Jamie Oliver and Home Made Tomato Ketchup

Up until now, I’d never made home-made tomato ketchup. We’ve loved Heinz for too long, my five-year old dousing everything – and I mean everything (salads, bolognese, risotto) – in the stuff. But then I received an email from one of Jamie Oliver’s people, asking if I wouldn’t mind trying one of his recipes to see what I thought of it. And in there, I found ketchup. Hell yeah. 

The ketchup makes quite a bit (a couple of bottles worth) and packs in lots of different types of veg. There’s fennel, red onions, garlic, celery – and a few spices, including ginger and cloves. It also calls for a red chilli, which I replaced with some sweet red pepper. 

It’s not a recipe you can whip up in a hurry, but because there’s quite a bit of simmering and reducing, you can leave it bubbling away while you go and get on with other jobs, keeping an eye on the time or setting the timer so you don’t forget (how could you – the smell of it blipping away on the stove will remind you, gorgeous as it is). 

Once you’ve softened the veg and spices, you tumble in the chopped, fresh tomatoes (and some tinned ones), along with cold water and let it all simmer away until it’s reduced. Stir in some herbs, blitz and you then need to strain it to remove all the seeds and skins. I skipped the second straining, leaving a grainier texture, which I loved, but by all means for super-smooth ketchup strain it again – you’ll just need quite a bit of elbow grease. 

Then, after a second simmering to reduce it further, it’s decanted into sterilised bottles and left to cool. The flavour of the ketchup is, as you would expect, nothing like the shop-bought stuff. It has a slightly smoky flavour, a bit barbecuey – and is fresh and peppery – good with my scrambled eggs in the morning as well as breaded chicken, bacon sandwiches and chips. I’ve slightly adapted Jamie’s tomato ketchup recipe below, tweaking a few of the ingredients as well as some of the method. I’d make this again, for sure. And sooner than I thought – we’ve polished off a quarter of a bottle already. 

Home-Made Tomato Ketchup (adapted from Jamie Oliver’s recipe)

Makes two bottles – about 500ml

Ingredients

1 large red onion, peeled and roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

half a bulb of fennel, washed and roughly chopped

1 stick celery, trimmed and roughly chopped

1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
good pinch of ground coriander

half a sweet red pepper (e.g. Romano), de-seeded and chopped roughly

2 cloves

30g bunch fresh basil

olive oil

salt and black pepper

500g fresh tomatoes

400g tin plum tomatoes

350ml cold water

200ml red wine vinegar

70g soft, light brown sugar

Method

Drizzle a good glug of olive oil in a medium-sized saucepan, and tumble in all the chopped up veggies and spices. Chop the stalks off the bunch of basil and roughly chop and add to the mixture, saving the leaves for later on. Season well with salt and a good grinding of black pepper. Let everything soften on a low heat, while you stir occasionally to stop anything sticking. 

Once the veggies are soft, add the tinned tomatoes and chop the fresh ones, adding them to the pan (seeds and all) with the cold water. Stir, bring to a boil and then turn it down to a simmer, allowing it to reduce by half (this will take some time). Once the mixture has reduced, throw in the basil leaves and then blitz well with a blender, until smooth. Strain the mixture through a sieve – I did it once, but the original recipe asks for you to do it twice – and clean out the saucepan. Tip the smooth, glossy mixture back in the pan and set on a low-medium heat. Pour in the vinegar and the sugar and stir well. Leave to simmer again until it reduces a bit more and thickens, to the consistency of ketchup. Leave to cool slightly and decant, using a funnel, into sterilized (and still warm) glass bottles. Seal and keep in a cool place (I keep mine in the fridge). 

If you fancy making ketchup and want to try Jamie’s original recipe, follow the link above, or have a look at the vegetables area of his website for more veggie ideas. 

Hot Dog of the Month: Choripan from Argentina

Not strictly a hot dog, but it’s similar, and I wanted to share it with you. They do have proper ‘hot dogs’ in Argentina, which they call ‘panchos’, but the choripan is something else. For total authenticity you will need a proper, Argentine chorizo – nothing like the red-coloured Spanish version – but a meaty, dense sausage with a crisp skin that snaps as you bite into it. You can buy them online, in specialist shops, but if you can’t get hold of one, a good, basic pork butcher’s sausage will do. The sausage should not be spicy, although they’ll often contain pieces of sweet pepper. You’ll also need a crusty white bread roll, I use the part-baked French baton-style bread rolls, which are the closest thing I can get to what I ate in Argentina.

