Preparation method:
Soak the porcini mushrooms in hot water for 10 minutes, then
drain well.
Heat the oil in a large, heavy based saucepan and add the
onion and garlic. Fry over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes,
until softened. Add the chestnut mushrooms and fry for a
further 2-3 minutes, until browned.
Stir in the rice and coat in the oil. Pour in the wine and
simmer, stirring, until the liquid has been absorbed.
Add a ladleful of the stock and simmer, stirring again,
until the liquid has been absorbed. Continue adding the
stock in this way, until all the liquid has been absorbed
and the rice is plump and tender.
Roughly chop the soaked porcini mushrooms and stir into the
risotto, along with the parsley, butter and salt and pepper.
Serve with freshly grated Parmesan.
Parmigiano Reggiano
crisp canapés
Makes 10 canapés
Ingredients:
15ml crème fraiche
Finely grated zest of one lemon
Fennel seeds, chopped
Grated and shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, to serve
½ small fennel bulb
75g Hot smoked salmon, flaked
Salt and black pepper
Crisps:
50g Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
1 tbsp plain flour Method
1. Grease and line a large baking sheet with greaseproof
paper
2. Mix Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and plain flour, along
with a good pinch of black pepper.
3. Spoon teaspoon-sized rounds of this mixture onto the
baking sheet and flatten slightly with the back of the
spoon.
4. Place the rounds under a hot grill for 2-3 minutes until
the cheese has melted to make a golden brown crisp.
5. Remove each crisp carefully using a pallet knife and
leave to cool on greaseproof paper.
6. Mix crème fraiche together with lemon zest and season to
taste.
7.To assemble,spoon a small amount of lemon crème
fraiche on top of each crisp.
Food & Drink
Phil Vickery's Cookery
Master Class
Watch Phil Vickery’s latest Video where
he shows you the Coastal Cuisine at Oban in
Scotland
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Dear Food Lovers,
I have spent many years cooking all different sorts
of food, from great British menu’s to high-class
brassieres. I have also been lucky enough to travel,
and still do, to cook, and meet some of the best
producers of food all around the world. There
are two overriding factors that prevail in all the
dishes I have seen, prepared and eaten. They are, a
great raw product to start with, and cooked very
simply. These two factors are absolute when it comes
to cooking great food. But wherever I travel, and
whatever I prepare and eat, I always return to my
great British culinary roots.
A great example of this is Ann Muller, pasty queen
as she is affectionately known, has been making
pasties for years, along with her mother Hettie. It
really is a family affair, the husband and daughter
heavily involved.
The basic ingredients never change, potatoes, Swedes
(known as turnips) onions, seasoning, mostly pepper,
beef skirt and of course, pasty pastry. I did try
and get the recipe out of Ann, but to no avail.
There are many outlets now making pasties, and a lot
not even in Cornwall, something Ann clearly dose not
approve of. Again, the basic recipe will never
change, something that Ann and her family have built
up over many years. You have to get there early,
because once they have gone, that’s it for another
day. Its great to see a thriving business built
around something so simple. I was once taught;
simple ingredients put together thoughtfully will
always win out.
Some seasonal Fruit
and Vegetables to look out for
One last thing, you can now follow me on Twitter, I
have resisted this for a long time and please don’t
think I am going to ‘tweet’ (as they say) about
every little aspect of my existence; like some
others I could mention!
It will just be a few good recipes and updates every
now and then.
So if you fancy getting a tweet from me, go to my
website and click on the little bird at the top of
the page.
Method: 1. Add the
eggs, butter, flour, sugar, baking powder &
salt to a bowl and beat with a hand whisk until
blended. 2. Add the
cordial and briefly mix again. The batter
should be loose enough to dollop off a spoon. 3. Line a bun tin with fairy cake
cases. Fill each case
2/3 with batter and bake at 190C / GM 5 for about
12
minutes. 4.
Put the butter in the food processor bowl
and process
for a minute or so, until soft and fluffy. Pour in
the icing
sugar and cordial, put the lid back on and cover
with a
damp tea towel, and process again. Scrape the
sides
down adding more cordial or icing sugar if needed
and
process again. 5. Decorate
your cakes, using sprinkles and love hearts 6. Both raw
cake batter and the frosting freeze well.
Chef’s
Tip:
The secret to fluffy buttercream is to beat the
butter really well before you add any sugar. The
trick is to make the butter cream in the food
processor to prevent the kitchen being covered in
clouds of icing sugar. If you make it with a hand
mixer you will need to add the icing sugar slowly to
the butter.
Loseley Summer Meadow Butter is packed in a
250g tub and costs £1.39p.
Loseley Chilled Foods are available from the
chilled cabinet of local independent grocers,
Waitrose and Ocado. Visit
www.loseley.com
for more information.
Spinach and
Ricotta Cannelloni
This is such a wonderfully light and super-tasty
cannelloni, and again I've avoided making the
frustrating, painstaking béchamel sauce and
given you a much tastier and simpler version.
Ingredients:
2 knobs of butter
olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
a large handful of fresh marjoram or oregano,
roughly chopped
¼ of a nutmeg, grated
8 large handfuls of spinach, thoroughly washed
a handful of fresh basil, stalks chopped, leaves
ripped
2 x 400g tins of good-quality plum tomatoes,
chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a pinch of sugar
400g crumbly ricotta cheese
2 handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
16 cannelloni tubes
200g mozzarella, broken up
for the white sauce
1 x 500ml tub of crème fraîche
3 anchovies, finely chopped
2 handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.
Then find a metal baking tray or ovenproof dish
that will fit the cannelloni in one layer so
it's nice and snug. This way you'll get the
right cover of sauce and the right amount of
crispiness on top.
Take your metal tray or a saucepan, put it on a
high heat and add your butter, a drizzle of
olive oil, one of the sliced garlic cloves, a
handful of marjoram or oregano and the grated
nutmeg.
By the time the pan is hot the garlic should be
soft. Put as much spinach as will fit into the
pan. Keep turning it over; it will wilt quickly
so you will be able to keep adding more spinach
until it's all in.
Moisture will cook out of the spinach, which is
fine. By cooking it this way you don't lose any
of the nutrients that you would if boiling it in
water.
After 5 minutes, put the spinach into a large
bowl and leave to cool. Place the pan back on
the heat, add a little olive oil, the other
clove of sliced garlic, your basil stalks and
the tomatoes, then fill one of the empty tomato
tins with cold water and add this too.
Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down, add
a pinch of salt and pepper and the sugar, and
simmer for about 10 minutes, until you get a
loose tomato sauce consistency. Then take the
pan off the heat and add the basil leaves.
By now the spinach will have cooled down, so
squeeze any excess liquid out of it and pour
this back into the bowl. Finely chop the spinach
and put it back into the bowl. Mix it with the
liquid, add the ricotta and a handful of the
Parmesan, and then use a piping bag to squeeze
the mixture into the cannelloni.
Lay the cannelloni over the tomato sauce in the
pan. Or you can pour the tomato sauce into your
ovenproof dish and lay the cannelloni on top. To
make the white sauce, mix together the crème
fraîche, anchovies and the 2 handfuls of
Parmesan with a little salt and pepper, then
loosen with a little water until you can spoon
it over the cannelloni. Drizzle with olive oil,
sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and the
mozzarella pieces, and bake for about 20 to 25
minutes until golden and bubbling.
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