. I wasn’t sure what to do with it though. When you taste a bit on its own it is lovely, when you have a bit on bread it seems almost like you’re eating smoked cheese rather than butter. Perhaps it would work on top of a steak? Or to make a white sauce for a fish pie, that seems like a good idea... or wrapped up with corn on the cob to go on the bbq? It’s definitely a niche market however! And a few weeks later I’m not thinking, I wish I had some more of that smoked butter, so it’s likely it won’t material again for a bit...

I think I’m so used to smoking and eating meat that smoked things that aren’t meat end up seeming a bit odd. Why would you want your egg to taste of smoke I ended up asking myself? Which I guess means it probably shouldn’t. So a tick for ricotta, a project to find a use for the butter, and possibly give the eggs a miss next time round...

Courgette and Lemon Salad with Feta and Mint

I picked over twenty courgettes the other night and they are growing faster than I can keep up. I have other people offering me courgettes, I'm trying to give away courgettes, everyone seems to be growing them, even people I didn’t know grew vegetables are growing them... In social situations people have started asking what to do with their glut of courgettes, not your average party chat, but a glut needs ideas and I've discovered a few good recipes recently...

 

So I thought I would share a few of them with you over the next couple of days. My favourites include this lovely fresh salad, a cheesy courgette and herb risotto, garlicky buttery slow cooked courgettes, a grilled courgette salad with garlic and chilli breadcrumbs and a roast courgette soup. I've also been thinking about a courgette and lemon cake with lemon butter icing... I need to start experimenting with that one asap...

 

So I'll start with this light fresh salad, wafer thin slices of courgette dressing in lemon and oil, with crumbled feta and fresh mint. I had it for lunch today, outside in the Lake District, trying to pretend that it wasn’t raining...

To make a small salad for two people to share, take one courgette, any type and shave it into wafer thin ribbons using a vegetable peeler. In a bowl mix the courgette with a big splash of extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and the juice of about quarter of a lemon. Scatter the courgette onto a plate and then crumble about 50g of feta cheese over the top and a handful of chopped mint. It is delicious and fresh, full of lemon, creamy cheese and mint. The dressed courgette on it's own is lovely too...

My second very, very simple recipe, which isn't even really a recipe is just to grill them, cut into thin slivers about 4mm thick. On a plate pour over a little olive oil and a pinch of salt and coat them all over. Then either put them on the BBQ for a few minutes each side, or under the grill or on a hot griddle pan. The best I've found them so far is on the BBQ, courgettes can often be quite watery and the high heat of the BBQ works perfectly... You can have them hot from the grill or delicious left to cool their flavour really comes out...

Homemade Pizza

I still remember a pizza in Rome a few years ago, the first night we arrived, in a touristy square where I presumed it was going to be nothing special, but was SO good, a white pizza with wild mushrooms and sausage, wafer thin with melted cheese delicious mushrooms and crumbled sticky sausage meat... I shouldn't be writing this hungry...

Then there is that pizza slice place in the Grainger market, my god, it's so thin, it's so cheesy, it's just so good. The courgette and sausage pizza at Zonzo's, really good. The white pie at Cal's Own, so garlicky and cheesy and delicious... and my very own first pizza made at home, a simple Margherita, it was just really so very surprisingly good... I could do with a slice of pizza now... I'll battle on...

Key things I have learnt making my own pizza, give the dough time the time it needs, if you rush it it's no where near as good. Take time with the tomato sauce too, cooking it slowly for long enough, and finally go easy on the toppings, you think you want loads then you just end up with a soggy mess, and no body wants a soggy bottomed pizza.

These amounts will make 2 large or 3 medium pizzas. Start with the dough, mix 325g of strong white flour, a teaspoon of dried yeast and a teaspoon of salt together in a large mixing bowl and stir in 15ml of olive oil and 25ml of milk. Followed by 170ml of warm water, then mix it well to form a soft dough. Turn the dough out on to a floured work surface and knead for about five minutes, until smooth and elastic. I really enjoy kneading dough, it's very relaxing...

 

Put the dough in a clean bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave somewhere warm to rise for about 1 hour, until doubled in size. When the dough has risen, knock it back, then knead again until smooth, roll into a ball and set aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour until risen again. Preheat your oven to its highest setting, about 240°C

While your dough is rising you can make the tomato sauce, slowly cook half a chopped onion in olive oil with a pinch of salt, cook until it is soft and golden, then add a chopped clove of garlic and a pinch of chilli flakes. Cook for another few minutes then add a tin of chopped tomatoes and a teaspoon of sugar. Cook slowly for 10-15 minutes, check for seasoning, you might need more sugar, salt or pepper, it should thicken and be sweet rich and delicious...

