It never rains...

...but it pours, as the saying goes. As it happens, we've had more snow this week. Just a dusting, which, on the much-trodden London streets, hung in the air longer than it settled on the pavements.

But the pretty white flakes weren't enough to lift morale. There are more than a few battles going on at the moment, and I now understand why you can't deploy a single army to fight on multiple fronts. It's just too hard.

When the going gets tough there is one man who can make everything better. N is a saint, and despite bearing the brunt of the attack this week has managed to always make me smile and lift my spirits. So last night, while he was out, I decided to do a little something to lift his.This involved consulting the other man in my life who often puts a smile on my face. Nigel Slater. I know that sometimes it must seem like the Nigel Slater appreciation society over here (does this exist? and if not, why, not and can I be president?!). I do like other food writers, honest, it's just that on a cold February evening, when everything in life is a little bit rubbish, I want to read a book that feels like being wrapped in a duvet, and that's exactly what Nigel Slater's writing (and recipes) are like. They are utterly unpretentious, beautifully uncomplicated, and as warm and satisfying as a really good cup of tea. So, when N isn't here to give me that big hug, it is to the pages of The Kitchen Diaries, or Appetite, that I go running.

Last night was a double whammy. I started with his mustard and sausage pasta dish, and then finished with his coffee and walnut cake. Adaptations were made to both, but I think Nigel would take that as a complement, as intended.
It was definitely a comfort meal. Sausages, fried with onions, and then coated in cream and mustard, with a random addition of some roasted tomatoes, all mushed together with pasta. Then the cake, a classic sponge, spiked with a hit of coffee and a crumbling of nuts, sandwiched and topped with fluffy coffee buttercream. Perfect.

It feels like I am working on classics at the moment, carrot cake, coffee cake, Shrewsbury biscuits. Somehow it feels like that kind of winter, where we need something familiar easy and from a simpler time (which of course is a myth, as all times have their ups and downs, but you know what I mean).I deviated from the classic slightly by using pecans rather than walnuts. This is partly because we both prefer the slight caramel hint you get with pecans, and partly because when I went to the cupboard is was bare of walnuts. I think it worked really well, with the slight softness that pecans have providing more of a chew than a crunch in the light sponge. I think it will be even better today as the coffee has had time to develop. Perfect for that afternoon pick-me-up.

I also halved the recipe, and rather than making it in large sandwich tins made it in my little 7 inch ones. This made a smaller, shallower cake that is more suitable to a house of two people. You'll still get about eight servings from it, but they won't be quite such door-stop slabs as the original. You can easily just scale up and make a bigger cake if needs warrant. Coffee and pecan cake - adapted from Nigel Slater's recipe in The Kitchen Diaries.

For the cake:
88g softened unsalted butter
88g unrefined caster sugar
88g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
1 tsp instant coffee granules, disolved in 2 tsp hot water (or 2 tsp camp coffee)
35g pecans, toasted lightly then coarsly chopped

For the buttercream:
100g unsalted butter
200g icing sugar
1 tsp instant coffee dislved in 1 tsp hot water/ or 2 tsp camp coffee
aprox 1 tbsp milk
seven/eight pecan halves for decoration

Preheat the oven to 180C and line or grease two 7 inch round sandwich tins.

Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, beating in between additions. sift together the flour and baking powder and then gradually add to the mix. Add the coffee and beat to combine. Finally stir in the chopped nuts. Divide between the two pans as evenly as possible (don't worry too much about spreading or leveling the batter, it will do this as it bakes) and then bake for aprox 12 mins or until just golden and springy in the middle. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely before removing from the tins.

While the cake are cooling, make the buttercream. Beat the butter until very soft, and then add the coffee. Mix until well combined, and then add the icing sugar in three additions, beating well in between. Finally add enough milk to get the right spreading consistancy (it needs to be fluffy and spreadable, without being runny, I could describe the texture I got as cloud-like!). For me this was about 1 tbsp.

