Onion Tarte Tatin with Blue Cheese

Posted on 13/02/2014 by Anna

I was going to give you a fabulous pudding this week, Chocolate Fondant with Salted Caramel anyone? However, this being Valentine’s week I thought everyone would be awash with chocolate puddings so I’ve decided to go savoury. Melty caramelised onions, both sweet and salty with a hint of cider vinegar and thyme topped (or bottomed) with crispy flaky puff pastry, followed by tangy blue cheese, what is not to like. I’d be delighted to eat this a deux but you could also cut it into four and along with a little dressed rocket or watercress it would be a stella starter.

Onion Tarte Tatin with Blue Cheese

3 onions (roughly tennis ball size), peeled and quartered

3 teaspoons butter

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 teaspoons caster sugar

3 teaspoons cider vinegar

1 teaspoon thyme leaves

Salt and Pepper

Puff pastry, I used ready rolled cut to the size of my pan, about 1/3 of a packet

50g of blue cheese, St Agur, Dorset Blue Vinney or similar

Preheat the oven to 200. You will need a frying pan that can go on the hob and in the oven, I used a 20cm le Creuset (www.lecreuset.co.uk). Cut out your circle of pastry just smaller that the circumference of the pan. Melt the oil and butter in the pan and add the onions. Cook for 15-20 minutes until the onions are softening and getting a little bronzed. Add the sugar, thyme and vinegar along with some salt and pepper and turn the onions carefully. Ideally you want them to remain in their quarters but some will fall apart, it doesn’t matter. Take off the heat and lay the pastry circle over the top of the onions, tucking the edges in. Put in the oven for 30 minutes but check after about 20 and if the pastry is getting too dark cover with foil. When the time is up, very carefully put a plate over the tart (still in its pan) and then invert the whole thing. As soon as it is out of the oven crumble the blue cheese over it so that it starts to melt. Serves 2 or 4 and is perfect with a dressed green salad.

Blood Orange, Beetroot and Feta Salad

Posted on 28/01/2014 by Anna

We are blessed with a fabulous farm shop just down the road and I find myself there often. This point was proved, rather tellingly, the other day when my husband went in to collect “an order for Anna” to be told “oh yes I know her, she is in here all the time….”..

I do shop there a lot. Since foxy got our chickens, the next best thing is to see those at Washingpool strutting, pecking and buy their spanking fresh eggs. When I can’t be bothered to make bread, theirs is marvellous and when I want tip top, super-fresh fruit and veg that haven’t clocked up air miles I go there. The problem is that I usually come out with more than I went in for. Faced with amazing produce I am helpless and unable to resist. So it was this week when I chanced upon fat globes of beetroot still with their frilly green and pink leaves (perfect in a stir fry) and one of my absolute seasonal favourites, blood oranges.

Once home I decided I wanted to combine the sharp juiciness of the oranges with the sweet earthiness of the beetroot. I added a little spring onion and rocket for peppery bite and some soft salty feta. It was a delicious lunch.

Blood Orange, Beetroot and Feta Salad

This is how I made the salad you see, it was enough for one but can easily be doubled or tripled.

1 cooked beetroot, peeled and cut into 8

1 blood orange, peeled and segmented

A handful of rocket

1 spring onion, finely chopped

About 25g feta

2 teaspoons rapeseed oil

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

Salt and pepper

Mix the oil and vinegar in a small bowl and add salt and pepper to taste. Put the beetroot, blood orange, spring onion and rocket on a plate, drizzle over the dressing then add the feta at the last minute so it doesn’t all turn Barbie pink.

For an unbelievable refreshing light pudding after this seasons hearty, cosy stews try my Blood Orange Granita (February 2013) show here in front of another crisp, cleansing number, Iced Tea Granita (July 2013).

A final point, why have supermarkets started calling Blood Oranges Blush Oranges….?

My Favourite Green Salad

Posted on 09/01/2014 by Anna

Happy New Year! Are you looking for something fresh, green and crunchy? After the Christmas cake which I ate almost entirely myself I know I am. I love salads all year round and eat them in one form or other several days a week. However right now my craving knows no bounds. After what feels like weeks of rain the sun is out and the sky is blue. Tom and I went for a fabulous walk up beautiful Lewesdon Hill this morning and following a hose down (Tom, not me) I felt like something healthy, raw (mostly) and fresh to eat.

This is the sort of salad we often have for a weekday lunch, perhaps with the addition of a few chunks of feta, maybe with soup if it is chilly or just good bread. Whatever the weather we often have this for a weekend lunch alongside a roast chicken, my children invariably picking out the bits they like best. It makes a lovely change from the usual roast with vegetables and feels a bit lighter – without losing out on the gorgeous golden roast chook. Perfect with a steak for supper, no need for chips because of the croutons and it is just the thing with any barbecued meat (I know, I know, barely a sign of Spring outside and I am already talking barbecues, I can’t help myself).

