Royal Housewife!

Kate Middleton...ahem....I mean the Duchess of Cambridge has announced she is going to focus on being a housewife for the time being!! While my new flat here in Edinburgh might not be quite as remote as her romantic cottage in Wales and the paparazzi isn't exactly following me around...I totally appreciate the feeling of wanting to "housewife"and I am sure she will be a brilliant 21st century housewife.  I wonder how I can make her aware of my blog??

I have no shame in declaring that I have been literally anticipating this union for the last however many months.  I'll admit I didn't go Royal Wedding tat crazy...but I did have my brunch menu planned for...oh...about 3 months!! Seriously...Kate...call me! 

My Ultimate Royal Wedding Brunch: 

Scones with cream and jam, Deviled Eggs, Smoked Salmon

Coronation Chicken sandwiches, cheese and pate platter, Pork Pie 

and Bubbly.  

Many happy returns Kate and Wills! 

Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume...

What a treat!!! I received a cryptic message from my Aunt Sandi the other week to "watch the mail"... wondering what surprises could be in store for me I anxiously listened for the thwap thwap of the mail slot.  To my total surprise I arrived home one day last week to an Amazon package waiting for me at my doorstep.  What could this be? I can only assume it is from Sandi...let's look inside! Ripping the cardboard off, I uncovered the gorgeous, sensual and exciting PURPLE CITRUS AND SWEET PERFUME cookbook by Silvena Rowe.  This book is a celebration of the eastern mediterranean...and MAN is it beautiful!!  There are so many incredible looking dishes, full of colour and flavour, and...well...a good deal of meat.  I am already planning on treating us to some meat over the next couple of weeks so that I can really dive into this gorgeous and totally tempting cuisine, but for now I'm sticking to some of the vegetarian dishes, starting with these easy to make Borek.

Filled with a simple mixture of swiss chard and lentils these Turkish delights (see what I did there?) made for an excellent light mid-week meal served with a simple green salad and some radishes.  The recipes from this book aren't on line but there are similar recipes for chard borek and lentil borek.  Try one...

Mummy's Tomato Hearts

These quick and easy little hors d'oeuvres are a favourite of mine.  My mum used to make them for family parties and I just absolutley love them!!  They are realy simple...cut puff pastry into little cirlces, smear on a bit of dijon mustard, top with half a cherry tomato, some shredded basil a couple of drips of olive oil and some salt, then bake for about 15 mins until the pastry is golden and puffed...yum  yum yummmmm!!

Retro Hors D'Oeuvres for Auntie Sandi

Saturday morning mummy and I went to Heathrow airport with David's mum to meet my Aunt Sandi off the plane from Toronto.  It was a very early start to the day but I had a great little snackie waiting at home for her (and us) to re-juvinate us all and get the party started for this final week of madness and mayhem. 

I had been thinking about something special to make Sandi (something as exciting as the quinoa pudding I made for mum) and it really had to be JUST RIGHT.  My Aunt, like my mum, is a great foodie and is totally in love with everything to do with food and making food and enjoying food and just experiencing fantastic flavours and textures.  This presented QUITE a challenge for me!! 

On Friday mummy and I were wandering around the Waitrose in Marylebone when I spied a package of mini croustades and I just knew I had to use them to make a little treat reminiscent of family get together's at my Nonna's house cira 1985...

My Nonna used to make a tray of these gorgeous little crispy cups filled with cream cheese and topped with half a smoked oyster...totally divine and totally inexpensive! When I spied these little croustades on the shelf I knew I had found the perfect treat to accompany the smoked salmon we were already planning on munching on.

When I was assembling this easy and totally yummy hors d'oeuvres I was immediately taken back to my childhood and family parties at my Nonna's house.  How fantastic is it that a single whiff of smoked oysters can transport me back 25 years?!  My grandparents aren't able to travel to the UK to celebrate the wedding, so it was really special to toast them with cream cheese and smoked oysters!! And my aunt was totally surprised when I brought out the platter...she said she would have never guessed that these were her surprise...not in a million years! A true Nonna special!!

PS did you spot that I used a whole oyster for each croustade? Half an oyster is just not exciting enough !! 

100% Scrummy...A valentine's meal for two

The last time that David and I were in the same city and managed to celebrate Valentine's Day was four years ago! We bought some goldfish for our tank and had McDonalds for dinner...how romantic! This year, in our house together...with our wedding on the horizon and the cash flow feeling the squeeze we agreed to do nothing elaborate....nothing over the top....nothing too gushy...oh and to celebrate on Saturday instead!!

We had a wonderful lazy day, went for a stroll, bought some food for dinner, watched some soccer, played the game of Life (he won by $12,000...practically nothing...but he always wins!) and then watched Cool Runnings in honour of the Winter Olympics...oh and, eventually, enjoyed a wonderful SCRUMMY and romantic dinner. 

Earlier in the week I had decided that I would make Pasta al Salmone Affumicato, or pasta with smoked salmon and a cream sauce, which is apparently a standard Valentine's Day dish in Italy. This dish is such a wonderful, yet easy treat...and made especially gushy when the pasta shape used is....heart shaped!

I am a sucker for pasta shapes, and...looking at these, can you blame me? Surprisingly, and unlike most novelty shaped pasta I have bought (leaning towers of piza, high heeled shoes, bob the builder) they held their shape really well and still resembled hearts when cooked!