When the cakes are cool turn them out. Place one on a plate, use a third of the icing in the middle, and spread evenly on the cake, then top with other half of the sandwich. Then ice the top and sides with the remaining buttercream and decorate with pecan halves.

p.s. for those of you who asked for the cinnamon roll recipe, it's over here... This is actually a vegan version. To make the "normal" ones, just add an egg instead of the replacer powder, and use real butter. The only thing I think I've changed since first making them is to up the lemon zest in the dough (I like my things lemony!) and to leave the dough on it's initial rise for longer, as I find the flavour develops well after a longer rising time (like three hours if you have it, I just leave mine on the radiator and forget about it.). It doesn't need this, but I happened to have the time and liked the flavour.

The Lazy Sunday Cookie

There is nothing quite like stepping out of the shower at ten past five on a Sunday afternoon and being greeted by the smell of cooling chocolate cookies. I think that's exactly what Sundays should be about.

Yes, I admit it, I did not get out of my pyjamas and dressing gown until after five pm today. And it was wonderful. I'm afraid the day just did nothing to encourage it. We did the hard stuff yesterday. We spent time in the garden, taking our lives in our hands skidding around on the wet slippery decking in order to re-mulch soil and clear up the winter carnage in the vague hope that it won't be long before we're planting and making new veg plans. Then N went out to see some dear friends who have been coping with much tougher battles, while I held the fort here.
It was a late late night, and so when we stumbled out of bed this morning, foraged for food (which seems be somewhat lacking this weekend - how can we have found ourselves without tinned tomatoes, olive oil, and bread in one fell swoop, along with the only vegetables in the house being celery (eurgh!) and a lone aubergine!) and guzzled enough tea to rouse us (thank goodness there is always milk and tea bags!) we discovered it was time for the match, and then it was time to make cookies, and then and only then, was it time for showers.

But the cookies, oh, the cookies! I have just polished off two with another cup of tea, and am worried that if I return for a tea top-up another couple of cookies might disappear. They were a whim. I was going to be good and not bake (yeah, right) and then I was going to be slightly good and make carrot cake, because at least that uses vegetables. But by the time I fished out the recipe and started poking around our cupboards I realised that we were missed more than a few ingredients, and suddenly grating carrots seems like too much effort.

So I decided to make some cookies. I have many many cookie recipes, and two are my standard "go to" plan depending on the specific type I am looking for (the first is a "cakey" plain cookie with chocolate chips, my second a more "cookie" cookie which will handle almost any addition and has a lovely almost caramely base). In the end I used neither. As I was admiring the mess of the baking cupboard a bag of hazelnuts caught my eye, and in a flash I was online digging out a Nigel Slater (who else?!) recipe I'd spotted last week.
They came together in a flash, baked in less time it took to throw them together, and boy did they smell (and taste) amazing. They are slightly crisp on the outside and soft in the middle. They are the epitome of the lazy Sunday. You still have time to make them, go on....

Soft Sunday Cookies (I am renaming them this as it seems very appropriate)

100g dark chocolate, melted
38g soft unsalted butter
112g light muscovado sugar
1 egg
vanilla extract
25g hazelnuts, lightly toasted and ground (coarsly, not too fine)
75g Self raising flour

Preheat the oven to 180C, line two baking sheets with either parchment or silipat stuff.

Cream the butter and sugar together, and then beat in the egg and a dash of vanilla extract. Then add the hazelnuts, flour and chocolate and combine well. If you're doing this in a mixer don't forget to scrap down the sides.

Place dollops of the mixture onto the baking sheets (I used about 2tsp dollops and got 14nice sized cookies) Bake for exactly ten minutes and then remove from the oven. Allow to rest on the sheets for about five minutes, until they stop being too soft to move, then carefully transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

They will be slightly chewy/crisp on the outside and nicely soft in the middle.

p.s. Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments about the marmalade. I'm so pleased that I might have inspired some people to have a go making it themselves. However, I'm probably not helping my business prospects as now everyone will be doing it no-one will buy mine, oops! Seriously though, I hope you're all having as much fun with it as I do. There will be more preserving to come believe me!

