Chablis and a Take-away! A Blogger Challenge

I have been invited to take part in a challenge to give my opinion on the best take-away to go with a nice cool bottle of Chablis wine.

This was quite daunting at first because Chablis is one of my favourite white wines and I enjoy it with most meals. Chablis is made from the Chardonnay grape which is my preferred white wine, crisp and clean, clear appearance with a distinct and rich flavour.  Chablis comes from the northern part of the Burgundy wine growing area in France.

I like to drink my white wine extremely cold and even put ice cubes in my glass!

To start with I could justify drinking this wine with most take-aways that I might order but when I started to break down the reasons I liked the wine, tasting it with my eyes closed it suddenly became obvious which take-away would go best.

For starters I thought about Indian take-away. I usually have Tandoori Chicken and Special Rice. The spices in the tandoori are not too strong or firery and suit a dry white wine very well.

Thai take-aways such as thai green curry or tempura shrimp and other select items - I would drink dry white wine with this. The light crispness suits fine distinct flavours perfectly.

With a Chinese take-away I would actually prefer to drink Chinese tea but if drinking wine a dry white would be perfect - Oh yes, Chablis again!

Kebabs, a slightly more greasy take-away and the sharpness and gooseberry flavours help to cut the greasyness of the kebab.

Italian - we usually associate pizza as the ultimate take-away. When I say pizza one usually thinks of the chains like Domino's or Pizza Hut and others.  But we are still at the question - what do I think the perfect take-away would be to go with a delicious, crisp, dry delicate Chablis wine!

We had Mexican for dinner and that was definitely too spicy for such a delicate white wine.

To try to make sense of the choices I poured myself a large glass of Robert Nicolle Chablis, 2011, turned off the TV distractions and closed my eyes. I took a long, slow sip first smelling the wine as I inhaled. Keeping my eyes closed I tried to imagine what I would be eating that would go with this wine and in an instant it came to me! I would get a take-away from a proper Italian restaurant and I would have a calzone with ham and mushroom.  A calzone is like an italian version of a pasty. It stays moist and the creaminess of the mozarella matches perfectly with the smoothness of the Chablis. The ham and mushrooms have a lovely flavour but don't overpower the lightness of the Chablis.

Oh yes, Chablis would partner perfectly with an Italian ham and mushroom Calzone to take-away.

Slow Cooking Weekday

It's cold and not very spring like today and really calls for some nice warming food!

I have two recipes on the go, a slow boiling chicken stock made with the remnants of Sunday's roast chicken, courtesy of Farmison (I received their March monthly meat box recently packed full of beautiful products like bacon, pork chops, rack of lamb, corn fed chicken and more.) Their meat is free range and each part of the selection is wrapped ready for freezing. I put most of the box full in the freezer but kept the whole chicken out for last Sunday lunch.

The meat on the chicken was moist and tasty and full of flavour that seems to be missing from the average supermarket chicken.  We got 5 portions out of this plus a lovely carcass for soup.

I put the carcass into my stock pot, added celery, onion and carrots. Some salt flakes and pepper corns and ready to boil. I let this slow boil for a couple of hours, strained the stock and then readded the carrot, celery and bits of chicken. Blitz this with my hand mixer, check the seasoning, add a couple of drops of Tabasco sauce and delicious!!

At the same time I started off some beef ribs that I bought at the farmer's market on Sunday. I the ribs in my slow cooker at 09:00 along with carrots, onion, carrots and parsnips all cut into slightly thicker lengths than usual but I wanted them to mirror the ribs.

I poured about a cup of leftover red wine (I know how can you have left over wine!) and a cup of water, Lea & Perrins worcester sauce, soya sauce and salt & peppercorns.

I pretty much left this alone all day and about 20:00 added a Knorr beef gravy pot and put on the potatoes and broccoli.

 

Easy, delicious one pot cooking so I could get on with things and less washing up. And best of all, Mr R has some to take for his lunch tomorrow!!

 

 

 

St Patrick's Day Tribute

I always have a heavy heart on the 17th of March and not because it is St Patrick's Day but because a cousin of mine died very young and his birthday was 17th of March. But that aside, it is also a day of celebration especially if you are Irish or have any Irish blood in you.  Coming from the east coast of America you can bet there is some Irish blood in me, must be that which causes my feet to tap to a good old country beat!

St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland (or to be politically correct The Republic of Ireland) and great celebrations are made in his name on this date in March, especially the consumption of Guinness!! St Patrick became the patron saint when he was a Bishop and needing to convince some of his followers of the Holy Trinity he picked up a shamrock and pointed out it was also a living example of the Holy Trinity, one leaf for the Father, one for the Son and one for the Holy Spirit! What about the elusive four leaf clover you ask, well the fourth leaf is for 'luck' - You have heard of 'the luck of the Irish'!

