Category Archives: Sauces

Easy mayonnaise

Posted on by
Reply

 

 

Mayonnaise is a handy staple to have in the fridge at any time but I find myself reaching for it more during the summer months.  Who can resist a leftover Jersey Royal topped with a blob of wobbly, glossy mayonnaise?  There are so many picnic opportunities for the jar of mayo and it is essential for any number of salads or cold collations (now that’s a word I don’t often use).  Then there are chips, if you start dipping hot chips into this mayonnaise I predict you will struggle to stop.

Of course you can buy your mayonnaise and there are good ones available, but and this really is a proper but, none are as good as a jar of homemade.   Rich and unctuous with a satiny sheen, fresh yet savoury with a gentle hum of garlic – what is not to love.  I should mention that garlic isn’t traditional unless you are making an aioli (see Introduction) but having tried with and without, my lot prefer it with.

Like many other recipes using eggs, making mayonnaise is a form of alchemy and certainly isn’t difficult but there are a couple of important provisos.  The most crucial of these is to add your oil slowly, really slowly to start with, almost drop by drop.  Once the initial mix of the egg and other ingredients start to to thicken with the addition of the oil you can speed things up a touch but I tend to go pretty cautiously until I have thick and glossy mixture in the bowl.  I used to make mayonnaise with just egg yolks but when I saw an Ottolenghi recipe using a whole egg I adjusted my recipe and have been set on that ever since.  So much easier not to have a couple of egg whites winking at you from the fridge.

Mayonnaise

To make a simple aioli I would up the garlic to three cloves.  Whilst this might not have the authenticity to hold its head up in the South of France it works for me.

You can make the mayonnaise in a food processor but it is easier to use one with a small bowl otherwise the blade is chasing the egg around in rather a large space and it may not combine with the oil.  I find a hand held blender the easiest and most reliable method.

1 whole egg

1 heaped tablespoon of dijon mustard

1 clove garlic chopped (see Introduction)

1 heaped teaspoon caster sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons vinegar, white wine or cider (tarragon vinegar makes a glorious mayonnaise)

500ml vegetable oil (or 400ml vegetable oil and 100 of olive oil) in a jug

Juicy of half a juicy lemon

Put the egg, mustard, garlic, sugar, salt and vinegar into a bowl and mix briefly with your hand held/immersion blender.  With the blender going start adding the oil, drop by drop initially.  Once you can see the ingredients emulsifying you can up the oil to a thin but steady stream.  When all the oil is added and you have a thick and wobbly mayo, add most of the lemon juice and give a final whizz.  Taste, it should be spot on but you can add a little more lemon juice or salt if you wish.  A jar of this lasts for ages in the fridge but it tends to go pretty quickly.

 

Party Salad (and 10 years)

Posted on by
Reply

How this became known as Party Salad I don’t know but a salad needs a name and this has stuck.  One of the reasons may be that the components can be made ahead and brought together at the last minute whilst in your high heels and sequins. I served this to some friends recently and they all loved it, had seconds and asked for the recipe so you can’t beat that.

Never easy to get a picture of a salad so let me tell you what you see here – at the bottom there is a layer of baby spinach topped with a layer of brown rice which has a trickle of the herby green sauce.  Then comes the pickled cabbage on top of which the roasted vegetables are strewn.  Finally more green herby sauce, a few blobs of Greek yogurt, some toasted seeds and then the pink pickled onion.   So several layers but happily all can be made ahead with the spinach either coming from the shops or, if you are considerably more efficient than me, your garden.

I have served this salad, or variations of it, many times recently and any leftovers are positively stellar in packed lunches.  You can of course customise it too – use bulgar wheat instead of brown rice if you prefer or even little boiled new potatoes cut in half if that’s what you have.  Here I have roasted peppers, courgettes, onions and carrots, use the recipe for roasted vegetables from the salad (July 2014) using whichever veg you want.  In the summer I made the herby green sauce with parsley as per the recipe (July 2013) but recently used coriander as there was a big bunch in the fridge – different obviously but quite delicious.