I suspect you may have spotted the croutons so I must state that this is not diet food per se but it is so delicious, crisp and clean that I would certainly term it healthy. Whatever, this is the green salad I turn to most often and usually have the ingredients in my fridge. No spring onions or avocado? No matter, use what you have or what you like best. This is enough for my lunch just as it is, the croutons, seeds and avocado giving it substance but as ever, it is just a guideline, an idea to share.

My Green Salad

4 slices of baguette or similar, cubed (a little stale is fine)

1 tablespoon oil

1 small clove garlic, crushed or very finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

Juice of 1/2 lemon

3 tablespoons oil (I use 2 of good extra virgin olive oil and one of a plain oil)

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon each of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and pine kernels

1 little gem

A handful of baby spinach

A handful of rocket

2 spring onions, finely chopped

1 avocado, peeled and cubed

Small chunk of cucumber, peeled, deseeded and chopped

Chives, a small handful (parsley, mint or oregano work well or a combination of any)

Preheat the oven to 200. Turn the cubes of bread in the tablespoon of oil, put in a small tin and bake for 5 minutes until golden, then sprinkle with a little salt. In a small bowl mix the garlic, sugar, mustard, lemon juice a good pinch of salt and some black pepper. Slowly add the 3 tablespoons of oil mixing well until emulsified. In a small frying pan heat the seeds until just turning golden. Cut up the little gem put it into a large salad bowl with the spinach, rocket and avocado. Add most of the dressing and toss the salad, you may not need it all but I find this amount just right. Scatter over the croutons and seeds and trickle over the rest of the dressing if you want. Snip the chives or other herbs over the top. Serves 2 for lunch or 2 adults and 2 children as a side dish.

If you are looking for more healthy New Years’ crunch, try my carrot salad which I posted in January 2013.

Christmas Salad

Posted on 10/12/2013 by Anna

We are fully in the cosy food season. Immersed in hearty stews, sticky roasted vegetables and pillows of spongy sweet saucy puddings. Fabulous, I am certainly not complaining and part of me looks forward to this time of year even whilst in the heat (hopefully) of the summer. All that said however, I can’t go long without a salad. Not the gentle floppy green leaves of a summer lettuce, festooned with garden herbs type salad. More a crunchy, zingy colourful number, both sweet and tangy – a salad in its Christmas party clothes if you will.

This is just the ticket for my lunch when I crave a change from my usual warming soup. Crisp,crunchy and seasonal it would also work perfectly on the side of some cold turkey, ham or goose in the days after Christmas, or really anytime. I love the jewel like dried cranberries which make anything feel Christmassy, their sweet chewiness is a great foil to the crunch of the apple, carrots and red cabbage. The sweet and sour dressing brings everything together. Incidentally I made this with some cabbage left over after making my firecracker red cabbage to freeze in preparation for Christmas Eve lunch – see how even the humble red cabbage multi-tasks at this time of year.

Christmas Salad

The quantities here whilst not vague exactly are not specific measures because really it is up to you – if you love apple, use a big one or two. If you love dried cranberries use more.

1/4 red cabbage, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 spring onions, chopped

1 apple, cored and chopped

A handful of rocket

A handful of dried cranberries

A handful of parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 clove garlic, crushed

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 heaped teaspoon sugar

Salt and pepper

Mix the mustard, garlic, oil, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper. Taste this dressing and add a little more of anything until you are happy with it. Put all the chopped salad ingredients in a large bowl, pour over the dressing and mix really well. Leave for at least half an hour for the flavours to combine. This will happily sit in the fridge for up to 3 days but I don’t anticipate it will last that long. Serves 4 as a side.

Feta and Spinach Parcel and a couple more make ahead tips…

Posted on 22/11/2013 by Anna

As you know in the run up to last Christmas I had pretty much packed my freezer in order than I might make it out of the kitchen from time to time! On Christmas Eve a few things came out to defrost which fortunately made room for me to bung a couple of things in. So we made lots of little sausage rolls with bought puff pastry and good sausages from the farm shop – fun to do with my children and a good way to keep them from staring (almost at fever pitch now) at the goodies under the Christmas tree. Following that we made a buche de noel – again, a great way to keep little people occupied and straight forward enough too. It was a little cracked but with a good fall of icing sugar snow and a robin sitting on top was the perfect way to finish lunch later that day, brought to the table with great pride by my children.

