Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

Food Writer

Nigella Lawson

A Bubbling Cauldron of Lamb Rapid Ragu (Nigella)

Yay, Sarah from Maison Cupcake has opened up a new round of Forever Nigella, a really popular blog event in which Nigella recipes old and new get a themed makeover. This month, excitingly, the theme is ‘Halloween Horrors‘ and Sarah has challenged us all to use our imaginations and create any Nigella dish we like, but we have to adapt it to make it suitable for Halloween in some way.

So, my interpretation might be a bit of a cop out, but we’re half way through half-term, we have a leak in the kitchen and so the mains water is off again, it’s cold and the heating is off too. And in my cold and grumpy state, I felt like making a big pan of Nigella’s Rapid Ragu from her Nigella Express book. It is really easy to make, you just need some garlic olive oil, cubed pancetta, minced lamb, a jar of caramelised onions, some chopped tomatoes and a can of lentils. Nigella suggests a splash of Marsala, but I didn’t have any of that so I just used any old sweet sherry in the cupboard, probably from last Christmas. You then just grate some bright orange cheese on top, et voilà.

Having made it, I did think to myself that this would be a great thing to have bubbling away on the stove, ready for post-trick or treating and so I have spooked it up…sort of. As my kids are really little, I didn’t want to make it too scary. Basically, that’s my excuse for having a brain-freeze lack of imagination.

Anyway, I hope it counts. Forever Nigella #9 is open until 1st November so if you can think of anything suitably spooky do join in!

I won’t reproduce the recipe as I hardly changed a thing, but you can find Nigella’s recipe for Rapid Ragu here. Nigella even has a nice Halloweeny background on her website for good measure. 

Forever Nigella Halloween event

Happy Halloween! What spooky things will you be making, Nigella-themed or otherwise?

Ultimate Ice-Cream Sundae (Nigella)

When I read that the theme for Maison Cupcake’s seventh Forever Nigella blog event was ‘Iced Dreams’ (this month hosted by Arthi at Soul Curry) there was no thought process involved – it was straight for the peanut butter, dark chocolate, double cream and golden syrup for me.

This really could have been a ‘Silent Sunday’ post with just a picture and no words because there really are no words to describe how good this ice-cream sundae is.

The sauce for the sundae is SO easy to make and it transforms a simple bowl or glass of ice-cream into something truly spectacular. It is worthy of a place at the dinner party table (does anyone still have dinner parties or has this been relegated to watching Come Dine with Me on the TV?) or at any barbecue or even just for those sofa evenings when a good dose of comfort food is required. 
The recipe is on-line at Nigella.com and is called ‘Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Sundae’ or it can be found in Nigella Express – my most used Nigella book. 
Make it! 
 
Nigella calls it her “ultimate ice-cream sundae” and I love her attempt at a disclaimer: “Obviously, if you’re not a peanut-eater, it won’t be for you, but for everyone else it is the stuff of dreams.”
Nigella suggests using a combination of toffee, vanilla and chocolate ice-cream but this time I went for a white chocolate number, obviously smothered in the peanut sauce and topped it with chopped hazlenuts. In actual fact the ice-cream is just a minor detail – it’s the sauce you want – and plenty of it!
 
If you have any left, you can store it in the fridge and just gently re-heat when needed or do as I do and stir some into hot milk to make a peanut butter hot chocolate once the sun has gone down. Mnnnnn.

 

Do take a look at the current Forever Nigella challenge and rules and join in! It’s a very popular blog event and a great way to share the Nigella love and discover new blogs! Thank you Sarah and Arthi for hosting.
 

Pantry Paella with Veg Box Runner Beans (Nigella)

This is my entry to the monthly blogging event over at Maison Cupcake called Forever Nigella, this month hosted by Kat at Housewife Confidential. The theme is ‘Sea Fish and Eat It,’ which promted me to have a scour through NIgella’s books to find a fishy recipe.

We are not huge ‘paella’ fans in our family, if I am making a rice dish I would be more likely to go for a risotto. However, as it happens, I did have a bag of mixed seafood in the freezer and all the ingredients to hand to make Nigella’s ‘Pantry Paella’ so I gave it a whirl.
It is actually easier to make than a risotto as you don’t have to stand around stirring it as much.
For the kids, I confess to taking a bit out shortly before throwing the seafood in and giving it to them sans seafood as they are not really into mussles, prawns and squid just yet – though they do love fish. I also added a touch of cream to the ‘little people’ version as I felt the flavour given by the saffron may have been a little too strong for them (I think I had put a bit too much in!) and threw in some lovely runner beans I found in my veg box.
The recipes can be found either in Nigella’s book ‘Kitchen’ or here at BBC Food.
I agree with Nigella that this is a great ‘store-cupboard standby’ recipe and it would be easy to make for a get-together or a family supper.