Along with music and Guinness the Irish hospitality also includes food and I have been sent a selection of some of the best examples of this.  My surprise box includes:

My surprise box of Irish Goodies

Always love receiving products from Clonakilty, tasty and made the traditional way and this includes their bacon and sausages too.

Clonakilty White Pudding & Black Pudding

Flahavan's Irish porridge oats are one of the best ways to get some fibre and a healthy start to your day. Because these oats are less processed you get a creamy and delicious breakfast poridge but they are also used in recipes for flapjacks, oatmeal cookies and more.

A great way to start your morning and stay healthy

With my morning breakfast I always have a cup of coffee made for me by Mr R! That kick of caffeine first thing is what makes me tick. My packet of Bewley's coffee was a strength 3 which is a lovely middle of the road strength although they do a strength 4 and 5.

Lovely smooth coffee from Bewley's

One of the products I received was a pack of Truly Irish Roasting Back Bacon but rather than roast this piece of meat I wanted to make what I knew as I grew up as 'New England Boiled Dinner' but also sometimes was known as 'Irish Boiled Dinner'.


Bacon products from Truly Irish

It is hard to believe that something so simple can taste so good.  I put the bacon, an onion, two sticks of celery and three carrots in a large stock pot and covered with water.  I added pepper but waited to taste the borth nearer the finishing time to add salt - bacon can often be salty anyway and none is needed. This piece of bacon wasn't salty so I added a pinch.  I let this come to the boil and simmer away for about an hour then added some peeled chunks of potato and cooked till the knife went through easily.

When I turned the heat off I added some chopped spring greens and allowed them to cook in the hot stock. The bacon stayed really tender and tasty.

I served with a little of the cooking stock poured over. The remainder of stock will make a great start for another week's soup. Truly a Happy St Patrick's Day!!



Competition - The Greek Gods Greek Style Yoghurt - Cheesecake

I was given a tub of The Greek Gods Greek Style Yoghurt Honey and Strawberry yoghurt and challenged to come up an original and creative recipe that would excite Aphrodite and her heavenly pals. The criteria was to use one of Greek Gods fantastic flavours and I chose Honey & Strawberry.

I decided to make a cheesecake with home made ricotta cheese made from the yoghurt.

All ready to start the ricotta

I started by making my own ricotta cheese by mixing 500g of yoghurt with 1 litre blue top milk, 2 tsp salt and 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar. Bring to the boil (no need to stir) and boil for 2 minutes.

Pour the mixture into a sieve lined with a thin tea towel or muslin and when cool enough give it a good squeeze get the remaining whey out and cool in the fridge for 12 hours. 

Sieving the curds and the whey

Ricotta going into the fridge for 12 hours to set.

Use as appropriate in your recipes. (You can use the whey in place of water when making bread and the whey keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for about 2 weeks).

Now that I have the ricotta I proceeded to make the cheesecake.

Ricotta being weighed and ready to add to the other ingredients

In a large bowl or mixer add all of your ingredients and mix well.  Pour into a buttered and floured spring form pan and bake in a pre-heated oven (325o/180o) for 50-60 minutes. When cool release from pan and chill in the fridge for 24 hours.

Ready to pour into the buttered and floured springform pan

Just out of the oven - mmmm the smell!

Ingredients for the cheesecake:-
1 kg ricotta cheese (I used 700g homemade ricotta and 300g cream cheese)
6 eggs (whisked)
rind of one lemon
1 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup Self Raising flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

Whisk all the ingredients together and pour into a buttered and floured tin. Bake for 50 - 60 mins at 180o. Cool then put in the fridge for 24 hours before slicing.

I served the cheesecake with sliced strawberries and some of the Greek Gods Honey and Strawberry Yoghurt on the side.

The finished cheesecake!

Served with sliced strawberries and some Greek Gods Honey & Strawberry yoghurt

 

Dinner Party Cooking with Total Greek Yoghurt

I always love being invited to attend an event put on by Total Greek Yoghurt! They are usually fun and this was no exception.  We met at L'Atelier Des Chef at their Wigmore Street location on a cold wintry evening which made the welcome champagne very welcome indeed!

We were there to cook with Paul Merrett, Chef and Total Greek Yoghurt fanatic and to produce and eat a easy and effective dinner party menu. Each recipe used Total Greek Yoghurt which reinforces its versatility and that it is not just for breakfast with your muesli.

A friendly little fellow!!

All of the ingredients were weighed out and ready for us to get stuck in.

 

First of all Paul talked us through each recipe and then was around to see that we kept on the right track.

Our starter was Seared Squid with Choritzo, Spiced Chickpea Puree and Corriander Total Greek Yoghurt. This was quick and easy and a good tip was to get it all prepped before you start. I often have both squid and choritzo in my  fridge & freezer so this is certainly on the menu plan. It was a perfect flavour combination along with smoked paprika and harissa paste, cumin seeds, chickpeas and of course Total Greek Yoghurt.