Argentinian Choripan

 

Chimichurri salsa is optional, and not everyone adds it, but I do: the heady mixture of garlic and parsley offsets the richness of the meaty sausage.

How to Make Choripan
Grill your chorizo (or butcher’s sausage) until cooked through and crisp on the outside. Split a baked, white crusty dinner roll in half and cut the sausage along its length. Slide the cooked sausage into the roll and drizzle over a teaspoon or two of chimichurri inside before replacing the top of the bread. Eat hot.

What do you reckon? Fancy this? What other hot dogs (or similar) can you think of around the world?

Digestion Booster Breakfast Smoothie

I’ve developed a bit of a habit for smoothies. They’re nutritious and quick to make, and can do wonders for your digestive system. The reason for this is that they contain both soluble and insoluble fibre. If you’re not sure of the difference, soluble fibre dissolves in water. That’s the gel-like part of the fruit. This is just as important for healthy digestion as the insoluble fibre, the wholegrains, bran, vegetable skins and seeds and such that we’re always told keeps us healthy on the inside. And it does. But you need both. 

This smoothie is super good for your tum. Here’s why: 

Papaya fruit contains enzymes that helps your tummy to break down foods and it’s often said that eating papaya can relieve symptoms such as bloating, constipation and trapped wind. But ripe ones don’t sit around in the fruit bowl for long. Cut it into 2cm thick slices and chop the skin off the outside. Poke out the black seeds from the inside of the peach-coloured disc of fruit with a knife and then freeze the de-seeded, peeled papaya slices in a plastic freezer bag, laying it flat and keeping the slices separate so you can take them out easily. Add a slice as it is to your smoothie.

Bananas are rich in fibre – they’re an old-fashioned remedy for an upset stomach and also contain potassium, which is needed for muscle and digestive health. Blending a banana into a smoothie will give it a thicker texture. Peel bananas, cut in half and freeze the banana halves in a freezer bag. Blitz, frozen, with your smoothie mixture. 

Orange juice – squeezed straight from the fruit, orange juice is thought to stimulate the digestive system as well as give you a good dose of Vitamin C to start the day. 

Natural yoghurt – A few spoonfuls of yoghurt give a smoothie a cool and creamy texture – and a bunch of good bacteria that help keep your stomach in good working order. Live bacteria Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Streptococcus thermophilus can be found in even cheap, value-brands of natural yoghurt so you don’t need to buy the expensive brands. Just check the tub. 

Blueberries – Also full of Vitamin C and fibre, because when you blitz up a handful of blueberries they don’t fully break down, giving the smoothie a lovely speckled appearance. This is insoluble fibre, which helps keep your digestion regular and stable. 

Digestion Booster Breakfast Smoothie
Makes 1

Squeeze the juice of 2 medium-sized oranges into a jug and add half a banana (frozen is ok) and a 2cm slice of papaya (deseeded and peeled, and frozen is also ok). Add 5 tablespoons of natural yoghurt and a handful of blueberries (again I keep frozen ones in the freezer). Blitz well in a blender or with a stick blender until smooth and creamy and flecked with the blueberries. Drink cold. 

Do you drink smoothies? Which are your favourites? 

Rising Obesity in the UK and Portion Sizes…

Every time the news is switched on, it seems there are new statistics being pulled out on the rise of obesity in Britain. Obesity which, so they say, will put added pressure on our NHS system as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other health problems become more prevalent. But what’s really causing it? 

The prevalence of processed food, our sedentary lifestyles and the convenience of having fast food outlets on every high street are all factors, I’m sure, for our bulging waistlines. But a portion of chicken nuggets or a burger once a month probably won’t affect your weight too much. The problem, from where I stand, is with everyday portion sizes.  

When did you last order a meal from a Chinese takeaway and finish every scrap of food – even the free bag of prawn crackers? Or stuff those last few chips into your mouth knowing that you already feel full, but just can’t stop yourself because they’re there. 

