The Ample Cook

Theo Randall at The Intercontinental

2010-09-09T13:58:00.005+01:00

So, how did we come to find oursleves trolling round Harrod's Christmas decorations in early August? We were keeping out of the rain, that's how.

Mr Ample Cook and myself were having an amble around Knightsbridge (as one does dahling) before makng our way to Theo Randall's restauarant at The Intercontinental Hotel.

Weather wise, it was one of those days that was blazing sunshine one minute and coming down in stair rods the next. So, to stop my sling-backs getting completely water logged, we bundled ourselves into Harrods.

Whilst wandering aimlessly around the store, I spotted that their Chritmas shop was open, much to Mr AC's complete and utter delight. He indicated his displeasure in a silent but sarcastic way.

I took the hint and after a very brief look at the pretty shining stuff and a whizz through the food hall, we headed back out to a rather nice pub for a quick 'snifter' before arrivng at the restaurant.

We had already decided to try the pre-theatre menu, which at £23 for 2 courses and £27 for 3, it seemed a great bargain and made even more so by a free glass of prosecco, for booking through Top Table.

Whilst we were making our choices and sipping on our prosecco (which by the way arrived completely unprompted) we were presented with some very good sour dough bread which had been rubbed with very ripe, sweet tomatoes and the lightest focaccia I have ever eaten. It was salty and oily and utterly delcious.

To start, Mr AC chose the smoked eel with beetroots, dandelion and fresh horseradish. Whilst I ordered the bresaola, with parmesan and rocket. Both dishes were delicious, in parrticular, the smoked eel was soft and not over smoked.

On to the main course. I don't know if you do this, but we always try not to order the same thing, so that we can taste each other's food. However on this occasion we both wanted the guinea fowl and neither was budging. Thank goodness I didn't give in, because I would have seriously missed out.

The breasts of guinea fowl had been stuffed with prosciutto di Parma, mascarpone and thyme, wood roasted and were served on pagnotta bruschetta with Swiss chard and roasted datterini tomatoes (to be precise).

It was dreamy. The bird was perfectly cooked, crispy skin outside and moist and succulent inside. The sauce was creamy, rich and deeply flavoured.

With hindsight I think the zucchini fritters were a dish too far. A rocket salad would have been the sensible choice. Having said that, they were gorgeous, light, crispy and very moreish. They were like that bowl of chips that you order with your pub lunch to share, you don't need them, but you can't stop yourself keep digging in.

Feeling fairly stuffed at this point, naturally the only course of action was to order dessert. We plumped for the tiramisu and the Amalfi lemon tart.

The tiramisu had a lot to live up to because Mr AC makes a truly amazing one (don't tell him I admitted to that) We are tiramisu 'purists' – snobs even.

This one was good, if a little too refined. They had used sponge cake rather than boudoir biscuits and the bottom layer was chocolate sponge – tsk. I'm being hypercritical though, it was still very enjoyable.

The tart was excellent. The pastry was crisp, the filling silky and it was bursting with lemons.

Even though we couldn't manage to push down a coffee, our waitress still brought us some petit fours: almond tuiles and dark, rich chocolate truffles. Excellent they were too.

We were deeply impressed with our visit here. The food and the service were excellent and the bill at £80, for 3 courses, 2 glasses of prosecco, a large glass of wine each and 12.5% service, I think you'll agree is a complete bargain.

From pergola to plate

2010-08-04T15:51:00.001+01:00

We have had a vine in our garden for about 10 years. It branches out under our pergola, making a lovely shady spot to eat outside when the temperature rises.

Being lovers of Greek food, we have often made dolmades (stuffed vine leaves) but never using the leaves from our vine. Stupid I know. I can only think that I was always under the misapprehension that they had to be brined first, but no, they can be used fresh.

I got Tiny to pick quite a few (as he doesn't need to get the step ladders out) making sure he avoided the ones that been, ahem, 'blessed' by the birds.

These were thoroughly washed and boiled for 10 minutes until they were soft, but still whole.

I then made a stuffing of ground lamb, arborio rice, spring onions, chopped dill, mint and plenty of salt and pepper.

When all of the leaves were stuffed and rolled up, I added a little chicken stock and put them in the oven for about 50 minutes.

As I'd only used 250g of the lamb and I'd bought half a kilo, with the rest I made little koftas with chunks of feta.

We ate the vine leaves with home made tzatziki and rice-stuffed courgettes and tomatoes and a salad. Oh and the kofta, some bread and a few potatoes (well, my motto is 'never knowingly under-catered').

Even if I say so myself, they were delicious. The contrast of the warm, soft, well flavoured, wrapped lamb, dipped into the cold garlicky tzatziki was bliss.

Busy, busy, busy

2010-07-22T12:21:00.005+01:00

Apparently, according to my loyal fans (yes, both of you) I don't blog enough.

The main reason for this,is that most of the time I'm really busy, but also I usually only post something that I feel will be interesting.

Anyway, point taken and I will try and post more frequently.

In the meanwhile, here is a photo of a pan of fried onions and potatoes that I thought looked particularly tasty. These were destined to accompany some sausages for my Dad. Frozen down in dinner-sized portions.

Every couple of weeks I make a few dinners for his freezer to ensure he eats something other than egg and bacon and Mr Kipling Viennese whirls. He is a little lazy in the kitchen department and if he can get by on cornflakes and Benson & Hedges he will.

Anyway, I hope to blog a bit faster and thank you for your feedback.

Here's one I grew earlier

2010-07-02T10:50:00.016+01:00

We have enjoyed the fruits of my sister's allotment for quite a few years now. Both she and my brother-in-law work very hard to produce the most amazing vegetables. There really is nothing like growing your own for flavour and freshness.

As Lynne has got a rather large allotment she suggested that we might like to take on a couple of plots and have a go at growing our own too. "You'll enjoy it" she said. "It will be fun" Mmmm.

So, a couple of weeks ago, having bribed Tiny with a post-digging pint or two of foaming ale, we dug, weeded and prepared two plots and planted carrots, spring onions, beetroots and three types of beans: runner, climbing and dwarf.

Three of my babies still in the nursery

I have to say, that harvesting our first beetroots and spring onions has been quite exciting (I don't get out much).

Along with some of Lynne's broad beans, we decided to have our 'first born's' in a warm goats cheese salad.

I roasted the beets and blanched and peeled the broad beans. I then fried up a few smoked bacon lardons, made a mustardy dressing and toasted some walnuts. Finally, I warmed the goats cheese in the oven until it was a bit oozy, then assembled the salad.

It was delicious. The beetroots were sweet, the cheese unctuous and the bacon, well, there's nothing that bacon doesn't improve in my opinion.

Lynne was right, the allotment is worth all the hard work. In fact going over on a sunny evening to water and weed is the perfect way to unwind. All you can hear are the birds singing, the other allotmenteers always smile and say hello and you go home with some really fresh veg for your dinner.

I think I'm hooked.

Black, Belly & Bubble

2010-05-01T13:38:00.013+01:00

Skinny people or those afraid of fat look away now. There's nothing for you here.

To explain the title: Black pudding, pork belly and bubble squeak. Three of my favourite things to eat. They are of course all low fat and form part of your 'five-a-day'..

The stuffed pork really kicked off the other two dishes. We were having a couple of friends round for dinner and I'd already got the belly in mind for main course, but wanted to do something a bit different. So, having got some Gloucester Old Spot sausage meat in the freezer, along with a large wodge of black pudding, it set me thinking that the combination of all three would be a winner.

So, I made a stuffing by sauteing an onion in butter, added it to the sausage meat with seasoning, bit of sage and then crumbled in some of the black pudding. My trusty kitchen slave Tiny then stuffed the belly and neatly tied it up ready for the oven.

It worked brilliantly. The stuffing was deeply savoury and matched really well with the soft, moist pig meat. It was porktastic.

Our porkiness knowing no limits, the next morning our thoughts turned to breakfast (well, brunch actually) and the left over stuffing.

Fried up with a couple of eggs it was shall we say 'hearty' or more accurately 'heart damaging'. But none the less extremley tasty.

The porkfest doesn't exactly stop there, as there was the leftover stuffed belly to eat up. We didn't have it that night, as that would be too much wouldn't it? Would it? YES it would.

So, the next day, with cholesterol withdrawl, I topped us both up by making a nice big pan of bubble and squeak to accompany lovely thick slices of the pork. Even when cold, the pork and the stuffing was really good.

Right, back to the crispbreads and cottage cheese........

Would you like to see my buns?

2010-04-04T19:21:00.005+01:00

I have never made hot cross buns before. Strange but true. I suppose it's because there are such good quality ones out there. There are also, it has to be said some nasty, cheap ones which are doughy and contain very little fruit.

Anyway, I thought it was time to have a go myself and obviously Easter was the time to make them. Well actually I made these a week before Easter and then made some more actually on Good Friday.

For me, they have to be really fruity and full of spice, otherwise they're just buns, or small teacakes. They're basically bread dough enriched with an egg and some butter and obviously lots of mixed spice, cinnamon and dried fruit.