Pappardelle with Butternut and Taleggio

Last week I was on the hunt for a recipe that would feed a crowd, more specifically, a group of my lovely girlfriends who were getting together to help me celebrate my birthday.  As is now the trend, we were all asked to bring something for the table and had decided on an Italian-themed evening.

I had also been looking for Italian-esque inspiration for the next instalment of Forever Nigella over at Maison Cupcake (this month’s theme is ‘Ciao Italia’).  Since I’ve enjoyed all the recipes I have tried from it so far, I turned to Nigella’s latest book ‘Kitchen’ to see what I could find.
 
Statistics tell us that most people cook, on average, two recipes from each cookbook they buy.  I am up to number five now in the case of Nigella’s latest book and so I think it can now be placed in the ‘good value for money category!’  I’ve also got my eye on her lemon polenta cake as an Easter treat…which will take me up to mumber six.
 
Flicking through, I came across a recipe for ‘Pappardelle with butternut and blue cheese’ which, Nigella states, is “perfect for feeding friends cosily rather than assaulting them with a panoply of courses”.  Spot on then, for my brief. 
 
 
Nigella’s recipe incorporates blue cheese, she suggests Saint Agur, but she also says that you can leave out the blue cheese if you want.  Whilst I would have quite liked some blue cheese, I had found some gorgeous Italian ‘Taleggio’ cheese in my local Italian deli, (which is almost like French Brie in its taste and texture) and I thought it would melt in nicely and stand up well to the sweetness of the butternut squash and marsala wine. 
 
I also skipped the paprika, owing to my allergy, and couldn’t find any fresh sage anywhere so used parsley.  This was enough of a prompt for me to go and plant some seeds to grow my own!  I also used vegetable stock rather than water and added a grating of nutmeg. 
 
The dish seemed to go down well with the girls and it went really well with everything else on the table, two further pasta dishes, goat’s cheese crostini, salads, nibbles, wine and a very large tiramisu.  A very special thank you goes to Chris for hosting and to all the ladies who very kindly bought me a pair of running shoes for my birthday…a little hint perhaps that I have been eating too much pasta!!!  I had made so much of it that there was plenty for the next day and the day after.  The children enjoyed it too and the following day I added a splash of cream (which also worked very well) since my kids like their food quite saucy.

 

Here’s the recipe:

Pappardelle with Butternut and Tallegio
Inspired by a recipe from Kitchen: Recipes from the heart of the home by Nigella Lawson
Ingredients
1 large butternut squash (peeled, de-seeded and cubed) or 1kg/4 packets ready cubed
2 tablespoons olive or rapeseed oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
A knob of butter
50 ml marsala
125 ml vegetable stock
100 g pine nuts
500 g pappardelle pasta
A handful of parsley, chopped
125 g Tallegio (Italian cheese)
A grating of nutmeg
Salt and Pepper
Method1. Fry the onion in a pan with the oil on a low heat until soft and golden.
2. Add the butter and the cubed butternut squash and stir well until coated.
3. Add the marsala and vegetable stock, a pinch of salt and pepper and a grating of nutmeg.
4. Allow the liquid to boil then cover with a lid and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the butternut squash is soft.
5. Put a large pan of water on to boil for the pasta and add lots of salt (about two teaspoons full).  Once it is boiling, add the pasta and cook according to the packet instructions (one or two minutes less for al dente)
6. Toast your pine nuts in a separate dry pan (keep an eye on them, they only need a minute or so on the pan) then leave to cool.
7. Once the butternut squash is cooked, add some of the chopped parsley to the butternut squash and leave some for the top.
8. Once the pasta is cooked, drain (save some of the water it had cooked in) and mix in your cooked butternut squash and all the liquid.  Tip it into a big pasta dish.  Add some of the cooking water back to the pasta to help coat all the pasta.
9. Break up the cheese into chunks and crumble over the top.   Sprinkle the top of your dish with pine nuts and parsley.
10. Eat!    
       
 
 

Nigella’s Chocolate Cloud Cake

I’m thinking of chocolate.  In particular of a rich chocolate cake, oozing with depth of flavour and richness.  Well, it is ten in the morning after all, I am hosting a children’s book party at home and cake is necessary.

