Treacle Tart

Treacle Tart

Does 1.25 litres of golden syrup sound like a lot to you? It does to me, but that's how much goes into this treacle tart recipe from The Fox Inn in Corscombe, Dorset. That's almost three of those green golden syrup tins from Lyle's. You know, the ones that look like mini tins of paint and the only way to get in to them is to lever a screwdriver under the lip of the lid. Three of them. If you don't fancy knackering your teeth, then a search of the web provides alternative recipes with less filling, but sod it, make this and invite all your neighbours over for a syrup fest (maybe not Hilda from No.43 – she'll never get her dentures apart again). The recipe from The Gastropub Cookbook says serves 4-6. Please ignore this if you don't want to have a coronary. Just look at the monster in the photo above – and then imagine having a quarter of that in one sitting. Madness.

Ingredients:
For the pastry:
225g plain flour
115g unsalted butter, chilled and diced
1 medium egg yolk
40ml cold water

For the filling:
1.25 litres golden syrup
1 unwaxed lemon, zest and juice
1 medium egg
225g coarse white breadcrumbs

Method:
1. First make the pastry. Put the flour and butter in a food processor and whizz until breadcrumbs.
2. Mix in the egg yolk and cold water to make a stiff dough. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/gas 3. Spoon the syrup into a bowl. Add the remaining filling ingredients and stir well. The lemon stops the tart from being too sweet.
4. Lightly butter a 23cm tart dish. Roll out the pastry into a circle 3mm thick and 5cm bigger than the dish. Lift the pastry into the dish and push gently to fit.
5. Add the tart mixture and trim any excess pastry. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the tart is golden. Serve hot or cold with cream or crème fraîche (I preferred the tart completely cool).

White Bread

White Bread

What's the best hangover cure? A fry-up? Raw eggs with Tobasco? Last's night's kebab remnants. Maybe you're one of those people (let's call them alcoholics for argument's sake) that just like to get right back on it, starting with the half-drunk can of stale lager next to the bed. Oh, there seems to be a fag end in it. And I'm not sure this is even beer... Well forget these losers (ok, maybe not the fry-up) 'cos there's a new kid in town – freshly baked bread. Seriously, what can be better than breaking into a just-out-the-oven loaf and smearing it with lashings of butter and jam? Or how about that Sunday morning favourite of thick slices of bread, crispy bacon and a generous dollop of Tommy K? Bread is pretty easy to make, uses three ingredients (four if you include water), and vigorously kneading dough for 10 minutes is better than any Asprin. Ok, it might take a bit of patience while waiting for the dough to rise, but you're gonna be spending the first hour of the day dry-heaving in the bathroom, and the second trying to combat that swooping paranoia from the night before. Here's Paul Hollywood's recipe for the perfect loaf from The Great British Bake Off. Makes two medium loaves.

Ingredients:
700g strong white bread flour
2 tsp sea salt flakes, crushed
1 x 7g sachet fast-action dried yeart
about 450ml lukewarm water

Method:
1. Put the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast and mix well, then make a well in the centre.
2. Pour the lukewarm water into the well and mix with your hand to make a soft, but not sticky dough. More flour or water might be added to get the right consistency.
3. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead thoroughly for 10 minutes. Pull, stretch and fold the dough, turning it all the time. After 10 minutes the dough should feel pliable and look shiny and smooth.
4. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with clingfilm or a damp tea towel and leave to rise until doubled in size. This will take about 1 hour in a warm kitchen.
5. After the dough has risen, punch it back down with your knuckles to deflate it. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently for 1 minute. Divide the dough into 2 and shape each into a ball.
6. Roll each ball until smooth then place onto a sheet of non-stick baking paper. Dust with flour, cover again and leave for 1 more hour until doubled in size. Toward the end of this time, preheat the oven to 230C/450F/gas 8. Put a large baking sheet in the oven along with a roasting tin in the bottom.
7. Uncover the loaves, dust with more flour and slash the top of each with a knife. Transfer, on the paper, to the hot baking sheet and put in oven. Pour a cup of cold water in the roasting tin to produce a burst of steam and bake for 15 minutes. This will give the bread a lovely crust. Rotate the sheets if necessary to brown evenly. Reduce the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6 and bake for a further 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and the loaves sound hollow when tapped. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Or just rip open and eat.

