Lentils with chorizo and warm vinaigrette

A super fast evenin meal for when you come home needing to feed immediately before you get grumpy with your nearest + dearest. Not that I get grumpy when I'm hungry but my evil twin does .

Anyway.....here's how to make....today in the style of Gordon Ramsay

Hot pan.....chorizo slices.....sear
Onion.....dice.....garlic....chop
Add to pan
Lentils.....drain and rinse.....add to pan
Staarvey Farm vinaigrette.....errrmm.....shake it baby.....big pour into pan
Heat the lot.....garnish with parsley.....lentils with chorizo and warm vinaigrette....done

I like to follow this with chillin on the sofa and an episode of ugly betty. I'm sure old Gordon does the same

Wasabi potato cakes

Have been doing a recipe book cull today. The Gate cookbook made it thru on this recipe

To make them....

Make up some mash, then add wasabi, butter, sesame seeds and salt. Mix thoroughly.

Fry shallots in sesame oil, then add soy sauce after 5 mins

Now to shape your cakes. Using a food ring or round pastry cutter .....put a layer of mash..... Spoonful of shallot..... Another layer of mash. Push the cake out of the ring. Flour the cake and fry in oil until crispy n brown on both sides

Burmese noodles with prawns

Perfect tea for a rainy day

Recipe robbed from Times newspaper :-)

Double chocolate bread n butter puddin

Take 1 chilly day. Add a long weekend working. What do you get? A serious dessert requirement. Cue individual double chocolate bread n butter puddings mmm mmmmm

To make simply....
Butter 4 ramekins
Butter about 10'slices of thick cut White bread.
Cut out circles from the bread. Yes it helps if they're the same size as your ramekins
Now put one circle of bread (butter side down) into each ramekin followed by chunks of White and dark chocolate. Repeat bread-chocolate-bread
In a mixing bowl beat 3 whole eggs. Now add 200ml double cream, 200ml whole milk, 80g golden caster sugar and a big splash of vanilla extract. Mix to combine
Pour the egg-milk mix over the bread, pushing the bread down and adding more mix to thoroughly soak it
Leave for 10 mins to absorb then bang them in the oven @ 160C for about 20 mins

I made some custard to go with mine. Done!

Tonight's dinner - courgette n red onion frittata

Aka 'let's see what's lurking in the fridge and make dinner without the trauma of going out to the shop' thought that title might be a little on the long side though.

Easy peasy to make this:
Fry 1 courgette, 1 red onion + 1 White onion in a large frying pan. In a mixing bowl crack 6 whole eggs, add 2 big handfuls of grated cheese ( I used roast onion and sage IOM creamery cheddar) and lots of black pepper.
Pour your egg mix over the fried vegetables, give it a good stir and stick the whole lot in the oven at about 180C for 10-12 mins till the middle is set

Enjoy!

Gaggenau at IOM Kitchens

Got to join in on demo day at IOM Kitchens last week. Kathy , nice demo lady, was over from Gaggenau, super swish appliance people, to show us their steam oven and normal oven. Here we have gorgeous blueberry n almond tart mmm mmmm

Relish Cooks.....with Tanroagan

Read an article in The Times today including one of my least favourite words......Foodie....that word really gets up my nose. People who say ‘Oh I’m a real foodie’ T*****s. Why do we have to have such a silly name to categorise someone who enjoys good food? In Italy we’d be called humans.

Things are busy busy in the Relish camp this month with cookery classes, demonstrations (cookery ones, rather than the ‘Maggie Out’ type) plus various catering bits and pieces. I harvested my first wild garlic of the season and used it in homemade mayonnaise for the lovely St.Johns WI ladies who came to the cookery school for a night out.

And I’ve had a cookery book binge, exciting times. I can particularly recommend the following:
‘Gourmet food for a fiver’ by Jason Atherton, chef at Maze. I went there last year you know.
‘Eat Me’ cupcake book by Xanthe Clay, slightly annoying tone and some poor piccies but good recipes. Love the look of the Bollywood cupcakes
‘Dough’ by Richard Bertinet. Using his French style kneading technique even I can make edible bread. Result.

Errm anyway where was I? Oh yeah, we’re at Tanroagan this month. Hanging out with, chef and owner, Joan Mowatt. I am addicted to their scallop/foccacia starter and chocolate rolo brownie dessert, yum. I have even managed to persuade Joan to teach a class at the cookery school, wahoo!

Joan has plenty of experience in the catering trade, having owned a hotel in Lincolnshire before moving to Island to retire. So, the retirement hasn’t exactly gone to plan as her restaurant is always packed.

Joan loves her desserts just as much as me so she has treated us to ‘Gorseflower Pannacotta’ which uses an abundance of local produce. The gorse flowers, cream and milk.

Gorseflower Pannacotta – serves 6

You’ll need to collect a few branches of gorse and pick the flowers. The prickles are super-sharp so definitely arm yourself with gloves and scissors. Or if you’re like me forget both and feel the pain!

700ml double cream
100ml milk
100g gorse flowers
110g caster sugar
3 gelatine leaves

Put the cream, milk, gorse flowers and sugar in a heavy-based saucepan and bring gently to the boil. Take off the heat and leave to infuse for 40 minutes.

Soak the gelatine in cold water for about 5 minutes, until soft and pliable, then remove and squeeze out all of the water. Bring the gorse flower mixture back to the boil, remove from the heat again and whisk in the gelatine, making sure it has dissolved. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve, pressing the gorse flowers to extract as much flavour as possible. Leave to cool, then pour into lightly oiled dariole moulds (about 130ml capacity) cover and leave in the fridge overnight to set.

Great served with coconut sorbet to complement the coconut-y flavour of the gorse flowers.

Full article with photos and video in the Manx Independent around 7th May

Next month we’re with the lads down at Paddy’s Market as they prepare for the Queenie Festival