The 'cross' is very simple, it's just flour and water piped onto the risen buns before baking.

After baking, a brushing of sugar syrup and hey presto, shiny, spicy, fruity buns.

Sausage Surprise

2010-02-03T17:23:00.004Z

I love a good sausage. I'm a bit of a plain sausage girl - really good pork and a bit of herbage, leek if you must. None of your 'duck and cranberry' or 'lamb and apricot' thank you very much. This obviously doesn't include Toulouse or the lovely Italian sausages. I'm talking about a British banger.

So, on a trip to the farm shop I surprised Tiny by arriving home with some venison sausages. They were big, plump and looked very meaty and I knew that it wasn't going to do them justice just having them with mash and fried onions. No, that would be wrong. I thought how about doing a sort of sausage bourguignon? lardons of smoked bacon, garlic, time, red wine, bit of chicken stock, garlic and finishing off with some sauteed mushrooms (couldn't be arsed to do the baby onions)

With a big pile of mash they were superb. Big meaty sausages in a rich, garlicy, red wine gravy. Tiny's verdict? Apparently I can surprise him with a sausage any time I like.

An Ample Christmas

2010-01-06T15:46:00.010Z

December is a busy time for me and this year was no exception. Although 'kitchen fatigue' can set in, it doesn't diminish my enthusiasm for cooking our Christmas goodies.

I'd already made the Christmas puddings, sloe gin and mincemeat a few months before, so it was time to do the fresh things.

First up was a batch of fudge. This went down particularly well with my nieces. I don't think it made it past Christmas day evening actually.

Then some cheesy feet! They're quite amusing to serve with drinks. The recipe is from Nigella's 'Feast' book. Sad person that I am, I have in the past pressed sesame seeds into each foot for toenails. I can't believe I've just admitted to that. Oh well.

Then, it was time to prepare 'The Pie'. It's a tradition started by Tiny's family, to have a slice of this, with a glass of champagne on Christmas morning when you're opening your pressies. It's usually a combination of chicken, rabbit & pork, but I used some lovely free range turkey thighs instead of the chicken this year.

As we were obviously going to be tucking in to a fair amount of meat over the next few days we decided to have some fish on Christmas eve. We started with smoked salmon on crostini and then a warm salad of scallops wrapped in bacon.

Christmas day was spent at my sister's, where we had roast turkey and all the trimmings. She also made a fantastic beef wellington as her Mother-in-law doesn't eat white meat (no trouble!) This was all rounded off with Christmas pud and then later on, although still full, we had some Christmas cake.

Lynne's beautiful cake

It was our turn to have the family over on the Sunday and it was to be a cold meat and pickle meal. I think we enjoy the cold meat meal over Christmas as much as we enjoy the roast on Christmas day.

We didn't want to do just cold turkey or chicken so we planned to cook a sort of two-bird roast. I set my trusty kitchen Boy (Tiny) the task of preparing the wonderful beastie. He boned out a large free range chicken and then added a layer of pork, apricot & walnut stuffing, then added some boned turkey thigh and finished with a final layer of pork, bacon & chestnut stuffing.

To go with it, I made a huge pan of bubble and squeak, some creamy mash, roast carrots and parsnips and braised red cabbage and apple. My sister is a vegetarian, so I made her a leek, cheddar & garlic mushroom tart.

We finished off the meal with a choice of almond and toffee puddings with toffee sauce or apple & mincemeat crumble. Mr Creosote had nothing on us.

After a very long walk on the Monday we sat down to a much simpler meal of veg and lentil soup with chipolata sprinkles. I also made some poppy seed rolls.

Christmas over, it was like we blinked and suddenly it was New Year. Now, both being the grumpy 50 somethings that we are, we tend to stay in on New Year's eve. If you stay at home you don't have to try and get a taxi at 2am in the morning, you get something decent to eat and the booze is cheap. Told you we were grumpy.

We decided to have a 'grazing' evening to make coarse pork terrine a couple of days before NYE to enable it to develop its wonderful flavours. We also had some smoked salmon and a couple of cheeses and some fruit. Oh and copious amounts of fizz and wine.

So, any ideas why my jeans are feeling tight? I've tried convincing my self that they've shrunk in the wash and the sad thing is, I'm almost believing it.

Happy New Year everyone, from Ample Cook Towers.

The Swan, Lavenham, Suffolk

2009-11-26T16:05:00.014Z

A few weeks ago I got a text from our friends asking if we were free on the 19th November as they were getting married What? in 3 weeks? Blimey. I must admit, congratulations weren't the first thing on my mind, but more selfishly, was I going to be able to find a new frock in that time?

Seriously it was great news and made even better because the wedding was going to be held at The Swan in Lavenham. Both The Swan and the village of Lavenham are lovely places. The last time were in Lavenham we stayed in a cottage for a long weekend for Tiny's birthday and had a wonderful time.

On the day we drove up it was a lovely crisp sunny day. We arranged to meet a couple of friends in The Angel for lunch as the wedding wasn't until 3.30. I opted out of eating as I was conscious that I was going to have to be shoe-horned into my 'control tights' in an hour or so and therefore thought it best to abstain. The others tucked in though to sausages & mash, home cooked thickly sliced ham sandwiches and sausage, chorizo & bean stew - sorry no photos.

Then it was off to The Swan (all of 100yds away) to book in and begin getting ready. The Swan dates back to the 15th century and is a wonderful building, full of oak beams and inglenook fireplaces and is beautifully furnished.

Our room was very comfortable and had a huge bed - it was almost wider than I am tall. It's always a relief when we get to a hotel room and find that we have a king sized bed, because if it's a standard double Tiny's feet hang out of the bottom and get cold.

Having scoffed one of the packets of complimentary biscuits between us (choc chip cookies if you're interested) we started getting changed. We both had new outfits and if I say so myself, we had scrubbed up rather well.

The ceremony, although quite short, was lovely. There were only 30 of us which made it rather cosy and intimate.

After the photos we made our way to the lounge, where seated on comfy sofas and with a log fire blazing, giving a lovely glow to the room and the guest's faces, we enjoyed champagne and canapes, which was rather civilised.

After quite a while of quaffing, nibbling and mingling we were beckoned through to dine. The room was bathed in candle light and the tables looked beautiful.

The meal was excellent. We started with chicken and roasted pepper terrine, which was moist, well seasoned and very tasty.

The main course of roasted rump of lamb, ratatouille and dauphinoise potato was equally as good. The lamb was tender and cooked to perfection and the dauphinoise was creamy, garlicky and unctuous and the ratatouille still had texture and wasn't too tomatoey.

The meal was rounded off with a lemon tart and raspberry sorbet which I didn't feel belonged together. Having said that, they were both extremely good. Lovely crisp pastry on the tart and the sorbet was bursting with flavour and not overly sweet.

After more drinks and some witty and touching speeches we relaxed over coffee in the lounge. Feeling very full, slightly squiffed and happy we weebled up to bed having had a lovely afternoon and evening.

I thoroughly recommend the Swan. The food, the rooms and the attentiveness of the staff made the occasion very special.

Just one thing though, if you're tall you might find the hotel a little challenging - as Tiny did.

The reason the photo is blurred is because I was laughing.

The Swan Hotel

Lavenham

Suffolk

CO10 9QA

http://www.theswanatlavenham.co.uk/

The Crown Prince and the naked pumpkin

2009-11-20T17:15:00.021Z

I think of the seasons in terms of food. I love Autumn because it's the time of year for my favourite foods: casseroles, stews, pot roasts, root veg and hearty soups. Comfort food I suppose. To me it's the mash & gravy season.

As regular readers of this blog will know, I am extremely lucky to be on the receiving end of my sister's hard work on her allotment. During the Summer we had no end of goodies. And now Autumn is here I've been taking delivery of leeks, parsnips, onions and some smashing pumpkins (weren't they a band in the 90s?)

These plump beauties are a variety called Crown Prince. Their extremely tough, light grey exterior, is such a contrast to their bright orange flesh. They're fantastic just roasted with a little oil and butter, salt and pepper and served as a veg accompaniment, but they make the most wonderful soup. It's like you've liquidised an orange velvet cushion. It's so silky, warm and comforting. The recipe I use is from a very old Covent Garden Soup cook book, which my sister bought for me years ago. (Recipe below)

The other variety that she's been growing is a 'naked seed' variety. Now, a naked seed pumpkin means that the seeds lack the slightly tough husk that other pumpkins have, therefore they're much nicer to eat.

This gnarly 'naked' brute is a variety called Lady Godiva (great name eh?) It really is only good for its seeds as the flesh is quite tasteless.

And here they are. Aren't they gorgeous? Silky, pearly little critters - like little legless green beetles.

Once they're out of the pumpkin you just dry them off and roast them. You can obviously leave it there, but after roasting I ground up some celery seed, rock salt black pepper and chilli and mixed it into the seeds. They were delicious on top of the soup, but they are great to just nibble (terribly healthy)

One of the baby pumpkins still in the nursery aaaaah.