Divide your dough into two or three balls and roll each out onto a lightly floured work surface until 20cm in diameter. Then top! Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce over the dough, I love a margherita, with just tomato and fresh mozzarella, tasty every time, but I have also been experimenting with my toppings recently.

 

When you have assembled your topping just pop it in the oven for about 5-10 minutes depending on its size. The white pizza was pretty special; I used mozzarella, parmesan, ricotta, thin slices of garlic and added parsley after it was cooked. I tried a new idea recently with fried cubes of aubergine; a base of tomato sauce, mozzarella, I then added the aubergine, some pine nuts and a scattering of sumac... Delicious, a Middle Eastern inspired version. Chorizo and shallot was very good, spicy and sweet... So have a go at making your own, it's a bit of a waiting game with the dough, but not at all difficult and the results are so good!

 

Tomato, Feta and Tarragon Salad with Sumac Dressing

The sun is shining and I am starting to feel a touch of Spring in the air. I have just been to the allotment and have begun to get excited about what to plant this year... I think I had forgotten I had an allotment in truth, I haven’t been for months. I definitely need to be a bit more committed to it this year. I constantly feel like I should be there more often... Little and often is my gardening motto this year... A gardening motto? What I have become?!... 

It was lovely and peaceful and sunny today, with people pottering around tidying their plots. I really enjoy being there, even just for half an hour, it's a little spot of calm and beauty. Ours is looking ok, probably bottom half of the table if there was a league, but certainly not relegation zone. A bit of work on the paths, some digging and a bit of work on the 'wild flower area' (total wilderness of brambles) at the back, should see it right in no time...

 

I'd forgotten how lovely a crisp sunny winters day is, as it's been grey for as long as I can remember. There's nothing like a spot of sunshine and a slightly lighter night to start you thinking about salads and summer. I served this salad as part of my first ever Supperclub, last summer at Carruthers and Kent wine shop in Gosforth. Upstairs in their tasting room we held a Middle Eastern meal for twenty with matching wines, this dish formed part of the salad course, alongside a Broad Bean, Pomegranate, Radish and Mint salad. 

Last weekend saw a return to the same theme with a Middle Eastern meat free themed Supperclub at Ouse Street Arts Club. I announced tickets a few weeks ago and they sold out in minutes, so I enthusiastically decided to add another night and run it two nights in a row... It was a huge amount of work, but an incredibly enjoyable weekend. Full of filo pastries, harissa dips, lentil koftas, spiced stews, honey vegetables, rosewater stuffed dates and almond milk puddings. There were some great people at both evenings and I had a lovely time meeting them and putting the menu together. I'm planning the next one already...

To start this salad you need some nice tomatoes, choose some that smell strongly of tomatoes, if they smell of nothing, they will taste of nothing, so start sniffing... I chose some cherry tomatoes on the vine that were pretty tasty... Pull them apart with your hands to get a nice rough texture to the salad, each one into 2 or 3 pieces, and lay them onto a plate. Crumble over half a block of creamy feta cheese, about 100g, and very thinly slice a shallot and scatter that over too.

To make the dressing add a teaspoon of sumac to a bowl and pour over 50ml of hot water, leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Then add 100ml of extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of caster sugar, a splash of pomegranate molasses, a pinch of salt, some black pepper, the leaves from a sprig of thyme and half a clove of crush garlic. Whisk everything together and leave to get to know each other for 20 minutes. This is far more dressing than you will need, but is good on any salad and keeps for a month or more in a sealed jar in the fridge.

Finally chop some fresh tarragon over top of the salad, about 2 tablespoons full, and then pour over about 50ml of the dressing. The tasty tomatoes and creamy feta are delicious with the sharp, sweet, herby, lemony dressing and rich aniseed tarragon. I'm really looking forward to the start of Spring, more salads and a bit of outdoor dining. I'm perhaps getting carried away as the sun has only just shown its face, but it's a start...

