Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

Food Writer

Nick Coffer

Food on the Radio and Rose Petal Jam Review

Yesterday saw Luton celebrating Britain’s biggest one-day carnival as thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate diversity and culture. As Poles make up a large part of the community across Herts, Beds and Bucks, I was invited back to BBC Three Counties Radio to talk to Toby Friedner about Polish celebratory food and culture.

It was a lovely opportunity to be able to reminisce about my own Polish foodie upbringing and to highlight some of my favourite Polish dishes, such as pierogi (filled dumplings) bigos (a Hunter’s stew made with sauerkraut, Polish sausage and mixed meats) and traditional Polish desserts such as Makowiec (poppy seed cake) and Nalesniki (pancakes filled with sweet cheese). I took along some Polish beer for Toby to try, a traditional Sałata Jarzynowa (mixed vegetable salad) some open sandwiches and a couple of Pączki (Polish doughnuts with jam) for good measure.

I was able to point Toby to some of the Polish recipes I have tried and shared on here, such as my mama’s Polish Apple Cake which makes a great teatime treat, ‘Kluski Lane’ or Poured Noodles or the delicious Apple Pancakes.
Though it rained towards the end of the day, I’m sure the Polish crowd in Luton celebrated in style, showcasing their carnival costumes depicting the legends and fairy tales of Poland. Thank you so much to Toby for having me as his guest and to Niki for arranging it in advance. To listen, you can click on this BBC Three Counties Link (iplayer) and catch me talking to Toby from around 1:37 onwards.
If you enjoy listening about food on the radio don’t forget to tune in weekly to Nick Coffer’s Weekend Kitchen  – a fun dinner party on the radio with three rotating guests, usually a chef, a home cook and a wine expert.  You can also listen out for me during the show (usually around 12.30pm) highlighting a great seasonal product every week for you to keep a look out for and try, such as British asparagus, seasonal strawberries or new season’s lamb.
Speaking (or writing) of Polish food, this week I received a newly published book called Rose Petal Jam – Stories and Recipes from a Summer in Poland written by Beata Zatorska & Simon Target which offers a collection of recipes gathered from across Poland intertwined with stunning photography depicting the Polish landscape and history. After 20 years away from home, Beata, a doctor in Sydney, returns to Poland with her English husband Simon, to spend the summer recreating her grandmother’s recipes and exploring the country. This is a book I will certainly be referring to often and I look forward to trying some of the recipes in the book as well as collecting more of my own from home.

Favourites in the book (written in English with UK friendly weights and measurments) so far are the Roast Duck with Apples, Cabbage Rolls, Pork with Caraway and Onion, salads, soups and desserts such as Rose Petal Jam filled doughnuts, the Makowiec cake mentioned above and a traditional Miodownik, a Honey cake with Plum jam – delicious! If you like Polish or Eastern European food I would highly recommend this beautiful book! 

I hope everyone enjoyed their bank holiday weekend. The radio chat was a lovely way to round off a very relaxing weekend for me, having spent the first part of ours visiting friends and seeking out delicious cream teas in Devon.

Look out this week to a round-up of the first installment of Simple and in Season – thank you so much to everyone who took the time to enter and link-up!

Road-Testing the ‘My Daddy Cooks’ Recipe Book

Hot off the press, the latest cookbook to hit my shelf is Nick Coffer’s ‘My Daddy Cooks’. Things are very exciting in the world of cookery books at the moment as more and more non-TV/non-celebrity cooks and food writers are making themselves heard. This is partly due to the growing popularity and phenomenon of Internet blogging, which is literally thrusting ‘up and coming’ foodies straight into the hands of publishers who seem to be keen on bringing the very best of such ‘new voices’ forward. It seems there is room for new talent and I believe there should be. Whilst they may not soar quite as quickly as books written by or endorsed by the ‘big guns’ of the food world overnight, I say, look out -there is some real talent emerging.