Tomato Borscht

Tomato Borscht

Borscht began life in the Ukraine – famous for not being Russia and that politician who developed the dodgy skin complaint after being poisoned – and has got to be my favourite soup to make when it's cold outside. It's got incredible flavours from the tomato and beetroot, and warming spices from the cumin and cinnamon – and let's not  overlook the vibrant colour. It can be a bit of a mess to make when peeling and grating the beetroot (if you've got an attachment on a food processor then for the love of god, use that), but it can be great fun pretending to the kids that your blood-coloured stained hands are the result of an unfortunate chopping-related accident – works even better when laying on the kitchen floor and groaning. Oh, the fun we have at The Albion Tavern... Serve with freshly baked bread and a swirl of crème fraîche and you can't go wrong here. This recipe is from the New Covent Garden Soup Co's Soup & Beyond. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
25g butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic glove, crushed
225g raw beetroot, peeled and grated
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
225g fresh ripe tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped (to be honest, plum tomatoes from a tin work just as well)
275ml tomato juice
1 tbsp tomato purée
570ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Melt the butter and cook the onion, garlic and beetroot gently in a covered saucepan for 10 minutes without colouring.
2. Add the cumin, cinnamon, tomatoes, tomato juice, purée and stock. Cover, bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 15 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
3. Add the soy sauce and check for seasoning. Cool a little then blitz with a hand blender until smooth.

Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Sage

Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Sage

Seasonal butternut squash. Light and fluffy Italian potato dumplings. Buttery, tangy and warming sauce. Really not as hard to make as you'd think and utterly delicious. Recipe from Gary Rhodes Cookery Year: autumn into winter. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 medium butternut squash
1 large Maris Piper, pierced with a knife
knob of butter, optional, plus extra for greasing
175g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 egg
salt and pepper
freshly grated nutmeg
50g Parmesan
2-3 tbsp olive oil

For the sage sauce:
juice of 1 orange
1 shallot, finely chopped
50g butter
4 sage leaves, chopped

Method:
1.  Preheat the oven to 220C/400F/gas 6. Halve the squash lengthways, deseed and cut each half into three wedges. Loosely wrap these and the potato in lightly buttered foil, place on a baking tray and cook for 1-1 1/4 hours until tender.
2. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before scooping both from their skins. Mash separately.
3. Squeeze the squash in a muslin to extract the liquid. Drain into a saucepan. You should have approx 150g purée and 300-450ml of liquid. Boil the juice to reduce by three-quarters, leaving approx 100ml. Set aside.
4. Mix the purée and the mash together and add the flour, egg, Parmesan, nutmeg and seasoning. Knead into a dough on a floured surface. Divide into two, then roll each into a long sausage shape.
5. Cut 16-20 pieces per strip and roll into balls.
6. Boil a large pan of water. Add the gnocchi in small batches and cook for 2-3 minutes until they rise to the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon and refresh in iced water before allowing to dry.
7. To make the sage sauce, mix the orange juice with the shallots and reduce by about a half. Add the squash liquid and bring to a simmer. Whisk in the butter and season. Add the sage just before serving.
8. Fry the dried gnocchi in olive oil and a knob of butter to give them a golden finish. Serve with the sauce and a grating of Parmesan.

Spicy Lentil and Carrot Soup

Spicy Lentil and Carrot Soup

London seems to be under siege again today as hordes of soap-dodgers protest against high tuition fees or something. I would go out and join them, but it's a bit cold and this blog doesn't write itself, you know. However, to show my solidarity I've brought in a flask of wholesome soup for lunch that I made last night, containing that staple of the crusty student diet – the humble red lentil. It also has a great kick from some chilli to keep out the cold while being kettled by the cops for 12 hours, and carrots – some blended, some added later for texture – to help them find their way back to their damp bedsits once they've been released at three in the morning. The recipe has been adapted from Soup & Beyond from the New Covent Garden Soup Co. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
25g butter
1 garlic glove, finely chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and thinly diced
175g red lentils, rinsed well
50g split peas, rinsed well
2 tbsp tomato purée
1.5 litres vegetable stock
250g carrots, peeled and finely diced
good pinch of chilli flakes
couple splashes Tobasco (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the garlic and onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes without colouring.
2. Add the lentils, split peas, half the carrots and tomato purée, then cook for 2-3 minutes more, stirring constantly to prevent sticking.
3. Pour in the stock, bring to the boil, then simmer for 20-25 minutes until the lentils, split peas and carrots are soft.
4. Take off the heat, blend with a hand whisk, then return to the heat adding the remaining carrots.
5. Check the seasoning, then simmer for 12-15 minutes more until the carrots are tender.