Some of the older ones having a little go on the trampoline

Pumpkin Soup

25g (1oz) butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
200g (7oz) potatoes, peeled and chopped
900g (2lb) pumpkin, diced
250g (9oz) carrots, diced
1.2l (2 pints) vegetable stock
150ml (1/4 pint) milk
demerera sugar to taste
finely grated nutmeg to taste
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Melt the butter and cook the onion gently for 5 minutes in a covered saucepan, without colouring. Add the potato, 700g (1 1/2 lb) of the pumpkin, the carrots and the vegetable stock. Cover, bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Cool a little, then puree in a liquidiser. Return to a clean saucepan and stir in the milk. Meanwhile, add the remaining pumpkin to a saucepan of boiling salted water and cook for 2 minutes. Drain and add to the pureed soup. Add the sugar, nutmeg and seasoning to taste.

A Sloe afternoon

2009-10-18T08:32:00.007+01:00

Every year around about the end of September Mr AC and I go sloe picking. You have to wait until the fruit has a 'bloom' on it - which means that the little black berries take on a sort of opaque bluishness. NEVER eat one. They're so sour they'll draw your bum up to your elbows (as my Father-in-law used to so eloquently say).

Sloes are the fruit of the blackthorn bush. Thorn indeed, the branches are covered in incredibly sharp and vicious ones. When we've finished picking our arms look like we've been self-harming.

So why do we do this? Sloe gin of course! (and sometimes vodka). Firstly the berries should be individually pricked with a needle or a fork, but as this is incredibly tedious, we just pop them into the freezer for a day or so, then when you defrost them they 'break down' a little bit all by themselves and they're then in a perfect state to release their flavour and their fantastic colour. Then, you just add gin and sugar, shake the contents up every so often and three months later (coincides nicely with Christmas ha ha!) you strain the gin through some muslin and there you are. We usually make enough to give some away as gifts.

However, this is not all we make from these blue/black little devils. Combined with some cooking apples and sugar they make a fantastic jelly.

You just simmer equal quantities of sloes and bramley apples with some water until they're really soft. You then need to separate the clear juice from the fruit pulp.

So, to do this, first sterilise an elephant's condom..........

Only joking, it's a jelly bag!! It fits over a metal frame/stand thingy (which tends to collapse while you're trying to stretch it over). When it's finally in place, you just dollop in the fruity mixture and leave it to drip into the bowl below. One important thing to remember is NOT to squeeze your bag (ooh matron) as this makes the jelly go cloudy.

When all of the juice has dripped through, you just add sugar (1 pint of juice to 1½ lbs of sugar) and boil it in the same way that you would when making jam. The crimson coloured juice then turns a much darker, almost black coloured jelly.

The flavour it develops is not unlike a full bodied, tannin rich red wine. It keeps its fruity flavour, but it leaves a lovely dryness in your mouth and I think it is perfect with white meats. In fact we always have it with our Christmas turkey and pork.

Last weekend though we ate it with some chicken breasts that I stuffed with black pudding and wrapped in bacon. The combination of flavours worked really well.

Down the pan

2009-10-15T18:29:00.003+01:00

A change of scene for this blog, for 'tis I, Tiny, 'guest blogging'. The Ample Cook was uncertain how to tackle this one so neatly sidestepped and before I knew it the laptop was on my lap. The keener eyed amongst you may notice there has been a slight delay in publishing and there are no photos– this will all be explained further on.

The subject of this blog is the Toulouse Restaurant in Southend-on-Sea. We had heard mixed reviews from fellow foodies so the opportunity to go with a confirmed supporter gave us the opportunity to make up our own minds. Toulouse is housed in a converted public convenience (two loos, geddit?) on Southend's seafront, away from the gaudy amusements thankfully, with views across the estuary to the twinkling lights of Kent (if you ignore the burger shack dead opposite!). Presided over by Stephane Bailhe, ex-proprietor of Stefans Restaurant, Toulouse opened with the obligatory open kitchen, slick web-site with the arty quotes from the chef proprietor, and minimalist design that passes for 'London chic'. It should be said at this point that we had enjoyed a couple of cracking meals at Stefans so we hoped for an enjoyable evening of French-based food.

The evening started well as the welcoming maitre d' guided us to join our friend who was already in residence sipping a glass of prosecco with a selection of olives. AC decided to follow suit with the prosecco whilst I plumped for a G&T choosing Bombay Sapphire over Tanqueray. The drinks arrived with no further olives and my G&T was premixed – not impressed, I like to control how much tonic I add to my gin. Still, lots of catching up to do with our friend and an interesting menu to peruse.

Having made our choices we were shown to our table, just near enough to the open kitchen to be able to see what was going on without suffering too much from the noise, perfect for nosey buggers like us. A bottle of Shiraz and a bottle of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc were dispensed by the waitress along with a glass of soda water. Is it me, or is £2 a lot for a glass of soda water?
Starters arrived, in order of acceptability: crab, and prawn fishcakes with red mullet beignet, salad and oriental dressing; duck terrine with orange chutney and toasted brioche; and caramelised onion and stilton tart with wild roquette. Our friend's fishcakes were made from minced fish, negating the ability to identify any of the ingredients which is probably just as well as the oriental dressing clashed badly with the bland fishcake. On the positive side, the red mullet was deemed 'delicious', the overall dish just seemed ill-concieved. My terrine was of a strange, slimy, texture with a distinct lack of taste and little sign of the slices of duck breast the maitre d' had waxed so lyrically about, whilst the chutney consisted of primarily of hard pieces of orange peel. The single slice of brioche was out of all proportion to the amount of terrine served. These two dishes were off the 'Daily Specials' menu, whilst the AC's dish was off the a la carte.
The onion tart had a number of issues: the pastry was so overcooked that approaching it with a fork turned it into space dust; the onions were undercooked to the point that the coarser pieces were stil hard; the stilton was virtually non-existent (which may be just as well considering the state of the cheese board!); but the 'wild roquette' was just what it said on the menu. The AC politely pointed out these shortcomings to the waitress and just as she was gaining momentum it became obvious that our fellow diner didn't have quite the appetite for complaint that we have. We'd already vetoed the idea of taking photos due to the 'embarrassment' factor!

On to the main courses. The two ladies chose Honey roasted Breast of Gressingham Duck, Confit of Leg, Potato and Spring Cabbage Cake, Cider Jus and both professed themselves happy with their choice. If we were being picky (which of course you are now expecting) the potato and spring cabbage cake was too wet and lacking in cabbage but the duck and the jus were just right. I chose the Cassoulet Toulousain – just the name conjured up visions of crispy skin yet soft meat of duck confit with a garlicky robust sausage and pieces of slow cooked belly pork nestling amongst unctuous tomatoey beans flavoured with just a hint of thyme. So what did I get? Insipid bean mush with a sausage that had no texture or discernible taste, and a duck leg that was tough and showed very little signs of being confited – I suspect it had just been slow braised. Disappointed would be an understatement! How can a restaurant have a perfectly adequate piece of confit duck on one dish yet get it so wrong on another. I tasted the AC's piece and it was a totally different experience.

The ladies chose to forgo dessert (one was full and the other just wanted to escape!) so it was left to me to give Toulouse a chance to redeem itself. In a French restaurant, what can be nicer than the cheeeseboard to round off the meal. Well, in this case, just about anything would have been better. The trolley had a large number of very sorry looking pieces of cheese and I was hard pushed to choose four that I hoped would eat better than they looked. I was, of course, wrong. They were universally rubbish with the pride of place going to the Roquefort which managed to be acidic, harsh and wet. Call me old-fashioned but I like a Digestive biscuit with my cheese but there were none to be had, plus there was only one Hovis cracker left in the stale Jacobs cracker selection. Only to be expected really! By now the AC and I were laughing at the absurdity of the evening only for it to reach new heights – the cheese was served in a shallow dessert bowl. When the AC asked why, the waitress, without a hint of irony explained they hadn't any clean side plates! If she had bothered to look around the restaurant there were empty tables, fully set as they had remained unused all evening, complete with side plates.

We called for the bill, and after a discussion with the maitre d' the AC's starter was removed but we still ended up paying the best part of £150 for a fairly awful meal. We were going to blog the meal anyway but didn't want to do a hatchet job, so I contacted the restaurant outlining the exoperience we had 'enjoyed' and inviting their comments and to the Chef's credit he came back to me with his views, some of which I found a little puzzling, so I sent another email to which I didn't get a reply.

The best comment he made was “As for the dishes served that night, most of them are removed from the menu and I am back to the drawing board to improve them”. If he knew they were sun-standard, why did he let them out of the kitchen and, more importantly, why was he happy to charge punters for them? Having watched Stephane in the kitchen, perhaps 'happy' isn't a description that sits easily on his shoulders!

His explanation of the cassoulet was also intriguing: “The Cassoulet in southwest France is a bit like roast dinner in England; every family have they own recipes and interpretations. The dish was designed by peasants to cook slowly all ingredients in one pot over the fire while they were working in the fields. Almost anything was placed in the pot with addition of “haricots blanc” and water. I am sorry that my version did not meet your expectations”. I have never eaten such a poor cassoulet and every recipe I have read fails to mention 'cook the beans until they are a mush, then throw in a bit of tough old duck and a Tesco's sausage' – perhaps I'm wrong? It was how I imagine those cheap tins you see in French supermarkets would be.

