Temporarily out of order

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.........

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.....

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.