Holly August 12, 2014

Salmon & asparagus quiche

I read a blog about a very large family in the US. I daren’t tell you who they are. I can’t link to it in case the blogger loses her temper and contacts me. I know for a fact she does that kind of thing. She’s THAT fearless. I bet she approaches teenagers in the park and asks them to stop smoking and swearing too. I am utterly fascinated by her. She has over 10 children, cooks from scratch every day and always seems so patient in her blog posts. The perfect Mum. Much like the one in Topsy & Tim.

Don’t even get me started about Topsy and Tim’s Mum. If you haven’t seen this programme check Cbeebies out. T & Ts Mum is perfect. She never shouts, hugs her children when they break her vase, plays fun games like dens when the rest of the house is going to rack and ruin, plus she always smiles at her husband when he arrives home rather than asking where he’s been or why he’s late or if he picked up a bottle of wine on the way home because it really has been one of those days. And she’s thin. Oh and she never checks Facebook on her phone when the kids are about. I hate her.

Anyway, this other Mum, the blogger one. It can’t be true can it? Her patience and general Zen like state. No one is that nice. Imagine 10 kids! Imagine the amount of abandoned socks, the volume of plastic plates that never properly dry in the dishwasher and thus make double the work and have to be dried AGAIN on the rack. Imagine the amount of times she has said ‘do not lick your brother’s arm’ or similar. She must be on the gin every night. Either that or she’s a liar. Maybe the blog is an alternative reality for her. A fictitious diary of the mother she wants to be. Oh I do hope so. She makes me feel inadequate.

Anyway, here’s a really lovely quiche recipe. It’s not that hard, but if it’s a bottle of wine day then maybe buy the pastry.

Lots more recipes like this in my book, Recipes from a Normal Mum, out now… on Amazon, with The Book People, at Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Waitrose (where it’s book of the month) and many smaller outlets.

One year ago: Oaty peanut butter cookies and Stuffed picnic loaf and Melting meringue kisses

Two years ago: Halloumi, bean and asparagus salad and Lemon & coriander turkey burger or Birthday cake for a princess of prince

Three years ago: Honeyed apples in sweet almond pastry and Lemon cupcakes or Rye bread

Four years ago: Salmon and sweet potato fishcakes and Victoria sponge cake and Carrot fritters

Salmon and asparagus quiche

Ingredients

280g plain flour (plus extra for rolling)
140g butter
2 large eggs
284mls double cream
200g uncooked salmon, cut into cubes (approx weight)
5 – 6 asparagus spears
75g Gruyère or other hard cheese
Lots of freshly ground black pepper

To make the pastry using a stand mixer, use the flat beater to make the flour and butter into breadcrumbs at a low speed. Add black pepper and then on speed 1 add icy cold water until the pastry JUST comes together. Or to make the pastry by hand, rub the fat in to the flour, add pepper and then add icy cold water until the pastry just comes together using a blunt knife to full together. Pat into a flat circle shape, wrap the pastry in clingfilm and refrigerate for an hour.

Line a 23cm quiche tin with a loose bottom with the pastry, rolling to about 3mm thick, using a little extra flour for rolling. Trim the edges (roll a rolling pin over the top for a quick way to do this) and chill or freeze if possible for another 30 minutes. Then pop greaseproof paper into the shell, fill with baking beans or uncooked rice and bake in a preheated 200C/Gas 6 oven for 20 minutes. Then remove the beans and paper and bake for another 10 minutes until the bottom of the pastry shell is fully cooked. Remove from the oven.

Place the salmon onto the pastry shell then take the asparagus and break off at the bottom of the stems – you’re aiming to let the asparagus naturally break at the point where the asparagus stops being delicious and crisp and starts being woody. Chuck the woody bits away and keep the crisp asparagus stems with the feathery tops. Whisk together the eggs and cream, pour over the salmon then place the asparagus over the top. Lastly grate the cheese over the top and bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown and well set. Leave to cool on a wire rack or serve warm.

Holly May 19, 2013

Bring out the sun risotto

More, Pasta and Risotto, Veggie 9 Replies

We are back from our first family holiday abroad and we survived it all. You see I’ve been rather phobic about taking the kids abroad until now so we’ve just holidayed in jolly old Suffolk and it was fabulous. Lots of fish and chips (and sssh… onion rings) on the beach and building sandcastles against the bracing wind. Me with a ski jacket on and blue fingers, Mr Bell in a T shirt looking well, manly in a sandy kind of way. Evenings were spent watching TV, drinking red wine, inhaling local cheese and reading trashy novels once the good telly wore out.

But we bit the bullet. We went to Ibiza for a week. Don’t laugh. Most of my friends found this vaguely amusing; the island of partying with two little tearaway tagalongs more interested in inflatable boats and digging for buried treasure. And it was fine… I managed to survive a holiday outside the UK with kids. We are okay despite a 2am wake up alarm to get us to the airport on time. We are okay despite my youngest son being very very blonde and slightly hating the sun. We are all fine and dandy even though we walked on the wild side and brushed our teeth in local water. And the best thing ever was that the kids ate everything. What a relief. They’re usually pretty adventurous but I have heard horror stories from friends about culinary adventurers turning into screaming neophobes once they set foot on foreign soil.