I’m sure my obsession is not helped by the fact that this months’ theme for the Forever Nigella blogging challenge over at Maison Cupcake is ‘Seduced by Chocolate.’  Therefore, Nigella chocolate recipes, in general, have slipped into my subconscious to a degree that I can’t possibly fight.

The cake I most have on my mind is a flourless chocolate cake from my well-used 2001 copy of Nigella Bites. It not only looks scrummy, it is also really easy to make.

Lisa and Natalie from The Book Mums arrive and talk to us about the delightful world of phonics, the new way that kids learn to read.  Since it is not the way I learnt to read and is therefore a total minefield for anyone who is not a newly qualified teacher, I comforted myself (and my guests) with Nigella’s Chocolate Cloud Cake.  Lisa was expecting my Polish Apple Cake, as promised, but I’m afraid apples were not the order of the day. Chocolate was.

I blame my shopping trip. Before I had even reached the Bramley apples, I was hit by a large stand of Fairtrade chocolate called Montezuma’s which happened to be on special offer.

A quick read of the packet reveals that Montezuma’s is a British made artisan chocolate which won a Great Taste Gold Award in 2010.  It is produced in West Sussex by a small team founded by Helen and Simon Pattinson, ex-Lawyers turned chocolate entrepreneurs. I’m a huge fan of artisan produce and was intrigued by their selection of flavours.

I spied a bar of Montezuma’s Dark Chocolate Orange & Geranium flavour and thinking of the Valencian orange extract I had in my cupboard my ‘cloud’ was about to become distinctly orange-flavoured.

 

Back at home, a quick taste-test (an entire bar, good job I bought three) confirmed that my recipe tweak was almost certain to work. As well as switching plain dark chocolate to orange chocolate, I also added orange extract to the cake mix and some ground almonds

The result?  Lots of empty plates, always a good sign.  Nobody mentioned the floral influence of the Geranium in the cake but it was definitely there along with an intense hit of orange. Adding Valencian orange extract to the whipped cream cake topping also carried the flavors through nicely.

Plenty of books were bought, we were all a little wiser about the joys of phonics (if not a little more calorie laden) and my local toddler group received a generous donation of chunky books for chunky fingers.

Thank you to everyone who came! Lisa, next time I do promise Polish Apple Cake!
Here’s my adapted recipe. The original can be found here Chocolate Cloud Cake

 

Chocolate Orange Cloud Cake
Adapted from Nigella Bites
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
250 g dark chocolate (I used Montezuma’s Orange & Geranium 73% cocoa)
125 g unsalted butter – at room temperature
6 eggs: 2 whole, 4 separated – at room temperature
175 g caster sugar
50 g ground almonds
1 teaspoon Valencian orange extract
OR grated zest of one orange
For the cloud topping
500ml double cream
1 tablespoon icing sugar
1 teaspoon Valencian orange extract
½ teaspoon cocoa powder for sprinkling (I use Green & Blacks)
You will also need a 23cm springform cake tin, lined with baking paper
Method
Preheat your oven to 180 C/gas mark 4
Place a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently boiling water (make sure the bowl isn’t touching the water) and put the chocolate inside the bowl to melt.  Stir around gently and take the bowl off the heat when melted. 
Chop the butter into pieces and add it to the warm chocolate, stir in so that it melts together.
Separate four of the eggs into yolks and whites.  Put the two whole eggs and four eggs yolks into a bowl with 75 g of the caster sugar and stir.
Add the chocolate and butter mixture, ground almonds and Valencian orange extract or the grated zest to the chocolate and egg and stir well.  
In a separate very clean bowl, whisk the four egg whites until they are quite foamy then gradually add the remaining 100 g of caster sugar and whisk again.
Add two spoonfuls of the beaten egg whites into the melted chocolate mixture and lightly stir in with a metal spoon then add the rest of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture and gently stir with your metal spoon until it is all mostly mixed together.
Pour the mixture into your springform cake tin and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes.
The cake should be risen, there may be cracks but the centre should no longer be wobbly.
Leave the cake in its tin to cool.  (Once cooled I left mine in an airtight container over night but it is fine to use it the same day)
When you are ready to eat the cake, place it on a cake stand or plate and take it out of its tin.  The cake will have a crater-like dip in the middle and will be a bit rough around the edges.
To make the topping, whip the cream until it starts to get thicker, add the icing sugar and orange extract and continue to whip until it is quite firm.  Be careful not to over beat.
Spoon all the topping on top of the cake, spreading it out gently towards the edges.
Dust with cocoa power and decorate with sprinkles or flowers if you like.
Although I am ever-so-slightly chocolate over-dosed, I can’t wait to see all the other chocolate-inspired Nigella entries at Maison Cupcake.