My spicy seeds are perfect for sprinkling over (November 2018).  To make the pickled cabbage use the recipe for the quick pickled onions (August 2014) using quarter of a white cabbage very finely shredded.  You could have a layer of picked onions instead of cabbage plus the pickled onions on top, one less thing to make I suppose but I have no doubt a bowl of pickled cabbage in the fridge won’t last long.  There is just something about the combination here that I love, all the flavours and textures together, knock out.

As for the 10 years – it has been ten years since I started posting recipes here although the writing of them started many years before that.  These recipes and ideas are used by me weekly if not daily and also, happily for me, by many others.  Thank you for the many, many comments and for telling me how much you love my recipes.

 

Parsley, chilli and garlic butter

Posted on by
Reply

 

I’m not sure I dare call this a recipe.  So simple and using the minimum of ingredients yet quick, very useful and punches way above its weight.  The difference between this and the usual blob of butter on potatoes is ridiculous.  A roll of this in the fridge (or freezer) can elevate potatoes, greens or roast vegetables into the star of the show, and therefore dinner.  It makes a superb version of garlic bread, a little more special than a regular garlic and butter loaf and miles better than a shop bought cellophane wrapped pallid brick.

As with so many of my ideas, you can customise at will.  When the wild garlic is around I often use that in place of or in addition to the parsley.  That the wild garlic is usually with us at the same time as the Jersey royals is serendipity itself.  The combination is utterly delicious and will quite happily serve as dinner without embellishment other than a green salad.  It is one of those meals where the vegetables really do take centre stage and deservedly so.  A pan of everyday broccoli or green beans is zhuzzed up no end by a melting pat of this butter.  It looks as if you’ve made loads of effort and rustled up something different and special yet it is the work of minutes.

I also like chives or chervil used in the butter with lemon zest.  A tarragon, chilli and garlic butter melted over grilled or barbecued chicken – supper of dreams.  Make my quick and easy flatbreads (March 2018) and melt one of these butters over them, heaven.

Parsley, chilli and garlic butter

Make as much as you need for one sitting or, as I usually do, make double that amount, you will be surprised how quickly a use for it appears in your head whilst it waits in the fridge.  Below is what I used for the amount of potatoes you see here, 750g.

50g soft butter

A small handful of parsley, chopped

1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes

1 large clove of garlic crushed

Sea salt, a generous pinch

Mash all the ingredients together and either dollop straight over hot potatoes or vegetables or roll into a little sausage, wrap in tin foil and keep in the fridge or freezer.

 

Fresh Herb Sauce

Posted on by
2

Anna May everyday Iced tea Grenita-3

I cannot rave enough about this sauce – it is simply beyond useful and thoroughly delicious.

We have it with grilled or roast chicken and I wouldn’t contemplate a barbecue without it.  Smoky charred chicken wrapped in a soft flatbread with this fresh herby sauce is a lunch supreme (see Summer Lunch Part 1 last week).  With roast lamb I add mint to the parsley base and it becomes a modern twist on a traditional mint sauce.  With some marjoram or oregano and a pinch of chilli flakes it is the perfect accompaniment to a steak which makes sense as it is a simplified version of an Argentinian chimmichurri.

You can fiddle around with the ingredients to suit your taste, change the herbs as suggested above, add more garlic (or less), substitute lemon juice for the vinegar if you prefer.  Really it  is up to you, the only thing I would urge is that you try it.

Green Herb Sauce

1 bunch parsley (around 30-40 grams)

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon sugar

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of dried chilli flakes (optional)

Put all the ingredients into a jug and blend with a hand held blender.  Alternatively blend in a liquidiser.  Taste and adjust, you may need a splash more vinegar or a pinch more salt or sugar.  Enough for 4.