So, am I going to take up Stephane's offer of “I will be very happy to cater for you and your guests to better standards”? I'm sorry but no. I object to being charged £2 for a glass of soda water, disagree with the practice of charging £3 for a side order of a single vegetable, and, above all, do not go back to a restaurant where I had an awful meal on the promise that they will be better next time! It's a shame that, in an area where there is a marked lack of good places to eat, we have yet another restaurant in the area that has the look and prices of a London venue but without the quality of food to back it up. Given the choice, would you rather spend £48 on the set lunch at Le Gavroche or a meal at Toulouse? No contest I'm afraid.

“All fur coat and no knickers” as my mother would say!

Tatty bye tommys

2009-10-09T15:20:00.001+01:00

I adore tomatoes, so it's always a sad day at Ample Cook Towers, when the tomato plants are pulled up. This year we have had a huge crop. Mind you we did plant 25 of the buggers, which I know is a lot, but it then allows me to make provision for the long dark tomatoless months.

Some of them have already been turned into hot, sweet tomato relish (Yes Dan, there's a jar with your name on it).

The majority of them however have been turned into passata using our trusty 'mouli'. It's brilliant, you either roast the tomatoes or simmer them until they're soft, then the mouli sieves them and leaves all of the skin and pips behind ta dah! It's brilliant.

It's then frozen into portions ready for pasta sauces, pizza bases etc. Here's a pizza we made on Saturday. If it's for a pizza I just simmer a portion of the passata down until it's a bit thicker.

Here are next year's babies. They're tomato seeds that I've extracted, soaking in water to remove the gel-like stuff, then they'll be dried and planted next year.

Actually that's not true, it all starts with a Mummy and a Daddy tomato. They have to kiss lots and rub each others vines until a pip is squeezed out, the Mummy then swells up and ripens and that's how you get tomatoes. It's true.

The Ample Cook is 50

2009-09-24T20:06:00.027+01:00

I was a happy baby

(The photographer must have been waving a pie)

(1959)

That's me in the front and no, I've never grown into those ears.
Apparently I sneezed when I was just born and out they flapped.
(1963)

Flares & platforms the first time round.

This was the year that I was planning my wedding to David Cassidy.

(1975)

Make-up by Dulux

(1985)

A scary perm at some point in your life is compulsory

(1990)

Well I can honestly say that I can't believe I'm 50 as I just don't feel it (that doesn't mean to say I don't look it mind!) In my head I don't feel older than 30. Age, as they say is just a state of mind.

In reality of course I know that just around the corner lurk the things that 'women of a certain age' will inevitably have to suffer - hot flushes, a hairy chin, grumpiness, varicose veins, control pants, unexpected flatulence and 'easy-fit' polyester trousers*.

I won't go down without a fight though.

*Husband informs me that most of these things have already started.

Jam packed

2009-09-14T16:36:00.011+01:00

From mid August to the beginning of September my house alternates between smelling of boiling fruit and sugar to the acrid pong of hot vinegar. Yes, it's jam and chutney season. As soon as the fruit trees start producing I'm like a blur in my kitchen. Everything seems to come at once and with fruit you need to turn it into jam as soon as it's picked as that's when the pectin levels are at their greatest which means the difference between jam that you spread and jam that you pour. Add to this, the end of the courgettes and tomatoes ripening by the minute it's been manic.

This year I've been very lucky as a couple of friends have given me bucket loads of plums and pears. Plums are wonderful and very versatile, they make fantastic jam and chutney. The rest of the fruit I've either picked or bought. Over at the farm I managed to pick loads of blackberries and was given some damsons, and from a local orchard I bought Bramleys and greengages.

Unfortunately, as you can imagine all of this fruit attracts those evil little critters in brown and yellow jumpers. I have therefore become very skilled in thwacking them with an oven glove. The score currently stands at Ample Cook 17 - Wasps nil (ha ha!)

Damsons & greengages

The fruits of my labour

(actually this is the tip of the iceberg)

I know you can buy good quality jams and chutneys these days, but I promise you, nothing tastes like homemade. Just 1 lb of fruit and the same quantity of sugar will make a couple of jars of jam and takes very little time and effort to do. Chutney made now will be ready to eat at Christmas, making a really thoughtful gift.

Go on, give it a go.

Who needs Abel & Cole?

2009-08-21T18:10:00.008+01:00

I was going to blog about this a couple of weeks ago, but decided it was a bit too smug. But then I got over it. *

This little crate of loveliness is from my sister's allotment. We've had various 'deliveries' over the last few weeks, including : onions, both red & white, shallots, potatoes, runner beans, french beans, beetroots, a few carrots, broccoli and LOTS of courgettes. Oh and of course not forgetting the wonderful raspberries which I made in to raspberry ripple ice cream. Her produce is quite simply amazing and we are very lucky.

Together with our own 25 tomato plants cropping like an Essex chav shells out babies, we have been blessed. It has been a little challenging shall I say in using all of our bounty and creating something new and exciting. But knowing how hard my sister has worked on her allotment to produce this wonderful veg, we have endeavoured not to waste a single bean. I would be lying though, if I didn't tell you that there was a faint whimper from the other side of the dining table, when I brought in the 'Sunday roast courgette'. I jest, there's been plenty of carnivorous accompaniments. Mike is more likely to eat a vegetarian than become one.

With regard to our tomatoes, I know that 25 tomato plants sounds a lot, it is a lot but as they crop, those we can't eat while they're still fresh, I just roast, then use a wonderful contraption called a mouli, which sieves all the skins and pips out. It's then reduced down until it's a bit thicker and you have lovely fresh passata, which goes into the freezer to use during the rest of the year.

Anyway, here's a small selection of how we've used our veg.

Char grilled courgettes & pepper with feta & herbs

The start of a spanish omelette

Roasted tomato & bean stew

Tom & basil bruschetta

Courgette fritters

Roasted toms, courgette & bacon pasta sauce

Courgette pickle & chutney

*I should point out that this is by no means a dig at those who did accept the Abel & Cole produce (and I mean that). I also had their offer, but turned them down.

Pub nirvana (almost)

2009-08-12T16:13:00.014+01:00

If you could design your ideal pub, what would it be like? Maybe it would be set in a picturesque village, surrounded by green fields, with a river running next to it? Perhaps it would have a selection of real ales? Would it serve delicious food, the majority of which had been reared, caught and grown by themselves? Maybe their own smoke house? Wine and fizz supplied by their own vineyard? Well, believe it or not, such a place does exist.

The Anchor pub situated in the pretty village of Nayland, Suffolk is all these things and a little bit more. Just half a mile from the Essex border, Nayland is quaint and picturesque - think 'Lovejoy'. The pub aims to be as self sufficient as possible, having their own heritage farm. They grow the majority of their own veg in the kitchen garden which is next to the pub and keep longhorn cattle, lambs, pigs, game, trout and venison on their estate. They even work the land with Suffolk punches (which unfortunately are now an endangered breed of horse) These wonderful gentle giants are brought over to the pub twice a week - luckily we saw one working the day we were there. His name was Bruno and he had feet like saucepans.

Starting with a drink at the bar, Mike was impressed with the range of real ales and I was equally impressed by a glass of their own sauvignon blanc for £3.00. We then settled ourselves and perused the menu. I haven't mentioned yet that the kitchen is run by By Carl Shillingford (formerly of The Waterside and Pierre Gagnaire in Paris , both 3 star Michelin restaurants) Just gets better doesn't it?

The menu, as you would expect was very seasonal and quite honestly I had a difficult time choosing as there were several things I wanted to try. Well, as I wasn't wearing my 'comfort fit' crimplene slacks that day I chose just one dish from the grill menu, as did Mike. Scallops with chive and tarragon butter for me, and large black pork chops with smoked tomato compote for him. The dishes both came with 2 choices of side dishes, I chose 'thin cut' chips and a dressed salad and Mike chose 'fat cut' chips and grilled baby courgette and aubergine.

I asked the waiter if I could have my salad dressing on the side. "No problem madam". Well, clearly it was because the salad arrived dressed, well not so much dressed, but drowned. The poor leaves were covered in olive oil - my plate was swimming in the stuff. The scallops could have been warmer too and the chips cooked a bit longer. It was extremely difficult to catch someone's eye to point out the error, so when they eventually brought me a replacement salad I had eaten too many of the scallops and chips to need it. I was really stupid and should have got them to take the complete meal back, but I didn't and then regretted it, so my fault there. On the plus side Mike's meal was fine. The pork chop was big and tasted really porky and the chips were lovely. Again the veg was on the oily side, but tasty.

Although the food was a little disappointing the pub was comfortable, and in a lovely setting. There was a good selection of beers and wine and the staff were friendly. The prices, I think in particular were quite reasonable. Our food, plus 2 pints of beer, 1 glass of wine, a diet coke and a coffee was £34. I think it deserves another try and dressed in my 'eating trousers' I will return.