If you wanted to make a meaty version, then try using ham stock and adding 110g of bacon lardons at stage 5.

Masterchef: The Professionals

Monica Galetti

Monica Galetti needs her own television series. I see her as the world's first cooking cop, a hard-hitting sous chef with a badge and mission to rid the streets of cuisine's criminal underbelly. "Freeze! Your over-cooked duck and collapsed soufflé days are over." "You'll never take me alive, Galetti." Think Prime Suspect meets Nigella, but with hopefully more nudity.
The new series of Masterchef: The Professionals started last night and the undoubted star of the show in these early stages (before Michel Roux Jr makes his Darth Vader-esque appearance before the terrified hopefuls), is Galetti, Roux's right-hand woman and all-round ice maiden. She's there to sort the wheat from the chaff and make sure that none of the contestants go on to poison her boss. Galetti stalks around the kitchen like a praying mantis, displaying a multitude of facial expressions that would challenge the UK's finest gurners. But by god, and maybe it's just me, there's something incredibly alluring about her (not the gurning, but the power, the authority, the skill at deboning a chicken...). It's an odd attraction, I'll admit, and to be honest if I were ever to be standing in front of her naked (not a nice image, I know) I'm not 100% sure whether I'd pass her stringent criteria and my wilted veg would never get to "meet her boss".
Oh, the actual programme – there were ten chefs, one who looked like Sid Vicious, another who was the only French bloke who can't cook garlic, all creating dishes using duck and blackberries. There were a lot of schoolboy errors (obviously I went to the wrong school where overcooked duck and burnt leeks was never an issue), and there was a discussion about gastric sauces that left me none the wiser. To be honest, I'd long been distracted by the delectable Chief Inspector Galetti...

Baked Goat's Cheese with Roast Beetroot and a Walnut Oil Dressing

Baked Goat's Cheese with Roast Beetroot and a Walnut Oil Dressing

At this time of year I love cooking with beetroot – and I don't mean that plastic-wrapped pickled stuff that can be so sharp it can be used to scrape wallpaper. One ingredient that goes supremely well with freshly roasted beetroot is goat's cheese, its creamy, tangy saltiness almost caressing the soft, sweet flesh of the beetroot in a loving embrace. This literally lip-smacking recipe comes from The Punch Bowl Inn in Crosthwaite, Cumbria and featured in The Gastropub Cookbook. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
2 medium beetroot
50g unsalted butter, melted
2 sheets ready-made filo pastry
1/2 goat's cheese log, cut into 4 x 2cm slices
black pepper
olive oil
24 button onions, peeled
a little peanut oil
generous handful of frisée, watercress, rocket or lamb's lettuce

For the walnut oil dressing:
1 tsp Dijon mustard
25ml walnut oil
45ml sunflower oil
12.5ml white wine vinegar

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6. Scrub the beetroots, wrap tightly in foil and bake for 2 1/2 hours, or until tender.
2. Leave to cool, then peel and cut into thick chunks.
3. Brush the melted butter on a sheet of filo pastry and lay another sheet on top. Cut out 4 x 7cm circles and place on a greased baking sheet and bake in the oven for 5 minutes until golden brown.
4. Turn up the oven to 240C/475F/gas 9. Put the goat's cheese on top of the pastry, season with black pepper, drizzle with olive oil and bake for about 5 minutes or until the cheese is golden and melting.
5. Put the beetroot wedges on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with black pepper, then roast, also for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, fry the onions in the peanut oil until golden on the outside and tender in the middle.
6. Make the dressing by whisking the mustard with the salt and pepper in a medium-sized bowl. Gradually add the oils and wine vinegar, whisking continuously until combined.
7. Toss the salad leaves in the dressing. Arrange on 4 plates, place the goat's cheese pastry on top and the onions around it.