We’re brought up as kids with this feeling that we need to finish everything on our plate, and I think that continues into adulthood. If we’ve paid for a plate of food, we feel cheated if we don’t finish it – because in our mind, we’re wasting money as well as the food. In short, whatever the portion size is, we’ll eat the food because it is there. A 2005 study by Brian Wansink found exactly this. Participants were given a bowl of soup to eat. For half of the participants, the bowl was secretly filled up from underneath the table. When questioned afterwards, the group that had eaten almost twice the amount of soup than the others said they felt no more hungry or full than the other group. 

Marking things low-calorie or ‘healthy’ doesn’t do any good either. Another study by Provencher et al in 2009 found that when something was labelled ‘low calorie’, people ate 35% more of it than when it wasn’t labelled in this way. It’s as if we’re giving ourselves permission to eat more, just because it has a label stuck onto it. It’s important to know that ‘healthy’ doesn’t mean you can eat loads of it, though. Seeds and nuts are considered ‘healthy’, but some also contain fat, so should be eaten in smaller portions. 

The Food Standards Agency conducted a review of portion sizes in the UK in 2008 and found that ready meals, some fast food items and sharing packs of crisps were among those that had increased in portion size since the 1990s. Some chocolate packets had reduced in size, but these were mostly multipack bars and not designed to be sold on their own. And in 2007, a study by Young and Nestle concluded that portion sizes generally in Europe were larger in 2006 than they were in 1998. 

But portion sizes aren’t just getting bigger in shops and restaurants, which are caught between trying to do the right thing for nutrition and still give people value for money. We’re dishing up monster meals at home, too. Next time you cook yourself a bowl of pasta, weigh it first. A recommended serving of pasta is about 75g-100g per person. And a portion of cooked rice is about the size of your fist. I was talking to a lady the other day who said she was cooking roast chicken for her family of four and was complaining how she had to buy two chickens because her ‘growing boys’ (both teenagers) eat half a chicken each. (The recommended portion size for meat and poultry being about the size of a pack of cards). 

So don’t fall into the trap of mindless eating: if you snack throughout the day on some wholegrains, fruits and a handful of nuts and seeds, you’ll feel like eating much less for your evening meal anyway. And slow down – it takes 20 minutes for your brain to know that your stomach is full – so don’t bombard it by throwing food in there before it’s had a chance. I’ve spoken to a number of doctors recently who have all told me that a ‘little and often’ approach to eating is much more friendly to your digestive system than three Olympic-sized meals a day. In fact, all this reminds me of a Twitter convo between Man vs Food presenter Adam Richman and a fan. The fan asked him how he managed such dramatic weight loss over the last few months. Adam’s reply? ‘Less.’ 

What do you think? Are portion sizes too big? Do you feel comfortably full after eating (in restaurants or at home) or do you most regularly feel stuffed and need to lie down? 

For more information on portion sizes have a look at a leaflet published by the World Cancer Research Fund. 

Seasoned Crispy Chicken Bites

After the recent round of birthday parties, my girls have developed a bit of a thing for chicken nuggets. But instead of buying the frozen ones, I whip them up a batch of these. They’re coated in seasoned Panko breadcrumbs, which give them a spiky, crunchy texture – and are made with free-range chicken breasts. Very simple to put together on a weekend, or a busy weeknight – just make a few of these up and serve with some coleslaw, baked beans and potato salad. They’re also lovely with barbecue sauce or ketchup to dip them into. Much nicer than the processed versions and you can control salt, types of chicken, etc that goes into them. Boo-yah! (As my eight-year old would say). 

Seasoned Crispy Chicken Bites

Serves 4

Ingredients

60g Panko breadcrumbs

¼ tsp celery salt

¾ tsp smoked paprika

¼ tsp turmeric

½ tsp dried thyme

salt and black pepper, to taste

2 chicken breasts (skinless and boneless)

1 large egg, beaten

4-5 heaped tablespoons plain flour

olive oil, for frying

Method

Tip the breadcrumbs into a shallow bowl and stir in the celery salt, smoked paprika, turmeric and thyme. Season with a little salt and some black pepper. Crack the egg into another shallow bowl and slice the chicken breasts up into strips, then cut them so they’re about the length of your forefinger. Measure out the flour into a third bowl. 