The main course we prepared was a Crusted Rack of Lamb with Baba Ganouche and Roasted Sweet Potato Salad. Amongst the ingredients for the sweet potato salad was crumbled feta cheese, pomegranite seeds, rocket and oil and balsamic vinegar.

The lamb was really tender and tasty but a tad too rare for my liking, a little more colour and it would have been perfect.

Main course ready to serve

The pudding used fresh spring rhubarb which was sweet and tender and coupled with marscapone and greek yoghurt made a visually beautiful and tasty pudding which to end our DIY dinner!

The finished team effort pudding. Tasted absolutely lovely too!!

The recipe for the syllabub is below just in time for the start of the English rhubarb season:-

Rhubarb & Greek Yoghurt Syllabub with Poached Rhubarb

Makes 5 generous portions

Ingredients

For the poached Yorkshire rhubarb:

250g rhubarb

75g caster sugar

For the syllabub

400g TOTAL Greek Yoghurt

200g Mascarpone

2 vanilla pods scraped

250g rhubarb puree

25ml sweet white wine

Icing sugar to sweeten

Method

1.       First make the rhubarb puree so that it can cool. Chop the rhubarb up into even small pieces and put in a pan.

2.       Sprinkle over the sugar and pour in the sweet white wine slowly bringing to a simmer.

3.       Blend to a puree and cool.

4.       Whisk the Greek yoghurt, mascarpone and vanilla until light and fluffy – this is best on an electric mixer but possible by hand.

5.       Fold in the rhubarb puree.

6.       Sweeten further if necessary by adding icing sugar.

7.       Pipe into a cocktail or trifle glass.

8.       Top with the poached rhubarb.

Many thanks to Total Greek Yoghurt for inviting me to this event.

Everything Stops for Tea!

There is nothing as quintessentially English as Afternoon Tea and this is a custom that I am very much in favour of.  Afternoon tea is one of my favourite ways to partake of sandwiches and cake and the only time I really enjoy a cup of tea (I am a coffee person really)

 

Afternoon Tea was first introduced by Anna Russell Duchess of Bedford, wife of the 7th Duke of Bedford when in the mid-1840s she was visiting Belvoir Castle and found it such a long time from lunch (usually eaten at mid-day) and the evening meal (around 8:00 pm) and she felt the need for a little sandwich or scone and a cup of tea.  When the Duchess entertained the local female gentry and London society ladies she would ask for a plate of finger sandwiches (so much easier to eat in a dainty manner) and little cakes to be offered with the tea.
 

This caught on and soon became a favourite amongst society women. 

 

The English often refer to their meal in the evening as tea whereby it would be called supper in America.  High Tea often included something hot and more substantial such as Welsh Rarebit or Toad in the Hole.  Although this was once a custom for the upper end of society it is thankfully something everyone can indulge in today.

I have been lucky enough to take Afternoon Tea in some of London’s most famous places like, The Ritz, Fortnum & Mason – both in Piccadilly, Harrods Knightsbridge, The Savoy, Claridges, The Dorchester, Le Meridian Hotel, The Basil Street Hotel to name but a few.

I have also sampled the selection in St Albans where I currently live at Sopwell House, St Michael’s Manor and Mokoko (who had their inaugural afternoon tea which I was able to attend and included earl grey mini cupcakes provided by Heaven is a Cupcake  – this will now be a daily ritual since their recent refurbishment).  It is a great excuse to get together with family and friends and sit back, relax and be waited on or in fact to do the same at home.

There are many tiered plates and platters available nowadays to give you that decadence and pleasure in the comfort of your own home, including lovely china tea cups and saucers (a mug is never acceptable with Afternoon Tea) and china tea pots, milk jugs and sugar bowls.  You can make it as elaborate as you wish or quite simple, just a smoked salmon sandwich (crust less) and a small scone!

I got married almost two years ago in April to the long suffering Mr R (only joking) and we both felt it was utterly us to have afternoon tea for our wedding feast.  We choose St Michael’s Manor for the setting, the views of Verulamium Park and the wonderful selection for the food and attentive waiting staff.

 

I am lucky enough to have been sent a copy of a book called ‘High Tea at the Victoria Room’ by Jill Jones-Evans & Jo Gambacorta from the publishers New Holland Publishers to review.

The Handpicked Foodstore

I was recently contacted by The Handpicked Foodstore to try one of their products, 

I am really excited to have found this company and their sister company The Handpicked Collection.

The Handpicked Foodstore's catalogue is packed full of products personally picked for the customer by a panel of industry experts such as magazine editors, food writers, gardening writers, cookbook authors. I think most of my Christmas presents will come from there this year!

 I tried their MacGilvray Scottish smoked salmon for tea this evening.  I am very partial to smoked salmon!

And one of my favourite ways to eat smoked salmon is with cream cheese and bagels!

This was a lovely example of smoked salmon, not too strong a flavour, very moist and tender too.

The packet that was sent to me was enough for Mr R and I to have a bagel each as a Sunday evening snack.

You can order online or by phone, see their website for details.