Enter Nick and Archie. I first met Nick when I was asked to appear as a guest on his BBC radio show (I have the very lovely English Mum to thank for our introduction.)  Nick was in the process of writing his first cookery book (though he has always kept the show and his blog/book quite separate). It was clear to me that his love of food was all-encompassing and that his enthusiasm would propel him forward at great speed.  

Nick had drawn a great deal of attention by way of his My Daddy Cooks Video Blog, filmed in a small kitchen in Watford with his one-year old son, Archie, as his helper. Having watched his drinks business fold under the strain of the recession in 2009, Nick had found himself a stay-at-home dad. As anyone who spends the majority of their day at home with a child may know, oddly, there is a lot of time to fill – so they filled it by cooking together in their kitchen. Within a matter of weeks of their first ‘video-blog’ hitting the Internet, Nick and Archie had gained a huge following. They found themselves on the front page on the London Evening Standard, signed a cook book deal and Nick was given the chance to host his own food and drink based radio show through the BBC. And so now to the book…
 My Daddy Cooks: 100 Fresh New Recipes for the Whole Family
I won’t call this a ‘review’ since it is obviously quite difficult to be impartial when you know the person who wrote the book. What I will say is that this is a ‘cookbook I like’ and the best way, I think, of working out whether a book is any good or not is to cook from it (you’d be surprised how many people miss out this stage). So, I’ve cooked and I’ve tested and I’ve picked out my favourites. I’ve also entered into something of a ‘tweet-cook’ with a fellow foodie who is also cooking her way through the recipes…and so far, so good!
My Daddy Cooks (the book) is not a children’s cookbook nor is it a book just for dads. It’s a recipe book filled with ideas for family meals, which have been tested by Nick and Archie in their kitchen – meaning that many of the recipes include activities that little people could help you with, under supervision. This is a book offering proper rather than fancy food, which is easy to put together for anyone, whether they have a toddler ‘assistant’ or not.

I am very pleased to report that there are no jacket potatoes that have been made to look like mice, nor are there any individually ramekinned shepherd’s pies, hidden vegetable sauces or gimmicky foods. Phew. I think there are quite enough of those type of books out there already.

There are ideas for breakfast in  the first chapter named Beyond Toast (including Oven-baked french toast and Baked eggs in ham cups) as well as ideas for Lighter Bites, plenty of one-pot dishes (such as Oven-baked risotto, Sausage jambalaya, Quick sesame beef chow mein) along with chapters named My Daddy Cooks the Classics, Foolproof Grills and Bakes, Puds, Sweets and Treats (the Baked cinnamon apples and Muddy flourless chocolate cake are post-it noted). All the ingredients required to cook the recipes are readily-available in the shops and there are no store-bought sauces or artificial ingredients in any of the recipes.

Nick has come up with some very clever short-cuts to make food fun and easy to make (he calls it “giving it the My Daddy Cooks treatment”) and other than a few pots and pans and a set of scales, no fancy equipment is needed. A fair amount of recipes are cooked in the oven, though this is because it is often easier to stick something in an oven out of a toddler’s reach. Some of the recipes can be cooked on the stove, such as the recipes in the chapter called ‘Wok on the Wild Side,’ and there are even recipes for microwavable cakes for those moments when you only have enough time to “ping and ding”. 

First up, Nick and Archie’s Mexican Lasagna.  It first came to my attention when I caught Nick and Archie cooking it live on stage at The Real Food Festival a couple of weeks ago. It must have been pretty stressful to cook it in front of a live audience with a toddler who may or may not have co-operated on the day, but Archie was hilarious and it was clear to see that he’s a complete natural when it comes to cooking and that he enjoys it hugely. Archie’s version of the Mexican Lasagne included a load of red wine vinegar and whatever else he could find to throw into his bowl. Nick’s version was a little closer to the recipe in his book, though I think the best thing about all of the recipes is that real parents sometimes do have to improvise in the kitchen. As Nick says in his intro, “All the recipes in this book have been devised to survive even the most catastrophic interventions” which is handy, whether you have a toddler ‘assistant’ or not.