For that lunch we had a ham, so easy and such good value. It simmered away gently whilst we got on with the sausage rolls and then I covered it in a mix of brown sugar and dijon mustard and popped it in the oven for half an hour. I served it with red cabbage (from the freezer, of course) and my Firecracker Red Cabbage recipe earlier this month would be just the ticket, perhaps minus the chilli. Plain boiled potatoes covered in a blanket of chopped parsley (a hint towards ham with parsley sauce) and a quickly rustled up Cumberland sauce, with orange juice, port, redcurrant jelly and stock all being around anyway.

That evening, Christmas Eve proper, we had a spicy, fragrant chickpea and mushroom curry which, you’ve guessed it had been lying in wait in the freezer for a week. With rice and chutneys from the larder, bought naan and a quick raita this was simplicity itself and not only a meat free moment before the following day but also meant we could all eat the same thing including my veggie brother. Followed by little mince pies (frozen!).

The Feta and Spinach filo parcel or tart you see in the photographs was what I made for same vegetarian brother for Christmas Day. It may seem a little cross cultural with the trimmings that go alongside the turkey but I knew he would love it and I wanted him to have a real treat that day, the same as the rest of us. Everyone wanted to try a little so just as well I had made a good size one, in fact one that my husband and I will happily have for lunch with a good crisp green salad alongside.

It is by no means an authentic Greek spanokopita but with the feta and greens is a nod in that direction. I have added spring onions and either chopped red chilli – which gave it the perfect red, white and green of Christmas – or you could easily use a pinch of cayenne. Now, this is very nearly the last time I will say it but….. I made this a few days before and froze it – thawed it that morning and reheated it in the same pan I made it in. Crunchy crisp and delicious.

Filo wrapped Feta and Spinach

3 sheets of filo

200g fresh spinach, wilted,

100g feta, chopped

3 spring onions, finely chopped

1/2 red chilli or a good pinch of cayenne

Olive oil for brushing, about a tablespoon

Brush the inside of a 20cm (roughly) frying pan with oil and lay the sheets of filo in it, brushing each sheet with oil as you go, overlapping at angles to each other so the whole pan is covered with the surplus hanging over the edges. Make sure all the water is squeezed out of the spinach and then chop it a little and mix with the sping onions, feta and chilli or cayenne. Give a good grinding of pepper and a small pinch of salt – you do need a little salt for seasoning but go easy because the feta is of course salty. Put the mix into the filo lined pan, pat it flat and then fold the overhanging sheets of filo over, brushing the top with oil. Tuck in any extra bits until you have a neat circular package. Put it on a gentle heat and cook for about 5-6 minutes until when you peek gently underneath the bottom is golden and crispy. Turn it over by sliding onto a plate, or I find easier a flat pan lid (then you have a handle underneath) and gently slide back into the frying pan to cook the other side. When this bottom is crispy and bronzed it is done.

As above, this served one on Christmas day (with a bit of sharing) but could serve two for lunch. Or you could slice it once cooked, wrap it in foil and take it out on a picnic. Finally, it makes a great party canapé, just cut your filo a little smaller and use a metal cupcake tin. Proceed as above but bake in the oven rather than on the hob. With this I would be inclined to serve a mint spiked yogurt sauce for dipping.

Firecracker Red Cabbage and Sausages

Posted on 07/11/2013 by Anna

It took me a while to come around to Guy Fawkes night as a child. I found the whole Guy business both slightly mad and macabre. Firstly because they always looked like a giant pair of tights stuffed with old clothes tied with baler twine and sporting a huge hat over the grinning face. Rarely worth a penny I thought. Macabre because I didn’t really like the idea of burning anyone although I did realise it was purely symbolic. Childish anxieties I guess.

What would cheer me up however was the promise of something good to eat whilst standing around an enormous bonfire. I can see it now on our village green, almost two storeys high, a huge beast of a fire shooting sparks into the night sky and belting out heat. There was usually the promise of a toffee apple, good for nibbling the toffee off only to be left with a rather sticky green apple on a wobbly stick. Or cinder toffee, crunchy, splintering and sticking your teeth together. Always on offer were hot dogs, proper sausages rather than frankfurters with a good squirt of ketchup which inevitably found its way onto your woolly gloves.

Sadly our fireworks were rained off this week but if they hadn’t been this is what we would have been eating as a relish with our hot dogs. Sweet, tangy and with a good kick of chilli it is delicious in a bun with a good banger on top. It would be just as at home served on the side with some sausages or perhaps with roast pork or maybe a ham. Ideas, ideas….

Firecracker Red Cabbage

As I was making this I cast an eye over a jar of chilli jelly which you could very easily use in place of the redcurrant jelly and chilli flakes – the reason I didn’t was because they vary so much in their heat so difficult to suggest how much to use. You could give it a try and taste as you go. This amount of chilli means my children are happy with it, add more if you want.

