Julie & Julia & Boeuf Bourguignon

I was lucky enough to be invited to a pre-screening of Julie & Julia last week, along with heaps of other food bloggers. I really enjoyed the film, it's a combination of the book-from-a-blog "Julie and Julia" and Julia Child's autobiography "My Life in France". While Julie is a bit of a whingey, self-obsessed loser who doesn't deserve her angelic husband, the story of Julia and her lifelong love affair with food, France and her husband Paul is truly beautiful. Meryl Streep's performance is just uttter genius. I can see this one ending up on my DVD shelf with Dirty Dancing and Pretty Woman!

I'm now reading My Life in France on the commute into London and have almost finished it in a matter of days. Julia's energy and zest for life really comes through in her writing. Of course now I want to go and live in Paris...

Being British, I wasn't as familiar with Julia's work as those across the pond seem to be, so I decided to try one of her recipes for myself. As luck would have it, Julia's publisher has the recipe for her signature Boeuf Bourguignon on its website. I haven't replicated it here as you really need to read it in Julia's words to get the full effect! If you would like to have a go yourself you can find the pdfs here:

http://knopfdoubleday.com/marketing/cooking/BoeufBourguignon.pdf

The recipe was quite a bit of work, but the little tips and tricks Julia gives help you achieve a truly delicious result. Even the method of sauteeing mushrooms was a revelation to me. I know which cookbook I will be buying next....

So, in summary

Julia - yes! yes! yes!
Julie - not so much

Peppers with feta & pesto

This is a super-easy vegetarian dish that could work as a starter or as a main if you served it with a heap of brown rice or cous cous. It's healthy and tasty too, I love the combination of sweet pepper, salty feta and tangy pesto.

Peppers with feta & pesto - serves 4 as a starter

Ingredients

2 red peppers, halved and de-seeded

1 block of feta cheese, cubed

4 tbsps pesto

Instructions

1) Preheat the oven to 180c

2) Divide the feta between the pepper halves

3) Drizzle a tablespoon of pesto into each of the pepper halves

4) Bake for 20 minutes, until the peppers are cooked and juicy

There are heaps of ways you could ring the changes with this recipe - how about using halloumi instead of feta, adding breadcrumbs or cous cous to the filling, or using coriander pesto?

Enjoy!

The Princess

How to spatchcock a chicken

I've always been a bit scared of spatchcocking, there's something rather violent about the way the word sounds. It makes me think of kneecapping, or knuckledusting. This Saturday though, I steeled my nerves and set about my chicken with new abandon. And I was relieved to find it wasn't even that difficult.

To spatchcock, if you're not familiar with the term, is to remove the backbone of the chicken and to flatten it out. It makes cooking much quicker - the bird that I used cooked in 50 minutes rather than an hour and 20 - and it makes the chicken much easier to handle if you're cooking it on the BBQ.

All you need is a chicken and a pair of kitchen scissors.

1. Put the chicken onto a board breast side down, with the head end towards you.



2. Find the backbone and cut alongside it all the way to the end. You will crunch through the ribs as you do this, but an ordinary pair of kitchen scissors should do the job.



3. Do the same on the other side of the backbone, so the whole backbone is removed. You can keep this and use it for making stock.



4. Turn the chicken over, open it up and press down on it to flatten it out. The idea is that the chicken is a fairly uniform thickeness all over.

Your chicken is now well and truly spatchcocked. I stuffed some ricotta, lemon zest and chives under the skin, drizzled with olive oil and cooked it in the oven for 50 minutes until the juices ran clear. Delicious!

Tomato & goat's cheese canapes

They may look fiddly, but once you get going these tomato and goat's cheese canapes are pretty simple. I used an icing gun to fill the tomato shells, but you could use a traditional piping bag or just wodge it in with a teaspoon/finger if you're not fussy.

Tomato & goat's cheese canapes
(adapted from In the Mood for Food by Jo Pratt - a fantastic book)

Ingredients

30 cherry tomatoes (go for large ones)
150g soft goat's cheese
2 tbsp double cream
1 tbsp finely chopped chives plus some extra for garnish

1. Slice off the base of each of the tomatoes and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon. Stand them upside down on a paper towel to dry out.

2. Mix together the cheese, cream and chives. Season.

3. Pipe the cheese mixture into the tomato shells. Garnish with some extra snipped chives. Pop them in the fridge until your guests arrive.

Enjoy!

The Princess

Whiskied Butter-Bunny Bobotie

Before anyone starts complaining, this is most definitely NOT a traditional bobotie! Bobotie is a traditional South African dish, a bit like a curried moussaka with a wobbly custard topping. I took my inspiration from the version in Galton Blackiston's new book Summertime.

For my version I used chunks of rabbit rather than minced lamb, apricot jam instead of quince jelly and whiskey instead of brandy. I also added butter beans to the mix and cheese to the custardy topping. It turned out quite well - I hope you'll agree!