Drizzle the olive oil (about 3 tbsp) into a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat. Dip the chicken into the flour and then into the beaten egg and finally into the seasoned breadcrumbs. Press the chicken down into the breadcrumbs so they’re evenly coated and then fry gently in the oil for about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper to absorb the extra oil and repeat with the rest of the chicken, cooking in batches. Don’t overcrowd the pan or you’ll end up steaming the chicken rather than frying it so it’s crisp. These are great served with coleslaw, potato salad and baked beans or a home-made tomato sauce and some chips. 

Breakfast at Woody’s, Bucklebury Farm Park, Near Reading

Blogging is never too far from my mind, but when we went on a family day out to Bucklebury Farm Park I didn’t expect to find blogging material there, apart from perhaps something tasty being sold in the farm shop. But I was wrong. 

We pulled up and parked on the grassy verge in the car park, making our way to the farm. Tummies rumbling, we decided to start off with a quick breakfast at Woody’s, the restaurant at the side of the farm shop and entrance to the farm. 

We got there with about five minutes left to order before they stopped serving breakfasts and I found the staff accommodating, helpful and relaxed, which really helped us make our decisions. Nothing like making important breakfast decisions against the clock while the person behind the counter stares at you, with their hands on their hips. And they didn’t. 

The veggie ‘Green and Gorgeous’ breakfast at Woody’s, Bucklebury Farm

The prices weren’t cheap; in the region of £5 for a bacon sandwich and around £8 for a full-English style breakfast. But we were hungry, and took our seats outside in the balmy sunshine. 

The press is always full of stories about kids not knowing where chicken nuggets come from or what a banana is. But you don’t get much more ‘hands on’ than eating a bacon sandwich with the sound of piggies snuffling and snorting carrying along on the breeze a few yards away. Later on, as we walked around the farm, we saw a calf suckling from its mother, the frothy milk dribbling from its clumsy lips. Now if you want your kids to see where your food comes from, this is the place. 

A peacock strutted on the grass around the tables while we ate, obviously to see if there were any leftovers he could snaffle up. Hmph. He’d be lucky. 

The food was excellent. I ordered the ‘Green and Gorgeous’ breakfast, a proper veggie sausage (made from actual veggies rather than that fake-meat stuff), two poached eggs on a sliced muffin, baked beans, mushrooms, a tomato and some spinach. It’s because of this breakfast that I always have spinach, eggs and Glamorgan sausages in the house now, in case I have a craving. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Shhh…. don’t tell him about the bacon sarnies…

The girls had a smaller breakfast (about £6 each I think, though don’t quote me) consisting of sausage, egg, bacon, a fried slice, mushrooms and some beans. The lady at the counter told us it wasn’t really a child’s sized breakfast but we ordered them anyway, for the husband to finish off if they struggled (they didn’t, save a few mushrooms).

And he ordered a bacon sandwich, with probably 3 or 4 big, thick rashers of bacon inside. He said it was one of the best bacon butties he’s tasted. 

You tend to put places like Woody’s to one side when you go for a day out. They’re there out of necessity, in case visitors get peckish and the menu in these kinds of places is usually limited to fried foods, jacket potatoes and sandwiches (a toastie if you’re lucky). But here, I’d come back for Woody’s just as much as I would for the farm. The farm was a great day out – the children got to feed lambs, stroke goats, guinea pigs and rabbits and play on the play equipment there, and we were there for hours. You can even go for a ride in a tractor if you like. But Woody’s at Bucklebury Farm Park isn’t one of those places you should bypass. Relaxed staff, good quality food cooked really well and in perfect surroundings. 

Have you been to Bucklebury Park Farm, or to Woody’s? What did you think?

More information about Bucklebury Farm Park can be found on their website. They are situated just outside the village of Bucklebury, just off the A4 between Reading and Newbury. Tel: 01189 714002.

Argentina: Tortas Fritas (Lard Pastries)

Lard has been used for centuries in pastries and breads, to add moisture and flavour during baking. And in Argentina, they use it to make tortas fritas. 

As no stranger to lardy pastries, I was excited to try these, made by our friend Mica when we visited Buenos Aires. Lard is basically mixed with flour to create a soft, springy dough which is kneaded before pieces are ripped off, flattened and then scored in the centre. They’re then deep-fried (as if that much lard wasn’t enough) until golden and crisp. You serve them sprinkled with sugar, and eaten while still warm. 