And he does it again.

It official, Nigel Slater is rocking our world!

I just made his "very good chocolate brownie" recipe, and he's right, they are very good. No, make that VERY good! Yes ladies and gentlemen, that's bold and italic and capitals, they are that tasty.

I have been craving brownies again these last few days, unusual because although I like chocolate, it's rare that I crave it, and this makes it twice in two months, which is even weirder. I think the problem is that last time I made brownies they were alright, but not the crisp-on-the-outside-gooey-in-the-middle masterpieces I was hoping. This is probably a combination of over-baking and wanting to skimp on the calories and make them lower fat. Now that's all very well, I should eat low fat things because of my back (I have sciatica that is brought on because the muscles in my back can't metabolize fats very well and so become inflamed pressing on the nerve), and should eat low calorie things because of my conscience. Thing is, sometimes that just doesn't hit the spot. So out of the window go all the good intentions and into the oven goes gooey chocolatey goodness.

I finished reading "The Kitchen Diaries" by Nigel Slater this week. I had been saving it, reading it week by week according to the date. However, N has been working late this week and I needed something to keep me company. Plus the weather hasn't exactly been summery, so I didn't see any problem with dipping into the autumn months. This proved dangerous. It was as if Mr Slater had read my mind because there, hidden in the depths of October was a recipe for brownies, and worse, a picture. Damn they looked good.

I tried to resist I really did, but when I went out for the paper this morning it was cold and damp and I knew that brownies were going to be made. I figured I could make them, eat one today, ride the bike to wear off the calories and quickly whip the rest into the freezer for N's lunches. Hmmm, they're so good they may not last long enough to get in the freezer.

They are a very adult brownie, dark and rich but not too sweet. Crisp on the outside, but so fudgy as to almost be runny in the middle. I think the flavour was helped by the fact that I used 70% cocoa chocolate. I halved the recipe and had to slightly adapt it as a result, but there were no complaints when I dished them up. In fact I think the phrase from N was "these are a real winner." I served them with fresh hot coffee, but I think they'd be good as a dessert served simply with raspberries or strawberries - you won't need cream, believe me!

Nigel Slater's "very good chocolate brownies" adapted from "The Kitchen Diaries" - makes six.

150g caster sugar
125g butter
125g 70% chocolate
2 eggs
30g plain flour
30g cocoa flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

(I had to line half a baking tin, using folded parchment paper to make it half size, otherwise the brownies won't be thick enough. If you double the mixture (but use 3 eggs not 2) it should fit a brownie pan.)

Preheat the oven to 180C

Cream the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Beat the eggs and then slowly add to the mixture a bit at a time, combining in between each addition. Melt 100g of the chocolate in a double boiler or over a pan of simmering water (but don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water), chop the remaining chocolate into very mall pieces. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together. Add the melted and chopped chocolate to the eggs and sugar batter, combine and then slowly fold in the flour mixture, being careful to keep as much air in the mix as possible.

Spoon into the lined baking pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30 minutes. It should look slightly softer in the middle than the edges. A toothpick should come out wet, but not with raw batter on it. If it does return to the oven for a further 3 minutes, bearing in mind it will solidify as it cools. Remove from the oven and cool for at least an hour before cutting into squares and indulging.

Make this now, or; Nigel Slater's amazing strawberry jam

This is all that remains of the strawberry jam I made to go with the garden party scones. Yes, it was that good. Eat it with a spoon on it's own good. I can take no credit for it, all I did was follow NIgel Slater's recipe, which was perfect. I seriously think you should stop what you're doing, hunt out strawberries and a lemon and make this right now. It doesn't have much sugar in, and so won't keep like ordinary jam, but you won't need to worry about that believe me!

