Festivals, Birthdays and Cookery Classes

 It's actually been about a month since I posted anything on my blog. I've basically had a month of fun, festival going and birthday celebrations, including many culinary capers along the way. On the weekend of 10th August, we went to Wilderness festival where I bought tickets for Nel and I to do a cookery course with the Thyme Cookery School.

The course felt a little rushed but I did pick up a few tips and ideas for recipes which I'll do another week. We made a feta and spinach filo spring roll with several sides and salads. In particular I liked the tahini and lemon dressing and the crushed pea dish, which I made again when we got home, desperate for some fresh food.

 Last weekend was my Birthday, and so Billy and I cooked a special, rather pink, birthday brunch. We made a rough guacamole and spread it on sourdough toast and topped it with two poached eggs, fresh chillies and greens. Yummy. In fact two summers ago, Nel and I also went to the Green Man Festival and this is where I got the inspiration for this breakfast. At the Green Man though, we had it with scrambled eggs, chard and chorizo. It's delicious either way.

 Finally to top off my culinary month, I made made cupcakes. Now I never usually bake cakes but I do like lemon drizzle cake. So, using one of Nigella's lemon drizzle cake recipe's I made these. Took them to the pub, where we all enjoyed them with a few glasses of wine.

Beetroot Ravioli with Blue Cheese, Walnut and Spinach filling

As I've not been working of late, I wanted to make a dish with things that I had in the fridge already so as to save a bit of money. I had some beetroot and pasta flour and so decided to make some bright pink pasta as a bit of fun.

Using Gina Steer's pasta recipe from her book, The Pasta Machine Cookbook, I made my pasta. I then wrapped it in clingfilm and placed in the fridge for about an hour to cool.

After making the filling (see below), Billy and I set up our pasta machine and rolled out the pasta until we got to the smallest setting.

We decided to cut out the ravioli shapes first, fill them and then put the top layer on, brushing on some water around the edges of the filling in order to glue the two layers together.

We cooked them for around 4 minutes until al dente, and served them with a horseradish butter. Delicious. Next time I am going to add even more beetroot as it did loose a bit of colour during the cooking process.

Recipe (serves 4):

Pasta:
See my related links for the pasta recipe from the Pasta Machine Cookbook

300g flour
3 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of Salt
Beetroot, pureed

Filling:
20g crushed walnuts
40g blue cheese
125g ricotta cheese
1 bag fresh greens- I used spinach, watercress and rocket. cook and drain thoroughly so that there is no water left in them.
Salt and pepper to season

Horseradish Butter:
Large knob of butter
Half a crushed clove of garlic
2 tablespoons of hot horseradish sauce
Squeeze of lemon and a bit of zest.
 Bring all of these ingredient to a sizzle and sizzle until a golden colour. Pour over the pasta once cooked with some more crushed walnuts.

Kay the caterer...?

So, following the success of the wedding catering on Saturday, I've decided to open my own Deli in Hampstead. Only joking!!! In fact, after Saturday's events, I think it'll be a little while before I cook again.

To put this into context, and following on from my post from last week, I was asked to help cater for a wedding last Saturday with my friend Charlotte. I was in charge of the Vegan and Vegetarian main course, so I did my Stuffed Mushroom dish.

I thought I was well prepared. I bought a nice Veggie/ Vegan wine especially from my local health food shop (Haelan Centre in Crouch End) to put in my mushroom filling.

 And, I prepared the stuffing for the mushrooms the day before.

We drove down to Brighton first thing, and eventually got into the poky kitchen. After making our plan of action, I  helped Charlotte with the starters and other mains and then prepared my mushrooms.  

Not having had any experience of catering before, nothing could have prepared us for how hard we were going to work all afternoon. Having said that, WE DID IT!!! And, everyone seemed to be very encouraging and complimentary of our food. We left, feeling sweaty and tired around 10pm and got back to London around 11pm. 

I got home just after midnight, where Billy (thank you, thank you, thank you!!!) had ordered a very much needed curry and put out the wine.

What I've taken away from this experience is that there is no shame in preparing as much as humanly possible beforehand. In addition, you need to get things in the oven much sooner than you think or would do at home. Also, you must get a washer upper! But it was a great experience and learning curve. Despite how tough it felt, I had fun. Thanks Charlotte! Here's to the start of your (and potentially our) catering career.

Stuffed Mushroom with a Creamy Pearl Barley and Watercress filling, with a Pine Nut and Watercress Crust

So, I've been asked to provide the Vegetarian and Vegan options for a wedding buffet in a few weeks time. I have been toying with several ideas including this one. It's a delicious and fairly simple recipe, which I think could definitely be done under pressure. I think it works well for a buffet too as it'd be easy to serve, without it falling apart. And, served with bright red roasted tomatoes and peppers will add great colour. It went down well last night with Billy anyway so it's a definite contender. See the recipe below.

Other than coming up with Vegan recipe ideas though, I've been thoroughly engrossed in Wimbledon. We went to see Murray play last Wednesday. What fun! We only had to queue for 3 hours or so and it was well worth getting up at 4.30 am. I'm thinking of camping next year!

Stuffed Mushroom Recipe:

Large Flat Field Mushrooms- One per person should be fine. These amounts are for 3 large mushrooms
Pearl Barley. One handful per person
250ml carton of Wheat Cream- you could use any cream. I wanted to make this a vegan recipe that's all.
1 packet of fresh Watercress
1 Red Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic 
Glug of white wine. I know. I use the word glug way too much!
Pine nuts
Fresh bread- grated into breadcrumbs
Seasoning: salt, pepper, dried coriander, thyme and oregano

Watercress, Cream and mint drizzle:
2 bunches of watercress from your packet
Leaves from your stalk of mint
Wheat Cream
Olive oil
White Wine Vinegar
Salt and Pepper

For the Watercress, Cream and Mint Drizzle, blend 2 large bunches of watercress, About 6 large mint leaves, half of your Wheat Cream (the other half will be used for cooking the Barley), Olive oil and a dash of white wine Vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Go with your instincts on how much of each. I used a good glug of olive oil. Not too much white wine vinegar!

For the Pearl Barley filling I fried the red onion in olive oil and added garlic and herbs to season. I also took out the stalk bit from each mushroom and fried it with the onions. A dash of white wine. Then I then added pearl barley and covered it with wheat cream and water. Bring to a simmer and throw in a handful of chopped watercress. Simmer for about 15- 20 minutes until the pearl barley is al dente.

Once the barley mix is cool, stuff each flat field mushroom until full.

Top with breadcrumbs (I used a slightly stale white loaf, the texture of which was slightly chewy. This will give a nice crispy topping). Then sprinkle on the pine nuts.

I then topped this with a swirl of the Watercress, Cream and Mint drizzle, saving the rest for serving.

Bake at 180 degrees for 45 minutes or so.

Definitely serve with roasted bright vegetables such as red peppers. I served them with roasted tomatoes.