Tortas Fritas, hot and crispy and dredged in sugar…

 

You can buy tortas fritas in the panadería too, where they’re stacked in baskets amongst trays of medialunas (croissants) and facturas (buns and croissant-type pastries filled with dulce de leche or membrillo). They’re surprisingly light and don’t really taste greasy at all – well not as much as you’d think with all that lard in there, and can be eaten as a breakfast with coffee or as a snack. 

Mica, making the dough for tortas fritas

 

I imagine too, it started life just as our Lardy Cake did – as an economical way to use up the fat from the animal when butter wasn’t always available. I asked Mica for the quantities of lard and flour she was using and she told me she would keep adding the lard until it ‘feels’ right. The dough should be springy and moist before shaping and frying. As they’re fried, they puff up a little – that’s what turns them flaky and crisp. Gorgeous.

 

Do you ever use lard to make pastries? Which lardy pastries have you tried and like? 

Uncle Wilbur’s Curries: A Review

So you’re making a curry. For eight people (lucky you). But there are two kids and two adults that don’t like their food spicy, while the others do. What do you do? Just make a mild curry for everyone? Or make two curries – a Korma and a Madras and try and please everyone? As a chilli lover, it’s a situation I’m in all the time with my family, who won’t touch spicy food. 

And one company, Uncle Wilbur’s, thinks they’ve cracked it. 

Uncle Wilbur’s Goan Curry

 
  What they’ve done is blend ground spices together to create a pretty much instant curry sauce. And then they’ve added in these ‘hotshots’ (heat capsules), which you add depending on your tolerance (and need) for chillies. The idea is that you cook the curry and then dish up the children’s meals, keeping them warm. Chuck a heat capsule or two into your still simmering curry and then you’ve got a hotter version for the chilli lovers. There’s also a spice guide included, which will guide you on how many chilli capsules to add into your curry. The capsules dissolve into the sauce and you’re just left with ground chillies in there, but if you want to you can open the capsules out and just tip in the chillies (although Uncle Wilbur’s assures us on the pack that the hotshots are suitable for vegetarians). 

Uncle Wilbur’s Thai Massaman curry, made with beef

They sent me a few of their ‘Hot or Not’ curry blends to try. To be honest, my experience with ground spice curry blends up until now hasn’t been brilliant. I’ve generally found them to be quite grainy, a bit watery and the flavours too intense – not rich and mellow as it is when you’ve been simmering a freshly-made curry for a while. 

But once I made these I was actually pleasantly surprised. They weren’t grainy and watery but thick and dark. The Goan curry (which was awarded a Bronze ‘Taste of the West’ Award in 2012) had a slightly sour flavour to it, which was fresh-tasting and quite addictive. And if you serve the curry as it is, without capsules, there is absolutely no chilli heat in there at all. Just fragrant spices. The children loved it. 

Having had success on the stove, the Massaman curry was put through its paces in the slow cooker, with some diced beef. I just browned the meat in the pan and tipped it into the slow cooker. I prepared the sauce by stirring the spices into the meat juices still in the pan and then adding water to make a silky sauce. This was poured over the beef in the crockpot, and stirred together. After a few hours of gentle simmering it was, again, a success and my husband, who is usually very fussy when it comes to curries, really enjoyed it. 

The ‘hotshots’ – capsules of chilli heat that you add to your curry

There are a few different curry blends made by Uncle Wilbur – which include Thai Green curry, Jalfrezi and Rogan Josh. I’d like to give the Thai Green curry a try, just to see if it’s as creamy as I would expect. Are these curries exactly the same as a home-made curry using fresh spices, herbs and veggies? I don’t think they are. But they’re a great solution for families and cater for different spice tolerances and my girls really did love them. And it was the first time they’d eaten a Massaman or Goan curry without fear of it being spicy, but still got to taste the differences between the flavours. 

Have you tried any of Uncle Wilbur’s ‘Hot or Not’ curries? What did you think?

Argentinian Salsa Criolla

You hear a lot about chimichurri these days. That green, pungent salsa that gets spooned onto steaks and beef burgers. But another Argentinian salsa that you might not hear so much about is salsa criolla – and over there, it’s as popular as chimichurri. 