My name's The Ample Cook and I'm a Gravyholic

2009-07-28T15:35:00.005+01:00

My addiction to and dependency on, stock based liquids started at a very early age. My Mum was a great plain cook and every roast, pie, stew and casserole had the most wonderful gravy. Every scrap of a chicken was used - roasted, then cold with mash and pickles or bubble and squeak, then the carcass was simmered with carrots, onions and celery to make a wonderful stew, soup or gravy.

Lamb or mutton stew was a favourite, big round chunks of neck of lamb that had more bone than meat, but those bones yielded a huge depth of flavour, with carrots, onion and pearl barley. Always made the day before so that the hard layer of cream fat that formed on the top could easily be removed.

This is my drawer of loveliness. A drawer in my freezer that holds little bags and plastic pots of meat jelly saved from a roast and left over gravy. I never, ever throw any meat stock or jelly away, no matter how small as they can either form the basis of a gravy, or sauce or just enrich a stew or soup. I also keep any meat fats - beef dripping, duck fat, pork fat - all fabulous for roasting potatoes.

This however, I have to admit, is not the full picture. In my larger freezer there are many pots of chicken stock - liquid gold. In our house we are never very far away from a risotto, or onion gravy to go with our sausages and mash or a lovely rich gravy to coat left-over chicken and sauteed leeks for a yummy pie.

I will hold my hand up here and confess to being a complete gravy and stock snob. The stock that is sold in supermarkets I think is of a very poor standard and expensive. Also, why doesn't it 'set'? If it was made from bones - as it obviously should be - it would, so what's that all about?

I suppose all this obsessive behaviour stems from my fear of 'Gravy Granules' That gloopy, salty, tongue coating powder of the devil. These are the ingredients taken from a jar of 'Bisto Best' - pork flavour: Maltodextrin, potato starch, salt, flavourings, flavour enhancers (E621 E635), hydrogenated vegetable oil, colour (E150c), Emulsifier (E322) soya, spice & herb extracts & onion extract. Mmmmmmmmm yummy.

Now, doesn't this deserve good gravy?

Well ripple my raspberries

2009-07-14T10:38:00.010+01:00

A visit to my sister on Saturday resulted in me coming home with nearly a pound and half of raspberries, which we picked in her garden. They were gorgeous, really sweet. Now I eat a lot of fruit, especially on my breakfast porridge and granola, but not even I could snaffle down that many raspberries before they went off. So, instead of going for the obvious and turning them into jam I thought some raspberry ripple ice cream would be most welcome, particularly as I had quite a few eggs and a load of cream in the fridge.

First stage of the process was make a custard - 568ml of cream (yikes, low cal then) brought to just below boiling with 300ml of whole milk and a split vanilla pod. This was then poured onto 6 egg yolks which had been whisked with 50g of caster sugar. Then the mixture was returned to the saucepan and stirred until it thickened slightly. When it was cold enough I put it in the fridge and left it alone until the next day.

Then, I fired up the ice cream machine (not the quatro). It's only one of those that you keep in the freezer, but it's quite effective. It just churns the mixture with a plastic paddle and gets colder and thicker as ice crystals form. I would like one of those big ones that are always good to go but I just don't I think I'd use it that often and they're just such a big bit of kit to store.

The base vanilla was then squirreled away to firm up a tad more before being 'rippled' with 300g of pureed and sweetened raspberries. Something to note here - when ice cream freezes it always tastes less sweet than when it was in it's unfrozen state, so you have to add more icing sugar than you think to the soft fruit.

I think this looks like something 'Dexter' would keep in his freezer

I have to say that it was really worth the effort. I've only ever had commercial raspberry ripple and this knocked spots off it. It was creamy (obviously as it was virtually all cream!) and the rippled parts were really raspberryish and tangy and yummy.

Sexy Samphire

2009-07-08T14:13:00.005+01:00

I always think Samphire is a good name for one of those steroid enhanced, orange skinned amazonian 'Gladiators' on that ITV programme - there might even be one, who knows? Anyway, I digress. I had a nice surprise when I picked up my meat order from the farm at the weekend. Paul (one of the farmers) presented me with a large bag of marsh samphire. The farm borders on the River Crouch which joins the Thames Estuary, so at low tide Paul had hopped over the sea wall and grabbed a load for me, which was very kind of him.

Samphire is obviously salty, but in a good way. Eaten raw it has a lovely crispness to it - it's a bit like a salty green bean really. It's known as Glasswort or sometimes referred to as 'sea asparagus' but apart from looking like very thin asparagus I don't think it really tastes like it. It's in season from late June to August. It's a great accompaniment to most fish and you can simply steam it and coat it in butter - but I decided to lace it with a sauce a la Rick Stein which is made by reducing some fish stock, Noilly Prat and cream by three quarters, then you whisk in a little cold butter. We had it with pan fried salmon and new potatoes.

Smokey Joe's

2009-06-26T13:42:00.022+01:00

R2D2 had tried nicotine patches, but had not been too successful.

This is our new home smoker. We tested him out this week and were quite impressed. It only 'hot' smokes, so in effect it smokes and cooks the food as opposed to 'cold' smoking which basically cures the food. We decided on a hot smoker because cold smoking is a longer and more complicated process involving brining and maintaining an accurate temperature control. Apparently we can use this one for cold smoking too, but it invloves making a run off pipe in which to cool the smoke down, but I think we'll get to grips with the hot smoking first.

The smoker is made up of a bottom tray where you place the charcoal briquettes - it has to be briquettes - you can't use charcoal as it burns too quickly. Then on top of that there's a bowl to which you add water, plus any aromatics ie woody herbs such as rosemary or thyme. When you've got the briquettes going, you lay a foil pack of wood chippings of your choice. We used hickory.

For our first attempt we put on a small free range chicken, which we spatchcocked (which went on the level just above the water bowl) and a couple of rashers of pork belly and some sausages.

After the first hour and a half, it really didn't seem to be producing anything other than warm meat, so Mr AC put all of the meat on the top griddle and shifted the water bowl up which allowed more heat to circulate. Aha... success. I know we sound like a couple of numpties but the smoker came without any instructions. We had to phone the company we purchased it from and then rely on the website forum for advice. Yep, I don't know why either.

Anyway, the pork slices were very tasty and moist, if a little tough and the sausages tasted really good, a bit frankfurterish - very smokey. The meat doesn't look overally attractive but don't let that put you off.

As the smoker can double as a straight forward barbecue, we finished the chicken by giving it a bit of colour, directly over the coals. I must stress here that I have a food thermometer and used it to ensure all of the meat reached a safe temperature of at least 70 degrees C.

We used the chicken the next day to make a warm bacon, chicken & mango salad, with some salad leaves, rocket & coriander from the garden. Salmon and mackerel are our next victims.

Comfort eating

2009-06-18T09:20:00.015+01:00

We've had a couple of very tough weeks in Ample Cook Towers. I've had a couple of unusually mammoth catering jobs and on top of this we were burgled and have spent so much time making endless frustrating telephone calls arguing the toss with insurance co over values etc* (see below) organising for replacement double glazing etc and quite honestly we've had enough. So, a bit of comfort food was required. No matter how busy I am in the kitchen we always eat properly. Thems the rules. To be fair it's not always down to me, Mr AC isn't a slouch in the kitchen either.

I'm also one of those people who is always planning their next meal whilst still eating the previous one and I look forward to my evening meal probably more than is good for me. Anyway, here are a few photos of some of the food we've been comforting ourselves with. The last of the British asparagus (a couple of weeks ago) covered in butter and parmesan with some reduced balsamic and some great Parma ham. We polished this lot off with some crusty bread and we followed that with.......

A warm salad of scallops wrapped in smoked bacon. I swilled a bit of mustard and white wine vinegar in the bacon fat and that just slightly moistened the salad leaves.

The ultimate comfort food of course - pork belly (we have moved on to another night now. Even we couldn't eat all of this in one night, although Mr AC would bravely give it a try if allowed) We had that with mash and onion gravy.

Then another night we had slow roasted shoulder of lamb. I think cuts of meat that lend themselves to being slow roasted or pot roasted are ideal for times when you're busy because you just bung them in and forget about them.Whilst the lamb was resting, I halved some charlotte potatoes (which were off my sister's allotment) and added them to the pan. They soaked up the lamby juices and went a little bit crisp. They were very yummy. Spring pointed cabbage, roasted pumpkin (again, courtesy of my sister's allotment) and carrots completed the meal.

*Just a bit of advice my fellow bloggers. Do check your house insurance policies. We hadn't realised that when replacing my stolen items of jewellery, our insurance co will be issuing 'vouchers' to be spent a very small collection of specific jewellers (crap ones in my opinion). If we want the cash and to have the freedom of spending it in jewellers of our choice we will have to take a cut of around 35%. What a con.

Fancy a tongue sandwich?