Easy Entertaining – Nigella Style

This post is inspired by two things.  Firstly, a lovely long leisurely lunch on Saturday with good friends who came down to visit us from Bournemouth.  Secondly, by a fantastic new blogging event hosted by Sarah at Maison Cupcake. Here’s why:  

Entertaining – you never want it to be stressful.  My first tip is to call upon a trusted virtual kitchen companion to make your life easier.  In my case, it is usually one of two people. Nigella Lawson, whom I love for the fact that her recipes are down-to-earth, do-able and always tasty. Or, Ina Garten (aka The Barefoot Contessa) an American cook who offers effortless dishes with easy-to-follow recipes and great flavours.

This time, I was swayed by Nigella and in particular by her comprehensive new book Nigella Kitchen.  Her most recent book really raises the bar for cookery books this year. She has already sold over 400,000 copies and its easy to see why.  It is huge. Nigella herself calls it a “comfort chronicle”‘ and it really is just that. 

The one thing you can always be sure of with a Nigella book is good value. It may be pricey (RRP £26) but she doesn’t short change you on recipes.  There are plenty of ideas for almost every occasion, 190 in total in the compendium, with 60 express recipes at 30 minutes or under. 

Four our lazy luncheon, I decided to cook Nigella’s Butternut, rocket and pine nut salad (page 94).  The butternut squash was coated in olive oil, turmeric and ginger (I added cumin) and roasted in the oven.  A dressing is made with golden sultanas (I didn’t have any so omitted these) and sherry vinegar, poured over the warm squash and tossed with the rocket leaves and toasted pine nuts.  

I served the butternut salad alongside a platter of well-seasoned, sliced grilled steak (Nigella suggests her Indian-rubbed lamb chops) a creamy roll of local goat’s cheese (which complemented the squash and steak perfectly) and some oven baked bread. My guest’s plates were all left empty, which I can only take as a good sign. 

The real star of the show was pudding.  In fact, it wasn’t just pudding, it was Nigella’s Marmalade pudding cake (page 269).  This happened to be the very first recipe I was drawn to when opening her new book on Christmas Day and one which I couldn’t wait to make.  (Click on the link to find the recipe or visit http://www.nigella.com/)

 

Aside from the fact that it was explode-in-the-mouth sensational, it was by far, the easiest cake I have ever made.  It was so easy that I wonder whether it has actually made my beloved KitchenAid mixer redundant…

 All the ingredients are literally measured out and thrown into a food processor (my three-year old helped me with this.)  A couple of blitzes later and your have your batter ready to scoop out straight into a dish and into the oven for 30-40 minutes. 

 With my ingredients set out at room temperature, I was able to make the pudding just before serving the main and stick it in the oven (already hot from having roasted the butternut squash).  By the time we had finished eating, we had a steaming hot, soft, perfectly risen sponge pudding. 

 Just before serving, you make a speedy glaze, a couple of spoons of marmalade mixed with some water mixed together over heat. Poured over the top, with gleaming shards of orange peel (I used medium cut marmalade)  and your pudding is transformed into a golden, shining, delectable pud.  All it needed was big serving bowls, a steaming jug of custard and a slightly smaller pot of double cream for good measure.

 

If you don’t have a food processor, Nigella gives instructions for the creaming method, which just takes slightly longer to make. The pudding served four of us and there was enough left-over for both the kids to have pudding for two days afterwards.  I add, that there was only some pudding remaining because we were all so full.

 

 If I were to make it again, I wouldn’t change a thing as far as the method.  For a flavour variation though, I may try it with lemon curd and lemon peel to see what happens!

 

It has definitely become my favourite pud of all time. Since both recipes worked a treat and didn’t let me down in front of an audience, I am entering this post into this month’s blogging event, “Forever Nigella” hosted by Sarah at Maison Cupcake – to share the love and hopefully encourage everyone out there to make it!

Sarah’s theme is “Seasonal Sensations” and on the basis that the vibrant citrus smell of the Marmalade pudding cake, which filled my kitchen on Saturday reminded me so much of clementines at Christmas, I hope it makes my post a worthy contender.  Although the butternut squash is a lovely winter seasonal vegetable too…