It’s a mixture of finely chopped sweet red peppers, garlic, parsley, onion and tomato, all bound together with olive oil and vinegar. It’s less pungent than chimichurri and isn’t at all spicy. The crunchy red peppers really lift the flavours of whatever you’re serving it with and freshen up the whole dish. 

Salsa Criolla (which basically means ‘Argentinian salsa’) works brilliantly with any grilled meats but also fish and vegetarian meals. Salads, too. Our favourite? A generous spoonful on top of a home-made pork burger, in a bun with a little mayonnaise and salad. 

How to Make Salsa Criolla
Makes enough to feed four, with leftovers

Finely chop 1 small white onion, 1 large clove of garlic and 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley. Lay out 2 tomatoes on a board and de-seed them and then chop finely into tiny pieces. Trim and de-seed 1 sweet red pepper (Romano peppers are good) and then finely chop this too. Put all the veggies and herbs into a small bowl and trickle in 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and 2 tbsp white wine vinegar. Add a pinch of salt and mix it together. This salsa actually improves the next day, so make it a day before, cover with cling film and store in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before serving though, otherwise you won’t benefit from the full flavours in the salsa. 

What are your favourite salsas? 

Mini Banana and Dulce de Leche Loaf Cakes

Oh, have I got a thing for dulce de leche. 

It’s a milk-based caramel that’s popular in Latin American countries and if you get the good stuff, it’s thick, dark and glossy and is perfect eaten in so many ways – spread on toast, used as a sandwich filling, spooned straight from the jar… 

The thick sweet – almost buttery – caramel works so well with banana and so I whipped up these mini loaf cakes for a school cake sale. There’s dulce de leche in the cake itself and then a bit more is spread onto the top to finish it off. I hope you like them.

Mini Banana and Dulce de Leche Loaf Cakes
Makes 12.
Ingredients
80g butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
200g peeled bananas 
220g plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
good pinch of sea salt flakes
1 heaped 15ml tablespoon dulce de leche, plus an extra 2 tbsp for the topping

Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Lay out 12 disposable mini loaf cases on a baking tray. 
To start, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Crack in the eggs, and beat these into the mixture. Add the bananas, mashing them so you get a smooth(ish) mixture. Sift in the flour and the baking powder and crumble in a pinch of the sea salt flakes. Stir to combine everything and then fold in the tablespoon of dulce de leche, mixing just until it’s more or less combined but still streaky in the cake mixture. 

Divide the mixture between the 12 mini loaf cases and bake for 20 minutes, or until the cakes are firm, risen and just starting to turn golden on top. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. 

To finish off the cakes, spread a little dulce de leche onto the tops of the loaf cakes just before serving. 

Hubba hubba…

What do you think? Do you like dulce de leche? What are your favourite ways to use it? 

Father’s Day Foodie Gift Ideas

This Sunday is Father’s Day, and if you haven’t yet got a present organised for a food-loving Dad, then don’t panic. How about some of these? 

Father’s Day Chocolates

You can’t really go wrong with choccy, can you? There are all sorts of chocolates available that appeal to Dads – Yorkie turned themselves into a ‘male’ brand through their adverts and Toblerone has been a Dad’s favourite since forever (even if the pyramid bits do poke up into your cheek). Other chocolates to consider for Father’s Day include chocolate and chilli (or chocolate and wasabi) combinations, or go for these very cool and very tasty chocolate and ale fudge squares from Asda. They’re sweet, crumbly and have a lingering ale flavour. We love them. 

Pork Pies

Photo: Adams and Harlow

I remember my Dad loved a wedge (or three) of pork pie slathered with a bright yellow streak of English mustard, and he’s not alone. When I lived in Melton Mowbray I used to love Dickinson and Morris pork pies from their shop in the town centre; the pies all gnarly and piled up high in the chiller cabinet. And this year Adams and Harlow are offering a special pork pie for Dads – topped with either ‘Dad’ or ‘Pops’ in pastry. To buy online, check out British Fine Foods or try Fortnum and Mason. The pies take two days to make, and have to go through 16 steps before they enter the oven. 

Special Ale
If Dad loves ale, then there are lots of different varieties to choose from. Ale making is approached by many as a fine art, and just like we would taste different wines, looking for their ‘vanilla’ and ‘berry’ tones, ale is analysed in the same way. Some have espresso flavours, others are fruity. Choose from an ale brewed just like they would have done in Medieval England, or something more modern, with undertones of fudge, toffee or lemon. Sounds delicious. Check out this Independent article for inspiration.  