The notion of layering flour tortillas up with chilli shouldn’t work (I’m not a fan of sogginess) but my goodness, it does. The tortillas actually don’t go soggy, they stay remarkably intact and just end up being like chewable pasta – which the kids loved. Keen to re-create the yummy dish I had tasted at The Real Food Festival, I attempted the Mexican Lasagne on the afternoon of a toddler tea party in my garden. I had made the sauce a few hours before just to let the flavours develop and then my kids helped me ‘build’ the lasagna a bit later on. Four ‘under fives’ wolfed it down and asked for more. We re-heated the rest later in the evening and it was still as good, if not better, despite Nick saying in the book that it should be eaten straight away. Just to check it really was as good as I thought it was, I  made it for the second time this week, re-naming it ‘The Mex’. I also tweeted Nick to ask him to dedicate a Facebook page entirely to this one recipe. Enough said about this one (my photos below).

     
Next I was drawn to the Sticky baked salmon with sesame noodles (it looks so good in the photo in the book) and with a quick substitution of asparagus for the red peppers owning to my silly allergy, I re-created the dish with no hassle at all and it was super-tasty.

Intrigued by two recipes for microwaveable cakes, I tossed a coin and went for the Microwave chocolate steamed pudding (with its own chocolate sauce) over the Microwave lemon treacle pudding (though that will be next). It took a matter of minutes to put together, there are no eggs in the recipes though somehow, in just seven minutes I had a perfectly cooked, soft, squidgy, chocolaty pudding ready to serve. As my fellow tweeter Laura also said of the recipe, this is a dangerous one to have in your repertoire on the basis that chocolate cake fixes, reminiscent of comforting childhood or school puds, really shouldn’t be so easy to come by.           

Next on my list of recipes to try will be: the second aforementioned microwave cake, the Muddy flourless chocolate cake, Miso-glazed grilled fish (on the table in less than 30 minutes) Baked penne with courgette and home-made Italian sausage (another front runner in the ‘favourites’ category) Minced lamb and pea curry (I may never have to call for a takeaway again) and Turbo-quick shepherd’s pie (I like the name and it’s nice to see a twist on the classics with sliced potatoes cutting down the preparation time). All the recipes we’ve tried so far have gone down a treat!

As well as fun family mealtimes, I think you would even be able to turn to this cookbook to entertain friends. For a vegetarian dish I’d go for the Thai vegetable green curry or the Baked aubergines (Iman Bayaldi – a dish I love but have never tried to make myself before), Crispy Duck Pancakes (we could all now be just one hour in the oven away from re-creating this Chinese classic whenever we fancy) and for pasta in a matter of minutes, I would go for the No-cook lemon, cream cheese and smoked salmon sauce. 
Not even the publishers could keep this one back, up against some of the most well known names in the cookery world it is holding its own already in the Top Ten of Amazon’s ‘Hot New Releases’ and I hear that Amazon have even been sending out copies ahead of its official publication date. At £8.83 on Amazon (the RRP in shops is £16.99) I think its a bargain and well worth the spend – not least for the fact that there are some great ideas in here (with a good proportion of photos) AND the recipes actually work as my own photos hopefully show (I own many books where they don’t!) If you’d like a little taster of Nick and Archie’s recipes you could always check out their Video Blog, or look out for their feature in The Times this coming Saturday.
Good luck to Nick and Archie on their continuing culinary adventure!   

My Daddy Cooks – published by Hodder & Staughton

 

Radio Show Write-Up

I am very pleased to report that yesterday’s stint on Nick Coffer’s Weekend Kitchen at BBC Three Counties Radio was a great success!  It was a truly exciting experience for me, quite unlike anything I have ever done before.  It was such fun to meet the host Nick Coffer from My Daddy Cooks as well as television presenter, food writer and cookery book author Lotte Duncan.