The sauce was really easy and something that I urge anyone to try if, like me, you love smoked salmon and cream! I have made variations of this dish in the past, sort of guessing proportions and haphazardly throwing the ingredients into the pan...but yesterday I took the time to have a quick look on-line and ended up using this recipe for the correct proportions.  I added some grated parmesan cheese to thicken the sauce slightly and let is bubble away longer than suggested...I think that the sauce needs to be nice and thick, besides you can always add some cooking water from the pasta if gets too thick.  The main point is that the sauce takes pretty much the same time to cook as the pasta does! Oh and I reserve a bit of the salmon to sprinkle overtop!

To go with this gorgeous, creamy, velvety and did I meantion EASY pasta I wanted to try something new as a starter.  I don't usually serve different courses but I thought, this being Valentine's Day and all...I would!! We agreed that a salad would be the best option...light and a good compliment to the creamy pasta that we were both looking forward to. 

Salad is fine as a side dish, but it really needs to be something special to be served in its own right.  In order to jazz up the baby leaves I bought I thought I would try my hand at making some candied walnuts to team with crumbled danish blue cheese (softer than stilton but not as creamy as gorgonzola) and thiny sliced Braeburn Apple (crunchy and sweet) with a simple oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. 

I've never candied walnuts before and used this recipe from Our Best Bites Blog. It is really easy, but requires patience and concentration!! If you have never candied nuts before this is an easy to follow recipe with great results!! 

Minimal preparation time for the whole meal, minimal cooking time...lots of time to eat and enjoy hanging out with My Valentine!

Vietnamese inspired cold rolls

One of my most favourite pick-me-ups is a big hot steamy bowl of Vietnamese Pho soup.  I've not been to Vietnam so I can't honestly say with certainty that I have had authenic pho before...but my first expereinces were in a small fluorescent lit restaurant in the east end of Toronto, surrounded by numerous other vietnamese restaurants, all promoting Pho.  Since then I actively search out Pho wherever I go...One of my most favourite restaurants in London, aptly named PHO, is close to Oxford Circus and was the perfect location to revive ourselves after a long walk and windowshopping yesterday.

Today I took some inspiration from our spring rolls and big bowls of hot and steamy soup and made some crunchy satisfying fresh rolls filled with corriander, cucumber, carrot, red onion, red pepper and lettuce wrapped in left over rice wrappers (which I have since found for sale in the local market)...and served cold!

The dip is a new sweet chili dipping sauce from Marks and Spencers Simply Food with added mango! yum!

Tuesday's adventure with Tofu!

Last week I bought some tofu in anticipation of making a Vietnamese recipe from the World Vegetarian Classics book, which really needs to be back in the library soon....but, well, I changed my mind about the tofu noodle dish and yesterday looking through the fridge I saw the box sitting there on the shelf begging to be used...handy actually because I was dieing to try another recipe as a test run for when Lee comes to visit next week. NEXT WEEK!

I really really really really like tofu.  I don't LOVE it when it is cold, but if it is warm (or deep fried) I will finish every last bit! I didn't know if David would like it or not, but thankfully he is pretty adventurous!!

In preparation for Lee's visit (we've planned the menu already!) I stocked up on a few Asian ingredients while I was in London over the weekend meaning that I was totally ready to rock the tofu yesterday!! Having lived in Toronto and London I sometimes find it annoying that there isn't more of a variety of international ingredients at my supermarket in Chelmsford.  They are getting better...recently I have spied a Thai section of imported goods (not just UK brand name stuff) and also saw tinned bamboo shoots and water chestnuts yesterday in the "Indian and Chinese" section...there is hope, and I know that I can always request things...I might build up the courage!

In total this recipe took about 1 hour to complete (including time for marinating) and, although a bit fiddly, it was worth the organisation/preparation. 

First the tofu is marinaded in hoisin sauce for 30 mins, then it is wrapped in softened rice paper wrappers with a corriander leaf and left to self-seal in the fridge for about 15 mins.  All that can be done in advance (which is what I did) and then taken out and deep fried minutes before serving.
 

These Crackling Rice-paper Parcels with Hoisin Tofu were surprisingly amazing! I was actually really happy with myself.  I rarely deep fry anything, and haven't used rice-paper wrappers before but the results were really nice.  Some of the wrappers got a bit too brown, and one (in the middle) sort of split...but the taste and texture was really nice. 

Hot Artichoke Dip

I found this recipe on the internet weeks ago, and can't for the life of me remember which site it came from...most likely allrecipes.com or something like that.  Anyway, it is fabulous! The flavour and texture is EXACTLY  like something my mum used to make when I was little...and which I would devour...and trust me...this was devoured too!!

I love artichokes, fresh, tinned or in oil in a jar....this recipe uses tinned artichoke hearts in water, and while I had to trudge all over Chelmsford to find them it was worth it (and I bought more than one tin...so that I would have some for next time...I am SO SMART!)!

Hot Artichoke Dip

1 large tin artichoke hearts  in water, drained and chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
4oz (113 g) fresh parmesean cheese, grated
1/3 cup mayonaise

Mix all ingredients together
Pour into oven proof dish
Bake in hot oven, about 15 mins or until bubbling

**you could whizz it all up in a food processer, but I like the texture when the artichoke hearts are chopped by hand**