2009-06-06T17:55:00.003+01:00

Preparing, cooking and pressing an ox tongue is probably a bit of an old fashioned thing to do these days, but quite honestly it's well worth the effort. The meat is fabulous. It's like beefy offal. It's very silky and quite rich. If you've ever had the cooked supermarket stuff and didn't like it, then trust me, you'd like this, it has so much more flavour.

Tongues used to be readily available quite a few years back brined in plastic pouches in the supermarket. Our local Salisbury's definitely used to sell them. I just don't think they're terribly popular today though. To be fair they're a bit gruesome looking and of course they've been in someone else's mouth haven't they?

To cook an ox tongue, firstly, give it a good wash and then poach it in water with the usual suspects: onion, carrots and celery for between 3 and 4 hours, depending on the size of your tongue.

When it's cooked, drain and cool slightly but don't let it go cold. Remove the grisly stuff underneath the tongue and peel the top. I find this bit bizarrely satisfying - like peeling little bits of sun burnt skin eeeeuw.

When the wee beasty is skinned and you've removed the nasties underneath, coil it round and put it in a container - I use a basin - where it fits really snugly, then pop a saucer and something very heavy on the top and refrigerate overnight.

The jelly will ooze and set the meat. It's lovely just with crusty bread and sharp pickles or obviously in a sandwich where mustard is vital. You've just got to have mustard in your sandwich or the tongue police will come round and take it away.

Temporarily out of order

2009-05-25T13:31:00.006+01:00

Well, this post should have been the second part of my trip to Wales, however we were burgled last Thursday and my laptop and camera were two of the items taken along with some very precious stuff. To say I'm upset is a bit of an understatement. We have spent a very stressful few days with police, insurance assessors, double glazing repair men etc and I'm just a bit fed up.

Will be back soon though.

Wide awake in Wales

2009-05-17T17:24:00.014+01:00

Mr Ample Cook and I have just come back from a very well deserved week's holiday in Wales, on the Pembrokeshire coast. I say well deserved because in the 7 days prior to the holiday I had catered for 200 people in three separate jobs - 115 of them on the day before we left, so I was pretty much dead on my feet and really needing a break.

We set off on the Saturday morning, bright and early, well early at least. The journey took 5 and a half hours. We were really lucky as the M25 was a breeze (unheard of) We broke the journey up by having some lunch - The Good Pub Guide is brilliant for giving suggestions of places near to motorways, then you don't have to rely on the nasty plastic over-priced food at the service stations.

We arrived about 3pm, and settled in to our lovely little cottage which was on a working dairy farm. The sun was shining and it was really warm, so, as we'd been sitting in the car all day we decided to go for a walk - off we went with a trumpety trump, trump, trump, trump.

In the evening, having bathed and talcumed we headed off down into the village to one of the many hostelries for food, beer and wine. It was an excellent meal: Smoked duck salad, fishcakes, salmon fillet and local rib-eye steak perfectly cooked. We then wobbled off back to the cottage for some much needed sleep. We both went out out like a light (we had brushed and flossed first).

Then, at 4am the martians landed. The bedroom lit up like a Christmas tree and there was a loud whirring engine noise. I whispered "Oh my God, what is that?" Mr AC tiptoed to the window and peaked out. Fortunately we hadn't been invaded by an alien force, it was the farmer on his tractor, rounding up the cows for milking. Phew, that was a relief as I wasn't wearing a nice enough nightie to be beamed up in. Anyway, eventually got back to sleep.

Then, at 4.55am we were woken up by tap dancing, shrieking magpies grrrrrrrr. You have to bear in mind that the bedroom was in the roof and we had the window open. They were literally running up and down the roof. It sounded like the little b******s were in the room. If you have ever heard magpies shriek you will know what I'm talking about. It frightened the bejesus out of us.

Not a good start, but it did get better. See part 2 shortly.

Utterly Butterly

2009-04-30T18:15:00.006+01:00

I adore asparagus. Unfortunately it has such a short season (about 8 weeks - for British that is) Because of this small window of opportunity we tend to gorge on it until it is no longer available. Whether it's just simply steamed, then dipped into melted butter and eaten with your hands - the butter dribbling down your chin (can you hear Je t'aime playing in the background?) or as an accompaniment to a main course it is truly the king of veg. Actually, strictly speaking it's classified as a member of the lilly family.

There is one drawback - sorry there's no delicate way of stating this - it makes your wee smelly. It's very strange and very pungent and apparently it doesn't happen to everyone .

Last night we had coq au vin blanc, a Nigel Slater recipe - it's basically browned chicken thighs, lardons of smokey bacon, onion, garlic, thyme and chestnut mushrooms - I forgot to buy the mushrooms, silly woman - white wine and cream. It's a really unctuous dish. We had it with some Jersey Royals, carrots and of course the noble spears.

The asparagus makes a great 'dipper' for leftover sauce !

Le cuisinier ample en France

2009-04-27T10:22:00.019+01:00

For many years now we've bought virtually all of our wine and a lot of foodstuffs in France. We don't go just for the cheap booze – honest. As we live approximately 90 miles from Folkestone it's quite an easy trip. We used to just buy at the hypermarkets in Calais and Boulogne which really only stocked French wine - fair enough. But as Mr Ample Cook and myself are partial to wine from outside of Europe it's been really helpful that both Tesco and Sainsburys have opened up drinks stores in Calais. We have bought some fantastic bargains over the years, however now with the Euro almost neck and neck with the pound it's becoming uneconomical to do it. Shame. We probably bought a third of what we would normally buy. I'd normally stock up on olive oil, assorted vinegars, anchovies, mustard, butter, cheese etc etc not only for our use but for my catering use too. This time unfortunately it was just too expensive.

Since the tunnel has been open we have always used it to cross the channel. The ferries take longer and you've got the loading and unloading from the car decks and if the weather's bad they can cancel some crossings (also, lots of people vomit). However going by Eurotunnel means you just drive on, and 35 minutes later you just drive straight off. We never pay for a crossing as we just convert our Tesco clubcard vouchers. A one or two day return is £54.

We usually do the trip in a day but last week we had an overnight stay in Wimereux which is just along the coast between Calais and boulogne. The North French coast is stunning with really wide sandy beaches. We were lucky as it was a beautiful day so we were able to enjoy a long walk along the prom.

Before we got to Wimereux we stopped off in Boulogne and had a stroll around the harbour where there are a few fish stalls. The fish was so fresh - mainly plaice, turbot and a lot of squid and scallops. It really was great quality fish.

Our meal in the evening was a bit disappointing. We'd had lunch there last year and we were really impressed, but it just didn't float our boat this time round. I had some really good scallops but they'd added a curried sauce to the plate (our French translation skills let us down unfortunately) Mike had veal kidneys which were good, but both main courses arrived with soggy unseasoned veg. I'm afraid every time I have a disappointing meal out, I can't help feeling that it's a meal wasted. Ho hum. Anyway, we retreated to a bar afterwards and had a couple more drinks and then tottered off to the hotel.

We were up bright and early and ready to shop. We managed to find a few bargains in Sainsburys, but not in Tesco. Everywhere was incredibly quiet. The young girl on the till at Sainsburys told us that they would probably be closing down as trade was so bad.

Our final bit of shopping was at Carrefour, a very large supermarket in Cite Europe which is a large shopping complex about 3 miles from the Euro tunnel terminal. The only things I bought were Dijon mustard and chocolate. I use pounds of chocolate for my brownies and cakes and at .55 of a euro for a 200g bar of 60% cocoa solids it's still worth buying, but not much else was I'm sad to say.

Hell's Kitchen

2009-04-19T16:05:00.011+01:00

The farm shop where I sell some of my goodies is open on a Friday and Saturday, every other weekend. I have a freezer out there which I fill up with lasagne, chilli, different kinds of pies like steak & kidney, chicken & leek, also casseroles and curries. I also make various chutneys, relishes, jams and marmalade as each fruit comes in to season.

Then there's the fresh things - sausages rolls, raised pies, quiche, brawn and cakes. These obviously have to be made as near to the Friday as possible so my feet don't touch the ground from the Wednesday morning to the Thursday night.

All of the meat I use is free range and is either raised on the farm or bought locally. I vary the cakes each time but the definite favourites is anything chocolaty. Any children who come in always make a beeline for the cakes. It's a good job they're under cake domes as they have a tendency to try and grab stuff. Each week, without fail, there's always one child with a cold who leaves a glistening trail of snot and saliva along the front of my refrigerated display cabinet. Nice.

By Saturday night I'm usually fairly shattered and in need of copious amounts of white wine administered intravenously.

Bakewell slice

Gloucester Old spot sausage rolls

Herdsmans Pasty Pie

(Cornish pasty really, but I'm not in Cornwall am I?)