We spent two hours eating, drinking and chatting our way through the show.  The food, which included Lotte’s Macaroni Cheese (her mum’s recipe) along with her Nutty Tart to follow, as well as my own Polish meatballs and “Szarotka” Polish apple cake (my mum’s recipe) was washed down perfectly with Neil Irvine’s selection of wines from No.2 Pound Street.

We fought over the crispy bits from Lotte’s scrumptious Macaroni cheese which was laced with Worcestershire sauce, whole grain mustard and bound in a Gruyere and cheddar sauce.  Lotte’s Nutty Tart, made with pecans and almonds nestled in thick maple and golden syrup on a crisp pastry base was gooey, sweet but perfectly crunchy on top. Nick described it as being “smooth with nutty textures” as Lotte explained that the inspiration behind it was a cross between a traditional British treacle tart and an American pecan tart, suitable for any dinner party or gathering. Both recipes are from her new book, Lotte’s Country Kitchen.

My own offerings seemed to also go down very well (huge sigh of relief!)  The Polish meatballs were described by Nick as being “really, really tasty” and Lotte as being “unctuous, moist and flavoursome.” The apple cake was also enjoyed by everyone, all the flavours came through; almond, vanilla, cinnamon, against tart Bramleys on a crumbly shortcrust-style cake base and topping. All our plates were wiped clean leaving very little to take home…a sure sign of great food enjoyed by all.

It was also really interesting to see how a real live radio station works. It’s been a dream of mine ever since being a huge fan of Frasier!  As we joined Nick in his studio, we sat  poised, headphones in place, microphones ready to pick up every sound.  It was a bit nerve-wracking but Nick was the perfect host, chatting away about our dishes which ran alongside the theme of  food from our childhood.

With his new producer Nadine, Nick expertly manned the decks, reading out Tweets and text messages from callers and playing a few songs we had each chosen.  Everyone was so welcoming and friendly that the two hours passed by super quickly.  I could easily have done it all over again as soon as it had finished!

The show is available on BBC iPlayer for a week, after which it will be replaced by next week’s show.  There is also a fact sheet which you can download from the BBC Three Counties Website with all the yummy recipes on it.

I would like to say a huge thank you to Nick Coffer for very kindly inviting me on his show as his “home cook” guest as well as to Nadine and everyone at BBC Three Counties for making us all feel so welcome.

Tomorrow, I will be writing up my Polish apple cake recipe for my blog, along with step-by-step photos for a Monday afternoon teatime treat!

Radio Show Guest!

I’m getting very, very excited as tomorrow I am going to be a guest on a two-hour Food and Wine show on BBC Three Counties Radio.  The show (or rather two-hour lunch and chat) is called Nick Coffer’s Weekend Kitchen.  As well as presenting this fabulous show every Saturday afternoon, Nick and his son Archie have a video blog called My Daddy Cooks. Nick and Archie have also written a cook book due to be published in Spring.

During the show Nick will be bringing in one of his own recipes, as well as talking to his cheffy guest, television presenter and cookery book author Lotte Duncan.  Lotte will also be bringing along two dishes for us all to try from her new book Lotte’s Country Kitchen.

As the theme for this week’s show is “Tastes of your childhood” I (home cook guest) will be taking along two Polish-inspired dishes – Meat Balls (Kotlety Mielone) served with a wild mushroom sauce over noodles and a lovely traditional Polish Apple cake called ‘Szartolka.’  Thank you Mama for the recipes!

We will also be joined by a local wine expert, hoping to bring the flavours of all our dishes out perfectly! Since listeners will only be hear, not taste, our job will be to let you know how yummy (and easy-to-make) these recipes really are!

All the recipes discussed will be available on a Fact Sheet and you can listen to the show live or can find it on iPlayer for 7 days following the show.

Tune in here to listen from 12pm-2pm Saturday lunchtime – Live Link