Nigel Slater's Strawberry Jam for eating immediately (recipe from the Observer Magazine)

750g Strawberries
215g Sugar
Juice of half a lemon

Rinse and hull the strawberries but don't dry them. Put them in a pan with the sugar and lemon juice. Roughly smush with a fork then place them over a low to medium heat. Stir occasionally for 15-20 mins, spooning off the pink froth as you go. The jam should be think enough to fall slowly from a spoon, but not to set. Enjoy with scones, yoghurt, or simply by the spoonful out of the jar!

Thank you Mr Slater, your jam rocked our world.

Salad fit for a bloke

"Salad isn't a meal, it's an accompaniment"

That's what N has told me on repeated occasions. Then whilst in LA we encountered some pretty uber salads and I began to sense N coming round to the idea that perhaps, just perhaps, some salads, if large and wholesome enough, might work as a main meal, although usually when accompanied with a large amount of bread.

I've been trying to find salads that will convince N that they are a main meal in their own right. I'm a big fan of salad, but think that much of the time, in this country at least, it gets a bad name. It is so often interpreted as a few limp lettuce leaves, a slice or two of cucumber and old mushy tomatoes and a horridly sweet, or acidic "dressing." This is NOT salad, this is a bad way of using up things that should have been used three or four days ago.

Salad should be a joyful celebration of great leaves, fantastically fresh fruit and veg, pulses, nuts, seeds, and all sorts of other lovely things. This was exactly what I was going for with my roasted beetroot and feta salad with mango and bulgar wheat. We had a bunch of beetroot arrive in our vegetable box, and a mango perfectly ripe from the previous week and I wanted to used both of them at their peak. I've been reading "The Kitchen Diaries" by Nigel Slater, and two of the things he mentioned had caught my eye: roasted beetroot and feta, and bulgar wheat and mango. They both sounded so wonderful, and I thought, why not combine the two. I figured that the earthy flavour of the beets and the salty cheese would match perfectly with the fresh sweetness of a rope mango. Turns out I was right!



The great thing was that N agreed! He had a huge bowl of it, and with a small portion of strawberries and cream for dessert it certainly made a meal.

Roasted beetroot and feta salad with mango and bulgar wheat (adapted from "The Kitchen Diaries" by Nigel Slater.

Serves two as a main course.

2 large fresh beetroot (about the size of apples)
Feta cheese (amount varies on how much you want - you could also use goats cheese)
1 ripe mango
bulgar wheat (again, amount depends on how much you want to add, I think I used aprox 100g)
fresh mint, chopped
fresh mixed salad leaves of your choice, washed and drained.
red wine vinegar
salt

Wash the beetroot and place them whole in a roasting tin and drizzle with oil. Roast at 200C for anywhere between 45-90 mins. It well depend on the freshness and size of your beetroot. Mine took about an hour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly, then cut into quarters sprinkle with a little salt and drizzle with red wine vinegar and leave to cool.

Whilst the beetroot is cooking you can prepare the rest of the salad. Place the bulgar wheat in a bowl with a few sprigs of mint. Cover with boiling water and leave for 30mins. Then drain any excess water off, shaking well to remove as much moisture as possible, then run a fork through it to fluff and separate the grains. Skin and chop the mango into bite-sized pieces and toss in with bulgar wheat, adding more chopped fresh mint to taste.

Choose and wash your salad leaves, drain well and divide between two bowls, then add the mango and bulgar wheat mix. Cut the skins of the cooled beetroot quarters and chop into bite-sized pieces and divide between the bowls, then top with as much feta as you wish.

Now that's a salad!

Ed's note: I also made a honey mustard dressing for ours to add a little more kick. Use two parts wholegrain mustard to one clear runny honey, the juice of half a lemon and a teaspoon of red wine vinegar. (you can adjust the amounts to suit your own taste of course).