White chocolate chip Brownies

Cinnamon, raisin & walnut loaf and Barbie pink cup cakes

Flour Power

2009-04-10T07:10:00.006+01:00

I made some pasta a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't made any for ages and ages. I got my pasta machine down and dusted off my custom-made pasta drier - which is quite unique and rather stylish being made from two types of wood and having a swivel mechanism for folding it away. My late father-in-law made this for me and I treasure it. Anyway, back to the pasta. It was good, but not as good as I remembered it being the last time I made it - it was quite thick and heavy. The mistake I made and it was a BIG mistake, was I had used flour which purported to be 'suitable for for bread and pasta making' Oh not it's not - not suitable for pasta anyway - thank you Waitrose. (My thanks at this point to The Graphic Foodie for diagnosing the problem - it's best to use 'double zero' flour which is very finely milled) In fairness to myself I had tried to buy 00 flour but couldn't find any where I was shopping and didn't have time to go elsewhere.

My second attempt this weekend with the right flour was sooo much better - in fact I'd go as far as saying it was bloody marvellous. I now know why I used to make it on a more regular basis. I made a smoked bacon, garlic and courgette tomato sauce to go with it.

Potatotastic

2009-04-06T15:42:00.007+01:00

I think sometimes potatoes can get a bit boring, so here are a few different ways to spice up your spuds.

First up - couldn't be more simple, I chunked up some cold jacket potatoes - they were just slightly undercooked (I really prefer waxy - estima or desiree as they hold their shape better) then fried them in a little oil and butter. Because they've been oven cooked before hand they go really nutty and sweet. They're fantastic with thick sliced home cooked ham and eggs. (They're really good as part of a fried breakfast too)

The next one is a bit of a summer dish really (well we are in Spring) I boiled up some new potatoes, when they were cool enough to handle I peeled off their little jackets then I poured over a dressing made from olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard and Greek yoghurt - you need to do this straight away as the potatoes soak up the dressing nicely. Then I added some chopped dill, mint a few sliced Kalamata olives, spring onions and some cubes of feta.

For the third one, I fried a big onion in some oil and butter until caramelised, I then layered it with thinly sliced waxy potatoes and lots of seasoning. I Brushed the top with butter and baked it for about 45 mins to 1 hour at 180/gas 4.

We ate this with slow roasted shoulder of pork

Can I just point out that these meals were not all consumed in the same week - even so I think it's time for a cholesterol check.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy

2009-04-01T09:50:00.007+01:00

I don't know why, but lemon curd always reminds me of Easter. Perhaps it's because it's sort of daffodil coloured. The thing about lemon curd is, it's incredibly easy to make and delicious. It's a velvety amalgamation of lemons, butter, sugar and eggs - I think it can be filed under the comfort food category. Shop bought lemon curd is a million miles away from home made. If you scan the ingredients on the mass produced stuff you would be horrified. It should only contain the 4 ingredients I mentioned earlier (maybe a little cornflour just to stabilise it) They are basically over sweetened jars of yellow snot. I'm sorry about that, but they just are.

Lemon curd is great on fresh bread, toast or even a scone. The best use for it I think though, is sandwiched in a victoria sponge that's had some lemon zest grated into the sponge mix - maybe a layer of buttercream too.

To make some of the yellow nectar, just combine in a saucepan the zest and juice of 2 unwaxed lemons, 6oz caster sugar, 4oz unsalted butter, 2 large eggs and a teaspoon of cornflour. Whisking all the time let everything melt and thicken but don't overheat as you'll get lemon scrambled egg. Then plop into a couple of sterilised jars.

Soda bread obsession

2009-03-26T18:20:00.009Z

In January, Mr AC and myself spent a really great weekend in Belfast. It's a lovely city and we had some great food. For lunch one day I had soup and soda bread and ever since I have become completely obsessed with making it (the bread not the soup) It's because it's so easy and the variations are many. This afternoon as the weather was foul I stayed in the warmth of the kitchen and made 4 loaves: Cheese & onion, malted wholemeal and fruit. You'll see by the recipe below that it really is simple. It's got a really nice 'cakey' texture and it's wonderful toasted. It does really need to be eaten fresh and if not it's best frozen quickly.

This is the fruity one with my homemade plum jam

Richard Corrigan's
Wholemeal soda bread

250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
10g salt
15g bicarbonate of soda
250g wholemeal flour
150g jumbo oat flakes
2 tbsp clear honey
2 tbsp black treacle
500ml buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and then mix in the honey, treacle and buttermilk, working everything together lightly with your hands, until you have a loose, wet dough. With floured hands, shape the dough into a round and lift on to the lined baking sheet. With a knife mark a cross in the top. Put into the oven and bake for about 45 minutes, or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the base. Transfer to a wire rack, drape with a damp teatowel and leave until cool. Slather with butter and scoff until you burst.

Malay Chicken Curry

2009-03-24T10:43:00.010Z

This is one of the best chicken curry recipes I have ever tried. It's rich and creamy without being too cloying. The flavours are quite deep - star anise, cardamom and cassia are the predominant flavours with the lemon grass and curry leaves giving a wonderful fragrance (how pretentious was that?) - and by the way, the curry leaves really do make a huge difference. We like to eat this with some rice and a mango salsa - it goes really well with the salsa - the freshness and sweetness of the mango, the heat of the fresh chill and the fragrant coriander are a perfect match. Well, I'm in danger of turning into Brian Sewell and disappearing up my own doo dah so I will now wind my neck in.

Malay Chicken Curry

Ground Spices:
Coriander: 2 Rounded Tbls*
Cumin: 1½ Rounded Tbls
Turmeric: 1 level Tbls
Chilli Powder (depending on Strength) 1 Tsp
Whole spices
6 Curry leaves
1 Star anise
6 Cardamom pods
A lump of Cassia bark
Meat
6 Large chicken thighs
Veg
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
Small lump of fresh ginger
Medium red chilli (seeds in or out – your choice)
Rounded tsp of lemon grass from a jar
1 Can of coconut milk
Salt, oil & butter
* A 15ml tablespoon

Combine all the ground spices in a bowl and add 6 tblsp of water and make a paste.
Put half the onion in a mini whizzer with half the ginger, 1 clove of garlic and red chilli – blitz. Add to spice paste. Finely slice remaining onion, garlic and ginger.
Put a couple of glugs of oil and a knob of butter in your pan and fry the whole spices for a couple of mins. Then add the onion, garlic and ginger and soften gently for about 10 mins. Add the spice paste and lemon grass and cook for 5 mins. Plop in your thighs and get them nicely coated and slightly seared. Add the coconut milk and simmer uncovered for approx 50 mins, periodically stirring and turning the thighs. Let the coconut milk thicken but don't let it bubble too fiercely. Check for chilli heat.

I always take the meat off the bone before serving as it's easier to eat.

A shed load of fish

2009-03-21T18:02:00.006Z

As it was such a lovely spring day on Saturday, Mr Ample Cook decided that I would be unleashed from my apron and be allowed to venture out for a spot of lunch. Actually, we ended up having a huge great orb of lunch.

We went to Mersea Island - which is located around eight miles from Colchester in Essex - to a place called The Company Shed. It's run by the Haward family who have been growing and harvesting native oysters since 1792. The 'Shed' is a fishmongers come restaurant. When I say restaurant it's really a shed with tables. You can't book ahead and you take your own bread and drink. It's been reviewed in virtually all the Sunday newspaper magazines (Jay Rayner, Jan Moir etc have reviewed it) so it's become a bit of a 'destination place' to eat. In fact if you don't get there around 11.15 you're at the mercy of the blackboard waiting list and you just have to hang around outside waiting for your name to be called. It does attract the hoorays I'm afraid. They stand outside guffawing and saying "what a charming little place" whilst uncorking their Sancerre.

It's a very haphazard affair inside. You go and collect your crockery and mismatched glasses yourself and just order your food at the counter. You don't even pay up front. First up we plumped for some scallops with bacon which were so yummy I nearly forgot to take a photo - hence only one left on the plate.

Next we ordered the seafood platter for two. It was shall we say a very generous portion. As you can see there was shell on prawns, peeled prawns, crevettes, a whole crab, peppered and plain smoked mackerel, smoked salmon, cockles and green lipped mussels - phew and only £8.50 per head. The photo doesn't do it justice - the platter was around 14 inches in diameter. I can honestly say it was as fresh as a daisy. It makes you realise how lousy supermarket smoked salmon and prawns are. No wonder there was a constant - and I mean constant queue for the fish counter.

This is a photo of the salmon and prawns which the lady sitting next to me had ordered - she very kindly let me photograph it!

We had also ordered a half a dozen oysters too, but we were quite glad that they didn't turn up because quite frankly we were stuffed.

Pork Fest

2009-03-18T17:19:00.010Z

In my humble opinion pork shoulder is a very under used cut of pork. Pork belly is of course the 'new black' and has become the darling of the foodies. Pork shoulder however has been standing in the shadow of the belly and needs to be brought blinking into the light of the kitchen. It is a perfect cut for braising as it's marbled with fat and when cooked is soft and really tasty. It's like chicken in its versatility because you can cook it with so many things - and it's cheap! Here I have browned the cubed pork with chorizo and onions, and then simmered it with some passata, (I've still got some homemade passata in the freezer, which I have to say is best as it's less 'tomatoey' and a bit fresher tasting) I then added some peppers and courgettes in the last half hour - they get too soggy if added earlier. Although there's paprika rich chorizo I also added some pimenton. It's great with rice or pasta or if laziness overcomes you - crusty bread.