Of course this was obvious to the rest of you. But not to me. Anyway, a quick recipe tonight as I need to search for a bargain last minute deal for August. Know anywhere good with a water slide?

This recipe was posted on my facebook page in note form after a few people took an interest in the picture of it. Here it is properly.

One year ago: Choc dipped ice-cream cones and Sweetie covered ice-cream wafers and Razzamatazz ribs and Thoroughly British banana and custard cupcakes

Two years ago: Banana and custard melts and Thomas fairy cakes

Leek, asparagus and courgette risotto

Ingredients:

– 1 onion, chopped finely

– 1 tbsp butter

– 2 tbsp rapeseed oil

– 1 chicken/veg stock cube

– 150g risotto rice

– 500mls boiling water

– 1 leek, chopped and rinsed if grainy

– 1 chopped courgette

– 6 asparagus spears, chopped into 6 pieces each

– Black pepper to taste

– Grated cheese to taste

Fry the onion in 1 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp rapeseed oil in a large saucepan. Fry on a low heat until very soft then crumble the stock cube over the top and fry off. Add the risotto rice and fry for 1 more minute. Then add boiling water in 50ml dribbles at a time and stir until 400mls are absorbed. When this water has been absorbed and the rice is swelling and looking creamy, add the leek, chopped courgette and the asparagus. Stir in and add the remaining 100mls of hot water a bit at a time – keep checking the rice for bite. It should have a little bite but also creaminess to the risotto. Season with black pepper and stir through a handful of grated cheese. Eat whilst browsing the internet for sunny holidays.

Holly August 11, 2012

Lemony and minty halloumi, bean and asparagus salad

More, Salads, Sides 6 Replies

I’m not very keen on being judged or competing, which might sound like a huge lie for someone who chose to compete in a televised competition. It’s true. I didn’t like competitive sports as school and exams made me so nervous at uni I had to sit them in a special room for people who freak out and faint. I can only blame the post-natal hormones on my Bake Off application. It’s back on air next Tuesday and whilst I am hugely excited about the prospect of watching the show without wincing at my double chin, I’m also terrified at the thought of the judging.

Every week of the Bake Off I felt the judging ruined what had become a very enjoyable meeting of minds. 12 people hanging out in a tent, baking like crazy and then trying each others food and being awfully complementary about it. Now I know that wouldn’t have made great telly, but the judging felt like a grubby aside. An unnecessary spoiler. Sure, there was the relief when you got to stay in, but losing someone each week was awful. And, well, asking someone to leave what felt like a party isn’t very British. Don’t we just moan about people rather than speak our minds in this country? My how we’ve changed.

Recently I was invited to a barbecue where foodie types all bring a dish. I had no idea when I accepted the invitation that this was the deal. I may not have said yes; I can smell competitiveness even through the medium of text message. I took a lemony, minty salad full of broad beans, peas, asparagus and grilled halloumi. It’s my kind of salad; full of flavour and bite without relying on a huge chunk of seared fish or grilled chicken. As I removed the lid I couldn’t help but feel disappointment from the foodie folks. No cake. No pastry. No bread. Nothing baked. Just a cold, healthy salad. Well, I wasn’t about to enter another Bake Off…

Ingredients (very rough quantities)

– half a bag of frozen petit pois

– half a bag of frozen broad beans

– 2 bunches of asparagus spears

– 1 pack of halloumi

– 1 lemon, zested and juiced

– 10 mint leaves, finely chopped

– olive oil

– black pepper

This is easy but time consuming if you go the whole hog and shell the beans. Boil the kettle and then pour into a large saucepan to about half way. Pour the broad beans into the pan then boil on the hob as per packet instructions. Just before they are ready add the peas. They only need a couple of mins. You just want to defrost rather than cook them. Drain boiling water away from the beany/pea mountain, swish some cold water over the lot, drain again and leave to cool.

Take a large frying pan and add a glug of olive oil. Heat for 2 minutes then add slices of the halloumi and fry until golden brown. Turn using tongs and fry on the other side, then set aside in a bowl to cool a little. Then chop the asparagus spears into 1 inch chunks and fry in the pan until they are kind of charred and a sharp knife goes through the thickest stem easily. Take off the heat and transfer to the serving dish. Add the zest of your lemon, then the lemon juice, a good glug of olive oil, loads of black pepper and the finely chopped mint leaves.

Now for the boring bit. Start to pick through your beans and peas. Every time you see a bean press it between your thumb and index finger and pop the bean from the tough outer broad bean shell. Then add the bean to the asparagus sitting in all the tasty flavours and throw away the empty shell. Repeat, repeat, repeat until you’re finished. Tip the left-behind peas in. Give it all a good stir and then pop the halloumi on the top. If you can’t be bothered to shell the broad beans you could skip this stage, but be warned that people will most likely judge you for it.

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