Steak

You know Father’s Day’s coming up when your local butcher puts up a chalkboard outside his shop scrawled with bargains on steaks. At a pub or restaurant you might pay ten or fifteen quid each for a steak and a side of chips. At the butchers you’ll pay a tenner, which will get you a couple of good steaks you can pan-fry at home. Thick, claggy sauces (think Steak Diane) is now a bit retro so consider topping your steak with a pungent chimichurri salsa or a slice of tarragon butter instead. 

Afternooon Tea
It was once the domain of pretty, floral china and lacy white doilies, but Father’s Day afternoon tea seems to be a new trend I’ve seen more of this year than in previous years. Check out hotels and restaurants near you to see if they’re offering anything similar. The London Kitchen in Lambeth have launched a range of ‘Manapés‘ this year – manly-sized canapés which include fish and chips in mini cones, mini burgers and beefy Yorkshire puddings. And the Fourteas Tearoom at the Spiced Pear in Hepworth, Yorkshire are offering a ‘Gentlemen’s Afternoon Tea’ which includes home-made bread and dripping, mini Yorkshire puddings and roast beef pork pie. 

Other ideas:
Your budget might not stretch to a hand-massaged fillet of wagyu beef or a £600 bottle of beer but there are other things you can surprise your Dad with to let him know he’s special to you. How about a grilled breakfast of bacon, sausage, egg, beans and a couple of hash browns? And if he’s vegetarian, just make him a version with a Glamorgan sausage instead of the pork one and baby spinach leaves fried gently in butter instead of the bacon. Chuck in a few sliced chestnut mushrooms too and you’re sorted. 

Or, make him a cake – chocolate flavours are good, or go for something retro like sticky toffee pudding or a steamed lemon pud. Get the children to help you out in the kitchen and they can add the sprinkles on top. Get the kids to make him a card too rather than buy one and instead of taking him out for a roast dinner cook his favourite meal at home. 

Do you have any plans for Father’s Day? 

Sticky Sweet Potato Wedges

I’ve already talked about how sweet potatoes can be healthier than regular white potatoes – and I was really chuffed when my children started asking for them instead of their regular fries. Sweet potatoes are great boiled and then mashed, or baked in their skins and topped with a slice of creamy goat’s cheese and some chives – but for the ultimate in comfort food we often have them like this: sticky, sweet and burnished from the heat of the oven, making them beautifully crisp. 

Serve with some sour cream and chives or garlic mayo if you like. Sweet potatoes also go really well (Jamie might even say they’re ‘best mates’) with rosemary, so you can always chop a few rosemary leaves and toss them into the roasting tin before baking.

Sticky Sweet Potato Wedges
Serves 3-4, as a side
Ingredients
2-3 large sweet potatoes
large pinch sea salt flakes
1 tsp smoked paprika
a pinch of brown sugar
olive oil

Method
Preheat your oven to 200ºC. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into chunks, like in the photo above. Lay them out in a single layer on a shallow roasting tray and sprinkle with the salt, smoked paprika and sugar. Drizzle with a little olive oil and toss with your hands to make sure the potato wedges are coated in the mixture. 

Bake the wedges for about 30-40 minutes (this will depend on how big you’ve cut the pieces), or until they are glistening, sizzling and slightly burnished around the edges. 

British Cheese Board Seeks Recipe for the Perfect Cheese on Toast…and I'm Judging!

Some exciting news, people. I’m now allowed to share with you all that I’ll be involved in a nationwide competition to find the perfect cheese on toast, organised by the British Cheese Board.

This summer, the British Cheese Board wants the British public to send in their favourite cheese on toast recipes – using any types of British cheese you think works best. Myself and the other judges, which include British Cheese Board Secretary Nigel White and scientist Ruth Neale, will aim to find the perfect formula for the best cheese on toast, at the RSC’s Chemistry Centre in London. And one person can also win the chance to join us to help us do it.

I’m really excited to be involved with this competition and look forward to finding out how the perfect formula for cheese on toast can be determined scientifically, too.