This is another dish using shoulder, this time the pork is braised in cider and a bit of chicken stock with some onion and celery - and a touch of sage. Then as a bit of a naughty garnish I added some apple slices fried in butter. This is really good served with mustard mash - a big 'kerplop' of Dijon and wholegrain added to very buttery mashed spuds.

Ghengis Tomato

2009-03-18T16:55:00.002Z

I just found this little bad boy at the bottom of a bowl of tomatoes and it made me laugh out loud!

Continuing the chocolate theme.........

2009-03-11T20:47:00.004Z

There's something very decadent about a dessert that you can stack 'Ferrero Rocher' style, which consists of crisp pastry, filled with softly whipped cream and then smothered in warm chocolate sauce. Pure food porn.

Take a pound of butter and a pound of chocolate.....

2009-03-04T13:00:00.017Z

Could there be a better start for a recipe?

This is chocolate tiffin, a wicked combination of chocolate, butter, biscuits and toasted nuts. It's quite addictive. I advise my customers, after eating a lump, not to drive or operate heavy machinery.

Turkey, Pork & Bacon Pie

2009-03-03T16:09:00.011Z

This pie is based on a pie that my Mother-in-law Margaret used to make. She made it on Christmas eve, ready to be eaten on Christmas morning, with a glass of champagne whilst opening your presents. But frankly it's too yummy to only have it at Christmas. It's also good made with rabbit and pheasant, which I use when they're in season, which are shot on the farm.

It's a shortcrust pastry pie, filled with poached free range turkey thigh, pork belly and smoked bacon. The free range turkey thigh is such a lovely dark, moist meat. God knows why people have a turkey crown for Christmas - it's such a waste. To my mind they're missing the best bit as it has far more flavour. They're probably the same type of people who throw away their chicken carcasses and miss out on lovely stocks and soups because they can't be bothered - crazy.

Right, rant over, now where were we? The pie is then baked and when cool a rich jellied stock is poured in. It's like a raised pie, but lighter as it doesn't have the rich hot water crust pastry.

Crunchy nut granola

2009-02-27T18:26:00.010Z

I don't know about you, but I find most crunchy cereals have an awful lot of sugar in them and sometimes some other stuff that doesn't have a right to be there. So, I decided to make my own. It really doesn't take long and you can add whatever you like to eat in your breakfast cereal. I added some dried cranberries which give it a lovely sharpness.

125g butter
150ml honey
500g oat flakes
100g flaked almonds
100g chopped cashew nuts
100g desiccated coconut
300g mixed dried fruit, such as chopped dates, apricots, raisins etc

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/fan 140°C/gas 3. Place the butter and honey in a small pan, anput over a gentle heat to melt together.
2. Mix the remaining ingredients, except the dried fruit, in a large bowl. Stir in the melted butter mixture and mix well. Spread out in a large roasting tray and bake for 25 minutes, or until the nuts and grains are a pale golden brown, stirring every 5 minutes so it browns evenly.
3. Remove the tray from the oven and leave to cool, stirring the mixture in the tray occasionally. (If you transfer it to a bowl while it’s still warm, it will go soggy.) When it has cooled down, add the dried fruit, stir, and put into an airtight container. Store at room temperature for up to a month

The other man in my life

2009-02-24T14:10:00.010Z

There's another man in my life who I couldn't live without. His name is Ken - Ken Wood. He's big, he's shiny, he's strong and he makes wonderful pastry and meringues. He can even knead bread.

He's a bit of a Swiss army knife really, as he has various attachments : mincer, liquidiser, dough hook and sausage maker. He stands 35 cm tall and has a 6.7 litre bowl - impressed?

I make pounds of shortcrust pastry and have tried all sorts of methods, but nothing does it better than Big Ken.

Tonight Matthew, I will be eating my own body weight in sheperd's Pie......

2009-02-23T13:51:00.005Z

I slow roasted a whole shoulder of lamb at the weekend. We had it with roasted roots - including my sister's fabulous home grown pumpkin. The lamb was lovely - all soft and juicy. There was quite a lot of it left, so I got my kitchen boy to take all the meat off the bone and cut it up into smallish pieces.

I then sweated down some leeks, carrots and celery until they were just cooked and then added the left over gravy and a small amount of fresh chopped rosemary and thyme. I then added the lamb and chilled the whole thing.

It was then topped with creamy mash and brushed with butter. We ate it with buttered cabbage and peas and it was deeeelish. There are only two of us but somehow I always seem to cook enough for three (and sometimes four - it's the caterer in me) So instead of saving a portion, we greedily scoffed the lot.

Move along the trough Porky.....

Herdsman's Pasty Pie

2009-02-16T17:33:00.014Z

This an authentic cornish pasty recipe, but made into a pie rather than a pasty - plus, because I don't live in Cornwall and it's made using the fabulous beef skirt from Woodford's farm it seemed more appropriate to call it a Herdsman's pasty!

250g Beef skirt sliced into small pieces
1 medium potato

1/2 medium swede

1/2 medium onion

(all veg should be finely chopped)

400g Plain flour

100g Lard

100g Butter

Ice cold water

An 8" loose bottomed sandwich tin

Firstly, make your pastry by rubbing the fats into the flour and adding enough water to bind it (approx 6 tablespoons) Then let the pastry rest the fridge for 30 mins.

Roll out 2/3 of the pastry and line the tin. Roll out the remaining pastry into a lid slightly bigger than the tin.

Begin by putting a layer of onion and half the swede in the bottom. Season generously with salt and pepper, then add the beef, then season, finishing with the rest of the swed and the potato and again season.

The seasoning of each layer is very important.

Pop on the lid and put the pasty pie in the fridge for about 30 mins

Preheat the oven to 180 C/Gas 4/Fan 165, then brush the pie with beaten egg and cook for 1 hour.

The smell that will fill your kitchen will will have you dribbling....

Alternatively, if you can't be bothered with faffing around with all of the above, you can come to the shop and buy some!

And here are some others in my repertoire....

Down on the farm

2009-02-13T19:21:00.008Z

Here are some photos of the farm where I sell my produce - Woodfords Farm in Canewdon. They rear and sell their own free range beef and pork and have a mixture of cows - Aberdeen-Angus, Sussex, Hereford and Charollais cross. All the pigs are Gloucester Old spot.

I use their meat in my pies, casseroles etc. The beef and pork is nothing like the meat you buy in a supermarket. The taste and texture - particularly of the beef is superb

Above is Gilbert the bull, who is pure - Charollais - with one of his ladies and two lovely little calves. All of the animals are very well looked after, it's obvious that they really care for them. It's good to know that the meat you're buying has had a good life.

They also grow spring barley, its grain is rolled for the animals and the straw is used for feeding and bedding. Beans are grown for the main protein part of the cattle diet and some are sold mainly for export to the middle-east for human consumption. Milling or bread making wheat is their main arable crop.

There's loads of wildlife around the farm: pheasants, hares, rabbits, badgers, barn owls and many more wild birds.

For information and opening times of the farm shop go to www.woodfordmeats.co.uk

Well preserved

2009-02-13T18:27:00.006Z

The Seville oranges are in season so it's time to make marmalade! Which means standing in the kitchen for hours, picking out pips and shredding orange peel into tiny little strips. It's well worth it though because it is infinitely superior to anything you can buy in the shops.

I also made some lemon & lime marmalade and some rhubarb and ginger jam which is my little soldier's favourite - ah bless.

First shave your pig's head.......................

2009-02-08T18:05:00.008Z

Vegetarians look away now.
Making brawn is not pretty and is quite messy and labour intensive. It's not much fun for the pig either. Although it is hard work, it's completely worth the faff as it's a lovely, rich amalgamation of moist, fatty pork, which is set in a pork jelly, which you spread on hot toast or bread. I think it's the British version of rillettes de porc – and if anything, I think it's better.

Anyway, back to Pinky. Firstly, you need to shave the head as there will generally be lots of fine hairs on it's face, particularly it's chin. (I use a sterilised Bic razor if you're interested)

The ears are the next thing to be removed as they're not meaty and are usually quite waxy! (I usually crisp them up in the oven for my sister's dog Bertie) Are you sure you want to continue reading this?

The head is then simmered in a very large pot along with a trotter or two for about 3 ½ hours, until the meat – most of which is round the neck and in the cheeks are very

tender.

Then it's Hammer House of Horrors time. You can't let the head cool down too much as it's difficult to skin the tongue and also the fat starts to set and it doesn't mix so well with the meat. When all the meat is extracted it's chopped and mixed and seasoned generously with salt, pepper and ground mace. All the while you're doing this, the stock needs to be boiled right down to concentrate the flavour and make it 'jellied' You then put it into little pots, pour over the stock and let it set. This has become a favourite at the farm shop – mostly with older people as its a thing they used to be able to buy in the local butchers years ago.

I even allowed my husband Mike to have some for lunch with some homemade soda bread.