Whiskied Butter-Bunny Bobotie - serves 3-4

Ingredients

1 onion, diced

1 fat clove of garlic, minced

400g diced rabbit

1 tbsp curry paste

3 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp apricot jam

2 tbsp raisins, soaked for a couple of hours in 2 tbsp whiskey

2 tbsp toasted flaked almonds

2 eggs

Pinch of grated nutmeg

200ml double cream

50g mature cheddar, finely grated

1. Preheat the oven to 180c. Heat your frying pan and fry the onions and garlic in some oil until they are soft and just starting to brown.

2. Add the rabbit. Keep stirring until it is coloured all over.

3. Stir in the tomato puree, curry paste and apricot jam. Cook for 15 mins.

4. Stir in the soaked raisins (keep the whiskey!) and almonds. Transfer the mixture to an oven dish and let it cool.

5. Now for the custard topping. Whisk together eggs, nutmeg and seasoning. Stir in the cream, the grated cheese and the whiskey from the raisins.

6. Pour the custard mixture over the lamb and then pop into the oven for 40 minutes.

Enjoy!

The Princess

Recipease Brighton - welcome to the Jamie Zone

“That is one of the best smells in the world”, says Martyn, leaning over his saucepan of foaming butter and garlic. All five of us watch him avidly as he demonstrates just how long our garlic should cook for before we throw in the tomatoes.

I’m at Recipease, in a lurid pink building in Western Road, Brighton, a newly opened cookery school – cum – grocery - cum - foodie community hub, and another part of the ever-expanding Jamie Oliver brand. Martyn Rose, the Food Champion is teaching us how to make meatballs.

This is the second branch of Recipease to open and Simon Cochrane, Managing Director, is keen to show me around. We walk around the retail section at the front of the store. Here you can stock up on Jamie kitchenalia, fresh veg and artisan breads. Of course there are books, but not just those penned by Mr Oliver, also ones he recommends.

There is a good selection of wine available plus pre-prepared meals ready to take away and cook at home. All the chicken and eggs are free-range, and both beef and pork is British reared.
Simon tells me: “Provenance is very important. What people like about Recipease is that they can trust it. They know what’s gone into it”.

Aside from the main cooking area, where I make my dish, there are also pizza and curry kitchens. These workstations don’t need to be booked, you just drop in and get cooking from the step-by-step instructions and pre-prepared ingredients. Pick your meat, pick your sauce and dive in, or “freestyle” if you’re feeling braver. “It’s all about making it accessible and easy for people”, Simon tells me. Your “homemade” pizza or curry is then boxed up for you to cook at home. Very satisfying, and from less than a fiver per head for a curry, good value too.

At the back of the store is the main cooking area. Book a class online at a level that suits you, from the easy “Make” classes where you put together a recipe and take it away, to the more advanced “Learn” series, which focuses on techniques such as knife skills. There are classes for kids too.

Back in the kitchen and the cooking style is definitely very Jamie, it’s easy, non-pretentious and full of big, bold flavours. Our meatballs are packed with plenty of spices and ripped up herbs, plus quality ingredients with a conscience. A bit of bish-bosh-bash and we all have our own trays of chunky meatballs with spinach and buffalo mozzarella, all in a handmade tomato and basil sauce. Our handiwork is heat sealed and packaged up complete with cooking instructions so that we can cook it when we get home.

Jess Lancaster, 22, from St Margarets Place, Brighton, was also trying out the class. “I like to cook at home and I wanted to come along anyway”, she tells me. “It was good fun, and it’s great to learn new skills for the kitchen”.

The best thing about Recipease is that it caters for every level, from nervous beginner to competent cook. Simon tells me of fresh pasta classes, fish filleting and plans to get a local butcher in to run a meat jointing session.

Love or hate Jamie Oliver, you can’t really argue with a venture that gets more people into the kitchen. And that’s just what Recipease is trying to do.

Recipease, 72 - 73 Western Road, Brighton BN1 2HA
01273 311338
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipease/index.html

Pig cheeks in cider

Thanks to a tweet from Niamh at Eat Like a Girl, I discovered that Waitrose are now selling pig cheeks amongst other "forgotten cuts" of meat. And a bargain they are too, with 300g setting me back just over a quid. They're best cooked slow and long, braised in wine or in my case, cider.
Pig cheeks in cider (serves 2)

Ingredients

4 - 6 pig cheeks

Large knob of butter

500ml cider

1 onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tbsp herbes de provence

1 savoy cabbage, shredded

1) Preheat the oven to 160c.

2) Heat a pan, get the butter foaming and then brown the pig cheeks all over. Remove and put into a casserole dish.

3) In the same pan, cook the onion until soft, then add the garlic and herbes de provence. Cook until the garlic is just starting to colour (add more butter if necessary).

4) Pour the cider into the pan and gently scrape the bottom to get all the yummy porky bits off.

5) Add the cider mixture to the casserole.

6) Bung it in the oven for 1 and a half hours.

7) Throw the cabbage in for the last 10 minutes so that it wilts down into the cidery juices.

I served this up with a heap of lentils, a bit wintry perhaps but definitely an earthy and satisfying meal. It would probably be even nicer with a few slices of Bramley apple thrown in, but I didn't think of that until afterwards!