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 red cabbage, quite finely chopped

Good pinch of salt

1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes

2 tablespoons redcurrant jelly

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and stir. Add the red cabbage and give it a good stir and then add the remaining ingredients. Cook gently for half an hour with a lid on and half an hour with the lid off to allow the liquid to bubble down to a syrup which will coat the cabbage. Taste, it might need a little more salt or a spritz of balsamic. Serve with sausages in buns or on plates, enough for 4.

Cosy Beef Stew and Parsley Dumplings

Posted on 18/09/2013 by Anna

This summer has been fantastic, I have loved the sun, the heat and eating a lot of salads. Whilst basking in all this however, there was a tiny bit of my happy in the knowledge that come September it might cool down a little and I would be able to light the fire and make some cosy autumn food.

Now, I realise I seem to have dived right into ‘freezing outside, possibly even snowing winter food’ but you know what I couldn’t resist. It has been months since my last stew (I feel that should have been confession) and it was time for a fix. Added to that my little boy asked earlier in the week when we would be having stew and dumplings. Sooner than you think my little treasure I thought to myself.

Here it is and it is a beauty. Very simple, 30 minutes work tops and then a few hours in the oven. What you are rewarded with however, far exceeds that brief effort you put in. Tender falling apart beef, soft carrots, crispy and fluffy dumplings with masses of glistening savoury gravy. You can then sit around the table, enjoy this with some greens and perhaps raise a glass of good red wine to the fabulous summer of 2013.

Beef and Carrot Stew with Parsley Dumplings

1 kg braising beef, cubed

1 tablespoon oil

1 onion, chopped

7/8 medium carrots, peeled and halved lenthways

1 heaped tablespoon plain flour

500ml beef stock

200ml red wine

1 teaspoon redcurrant jelly

Sprig of thyme

A bayleaf

For the dumplings –

100g self raising flour

50g suet

A handful of parsley, finely chopped

5 tablespoons cold water

Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 150c. Heat the oil in a large casserole (that has a lid) and brown the meat in batches and set aside. Then fry the onion (you may need a little more oil) until softened. Return the meat to the pan, sprinkle over the flour and stir it in well. Pour over the stock and wine and redcurrant jelly, give it a mix then add the carrots, thyme and bay leaf. Put into the oven for 3 hours.

Just before the time is up, mix the ingredients for the dumplings and form into little balls about the size of a walnut and turn the oven up to 180. Remove the pan from the oven, quickly (and carefully) check the seasoning and then place the dumplings onto the surface of the stew. Put the lid back on and return to the oven for 20 minutes, then remove the lid and cook for a further 20 minutes to crisp up the outside of the dumplings. Enough for 4.

We followed this with a fabulous custard tart (I know, I know, bikini appropriate food clearly now forgotten) and it made me proud of British Food!

Tomato Bruschetta (summer on toast)

Posted on 24/07/2013 by Anna

Is this the taste of Summer? I think it might be. It is also one of the simplest and most rewarding. All you need is a loaf of sourdough (or similar), a pile of tip top, super ripe, full of sun juicy tomatoes, some really good olive oil, garlic and a few herbs if you have them.

My family love these and we eat them several times a week when the tomatoes are on top form. I toast the bread, chop the tomatoes and then set up a production line – a plate full of these bruschetta are always greeted with delight and never hang around.

I urge you to make these. The toms in my garden are still a little small and green but the ones at my local farm shop are perfect right now (Washingpool Farm Shop in case you are near the coast on the Dorset/Devon border this summer, superb shop and worth a visit).

Surprisingly these also work for a picnic, just toast the bread at home and then take the tomato mixture in a tub. When you get where you are going rub some garlic over the toasts (undressed sourdough stays crispy for ages) then top with tomatoes and drizzle with a little of the oil. Tuck in with your toes in the grass or better still the sand and remind yourself what summer tastes like.

Tomato Bruschetta

It is difficult to be exact as I don’t know the size of your sourdough but this is a guide. This amount would serve 4 with drinks before lunch or dinner but I bet they will want more.

1/2 loaf sourdough

Tomatoes, around 300g

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 clove of garlic peeled and halved

A splash of red wine vinegar

Pinch of salt

Fresh marjoram or basil of you have some to hand

Slice and toast the sourdough. Finely chop the tomatoes and put in a bowl with the oil, vinegar, a pinch of sea salt and some black pepper if you like, stir. Rub the toasts with a cut side of garlic, top with the tomato mixture. Pour over any remaining oil and sprinkle with the herbs.

Anna May, everyday…

Category Archives: Vegetables

Onion Tarte Tatin with Blue Cheese

Blood Orange, Beetroot and Feta Salad

My Favourite Green Salad

Christmas Salad

Feta and Spinach Parcel and a couple more make ahead tips…

Firecracker Red Cabbage and Sausages

Cosy Beef Stew and Parsley Dumplings

Tomato Bruschetta (summer on toast)