 

Stilton, Walnut and Honey Chicory Cups

It's started hasn’t it... The decadent Christmas onslaught of eating and drinking. I've had to print off a wall-chart of December to keep track of everything going on, most of which seem to be eating and drinking in different locations at all hours of the day... I've already had a work Christmas party which basically involved hours and hours of wine, I’m still feeling the after effects; another drinks party in the country, more civilised this time... and I have four more parties before the weekend even begins... I need to eat fruit and sleep lots to last the distance I think... 

I like the amount of tradition at this time of year, everyone seems to have little things set in stone that they always do and places they always go, different from each other. I like to invent new traditions too, Christmas Eve Eve supper is one of mine, by the fire in the house. Twixmas is another, a few friends and family over for a lunchtime drink and bite to eat between Christmas and New Year.

I'm looking forward to it all though, it's lovely seeing lots of friends and being all festive. I have food plans for some more potted pheasant, some smoked pheasant terrine, pickled grapes and roast duck. Some Christmas hot toddies and a few new canapés too. I'm going to read recipe books and watch television and cook, I'm quite excited...

These are my new favourite seasonal canapé, I think I have persuaded myself they are healthy because they aren't something balanced on fried bread, or something stuffed in a mini Yorkshire pudding... A little chicory cup laden with Stilton, honey and toasted nuts. Do not underestimate a canapé in a salad cup, they are really, really delicious! And they have the added bonus of being very simple, you just toast some nuts, sprinkle some Stilton and drizzle some honey... easy!

Simply toast some walnuts in a dry pan until they begin to brown, 50g will make about 20 canapés. Then divide 3 chicory heads into separate leaves, you can use red or white chicory, both are delicious. Roughly crumble about 50g of Stilton equally between the leaves. Then top the walnuts and Stilton with half a teaspoon of honey per leaf. You can add a tiny pinch of rock salt too if you fancy... The bitter chicory is delicious with the creamy cheese, sweet honey and toasted crunchy nuts, simple but amazingly tasty...

 

Courgette, Chorizo and Gruyère Muffins

I love picnics, actually any excuse to eat outside, even if it is a bit cold; lunch in the garden, a BBQ, a table outside a restaurant... We spend so many hours cooped up in houses and offices that I'll take any opportunity to sit out, and food always seems to taste that bit better in the fresh air. I have a growing collection of old picnic hampers and I love packing them up with various treats and setting off to some sunny spot. My favourite picnic spot, at the moment, is hidden in the dunes at Druridge Bay, you can see out but no one can see in to the sheltered little nook. On a sunny day with the rug laid out and the picnic basket overflowing with treats it is a pretty lovely place to be.

I've been reading Elizabeth David's chapters on picnicking that leaves my efforts to shame somewhat... Her companions have been known to visit the picnic site the day before to bury the champagne, ready chilled for arrival. She was once guest to a family whose idea of a picnic was walking through their formal Dutch gardens to the woodland beyond, followed by butler, chauffeur and footman 'bearing fine china plates, the silver and tablecloths, a number of vast dishes containing cold chickens, jellies and trifles'. I'd like to go to a picnic like that...

Mini tarts or pasties, sausage rolls with sage and apricots, salads in pots, bread rolls, little cakes. There is often a high quota of hand held food, things in pastry, muffins, pork pies, scotch eggs, easy to eat but also tasty. Sandwiches with no crusts, potted meats, cheese or pates and a lovely refreshing home-made mint lemonade to wash it all down. Hand held is preferable, things that require cutlery should at most be a scoop with a fork, trying to hold a knife, fork, plate and cut something just isn’t what a picnic is about. Lots of things baked into a muffin or a pie are good; getting all your food groups at once should be straight forward and tasty! Nothing that squashes, apples are better than bananas; nothing that melts, cake is better than chocolate, nothing that makes your sandwiches soggy! The planning can end up quite intricate.

So if this summer manages to show us a little bit of sunshine I'll be off to the beach, or up a valley, or by the river or even just in the park armed with a tightly packed little wicker basket and a rug.

These muffins are a perfect picnic treat and make about 6. Simply mix 225g of self raising flour with 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 100g of grated courgette, 50g or grated Gruyère, 40g of finely cubed chorizo and some salt and pepper.

In a mixing jug whisk together 175ml of whole milk, an egg and 75ml of olive oil. Pour this into the flour and courgette mix and combine it all thoroughly. Finally spoon into an oiled muffin tin and put in the oven at 180°C, bake for 10 minutes then take out and add a little more grated Gruyère to the top of each, then bake for another 15 minutes. Eat warm with butter or fresh out of your picnic basket...