To enter for the chance to join the judging panel: 

• email a short poem about why cheese on toast made with British cheese is so delicious to [email protected]

And to enter your cheese on toast recipe for the competition:

• submit your recipe for the perfect cheese on toast to [email protected]. Don’t forget to give details on the type and quantities of cheese used, any extra ingredients or toppings and why you think it’s the ultimate cheese on toast recipe. Extra points will be awarded if the recipe has some kind of local or family history. 

The deadline for both poems and recipes is 12 noon on Friday 26 July 2013.

For more info about the competition visit www.britishcheese.com/news or follow them on Facebook (www.facebook.com/britishcheese or on Twitter @britishcheeseuk

Quick Argentinian Pizza Provencale

Of all the things I learned to cook in Argentina, this was the one that I loved the most. When relatives came to visit, we would pile around the dining table and tuck into a stack of these, either bought from the pizza place around the corner or made fresh, in the oven. People would bring a stack of pizza bases they’d made and my sister-in-law would smear them with tomato sauce, top them with cheese and herbs and cook them, handing them out once they were golden. 

Argentinians give the name ‘provencale’ to pretty much anything tossed in garlic and parsley. And this pizza is a sort of a cross between a Margarita and garlic bread. If you like your pizzas garlicky, you’ll love this. 

Use a traditional pizza base if you like, but this version is quicker and cooks in about 10 minutes using flatbread. Just one bite of this and I’m back sitting around that dining table in Buenos Aires. Enjoy.

Argentinian-Style Pizza Provencale 
Serves 2.

Take a supermarket 240g flatbread (one with garlic and herbs is fine, or buy a plain one) and smear with 1-2 tsp of your favourite tomato sauce. Sprinkle with about 60g grated or chopped mozzarella and then top with slices of tomato. Scatter over a chopped garlic clove and some parsley and bake in a 200ºC oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the pizza is bubbling and cooked throughout. 

Review of New Saucy Fish Co Salmon and A Recipe for Sweet Chilli Salmon Paté

You will probably already know the Saucy Fish Co and their packs of fish with ready-made sauces. Well they’ve just launched a new line of salmon – this time it comes already cooked and alongside a variety of dressings. They sent me some to try out. 

With almost a quarter of the nation not knowing how to cook and prepare fish, the Saucy Fish Co says that it offers a stress-free solution to get fish into your diet. Their existing range of raw fish comes alongside a sauce and clear instructions on how to cook it. And for summer, they’ve launched a range of cooked salmon products that they say are great for eating with salads or for picnics. 

Some of them I tried were very unusual (at least for me). The maple dressing was sweet which I thought was a bit weird alongside salmon, but out of the four I tried, this was the one the girls liked the most. The sweet chilli salmon with the chilli and tomato chutney was by far my favourite – a hum of heat and the rich chutney paired well with the marinated fish. The steamed salmon with lime and coriander dressing was zesty and cut through the richness of the salmon really well. And with the roasted lemon and herb salmon, which came with a lemon and dill mayonnaise, I made a salad. To be honest, this was my least favourite: the herbs tasted sweet with the fish and I preferred it without the mayonnaise, which I felt wasn’t really needed with all those herbs already on it. 

I’m not a huge fan of eating cold fish just as it is but you could also flake it up and fill sandwiches with it, break it up into tarts (like this one) or make salmon paté, like I did (below). 

I think the range will save people time and it makes a handy option for adding to recipes, saving you having to cook the fish first – and the bonus is that it comes with all the herbs and spices already on it. The flavours tasted fresh, although many of them were quite sweet. I’d probably use them again, but not to eat as they are. The flavours and different varieties of salmon are great to experiment with, saving you having to cook the fish first – in tarts, salads and patés, like this one…

Instant Sweet Chilli Salmon Paté

This paté takes just a couple of minutes to blitz together. The sweet chilli salmon gives a gentle heat while the lime and coriander add fragrance and freshness. 

Ingredients:
100g soft cheese (I used Philadelphia)
100g cooked, sweet chilli-flavoured salmon fillet, bones and skin removed (I used The Saucy Fish Co Roasted Sweet Chilli Salmon Fillets)
2 tbsp coriander leaves
juice of half a lime
pinch of sea salt

 

Blitz the soft cheese, cooked salmon fillet, coriander leaves and lime juice in a processor until smooth and blended together. Taste and add a pinch of salt and more lime juice or coriander if needed. Serve on wholemeal toast.