Francapades - London to Le Havre

At butt fuck early on a Saturday morning, Hussyband and I loaded up Rhonda the Randy Honda for our first European Roadtrip. Cold Chisel blared as we zoomed down a deserted M20 at 4.30am - a time meant for clubbers to be stumbling home and bakers to be turning our fresh loaves of bread, not for being awake and driving a car down the coast!

The train terminal at Folkestone is pretty much bereft of anything resembling decent food, so a cuppa tea in a styrofoam cup was breakfast. Wish we had eaten more, as there was a delay on the trains and we sat out on the departure paddock for over an hour until given the OK to board our train.

Crossing the Channel by train though could not be easier, or faster, as in 25mins we were on the other side of the water and heading towards Le Havre. Following the coast, we drove through coastal villages and hamlets, stopping for a croque monsieur to take the edge off our hunger and adding to my caffeine consumption with a Red Bull and an espresso. 

Our first stop of the trip is Le Havre, where we stayed at the Novotel Hotel (along with the Scottish Womens Football team much to Hussybands delight!) After a soak in the bath and a nanna-nap we headed off in search of dinner armed with some suggestions of the concierge....and then promptly ended up somewhere else as we got lost.

Finding a small bistro opposite the marina, the menu looked tempting so we headed into "Restaurant La Voile Bleue" for a drink or two and to have an early dinner. 

Hussyband started with a bottle of Pelforth Brune, while I went for a rum punch that packed more than a wallop on my tired body. With a bowl of beer snacks, we chatted to the owner via her son who was recently returned from 12 months in Oz, and made our selections.

First course of the evening was a shared seafood platter piled high with plump prawns, oysters, a whole crab, aioli, lemons and the most god awful item of seafood I have ever tried - bulots. These puppies were so not good on the not good scale of things that Hussyband and I managed one each. 

Thankfully there was booze to wash it down with. We had to wash it down, a lot.

Moving onto our mains, Hussyband went for the duck breast with peppercorn sauce, it was perfectly cooked, just rare in the middle, crisp skin, and the sauce was just peppery enough not to overwhelm the flesh. Of course it came with the obligatory bistro sides of salad and frites....does anyone do frites better than the French? I have yet to find out, but wow if they do....

My main was very very naughty - i went for the foie gras burger, with blood rare beef, a huge hunk of tomato and mayo...yes, like foie gras needs any more fat added to it, but the French added saffron mayo...and it was FABULOUS. I washed it down with a nice big glass or two of Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux Le Verre.

Now by this stage of the evening I was struggling to keep my eyes open, even though it was only about 9am (the alarm had gone off at 4am, and I had driven a loooong way) so we headed back to the hotel for a nightcap and bed.

La Voile Bleue

Boulevard Albert 1er, 76600 Le Havre, France

Phone : 02 3 5 22 9

Mains: €15-30

Pros: price, staff, wine list, rum selection

Cons: That I didn't get to eat desert!

Tapas Brindisa Borough Market

Ever since I moved to London just over 2 years ago, I have been trying to go to Brindisa at Borough Market. Unfortunately, as they never take advance bookings, you have to rock up and hope for the best, and until recently, the best was never in my favour with waits of up to and over 2 hours for a table even just for Hussyband and myself. To which I usually respond with a polite “sod that” and wander off elsewhere in search of victuals.

The other week I was meeting up with fellow expat Mrs_Mups for a quick lunch while she was passing through the area, it is rare for me to take a lunch break at work, normally I just heat up one of the boring soups and crack on with my day at the desk, gazing mournfully at the insipid sunlight London normally has on offer this time of year. But, on a gorgeous clear late winter day, I ventured out. Out into the big bad world of London Bridge.

Now, maybe it was the weather, or the fact it was the first day of spring, maybe it was because I was showing a disgraceful amount of cleavage, or just that the Food Deities were looking out for me, but I wandered in the door of Brindisa and oh my goodness gracious me, I got a table for 2 straight away!

Messaging Mrs_Mups were I was, I started to have food envy very quickly at the plates being delivered quickly to the tables around me. On MM’s arrival, we quickly ordered a couple of plates to share and settled in for some girlie gossip (of which I cannot divulge the topics as what goes on in GirlieGossip stays between the girls!)

Being good little construction employees, I had a diet coke, whilst MM went for a lemonade, but the wine list was very tempting, and quite affordable.

We started off with a bowl of plump Gordal Olives with oregano and orange (£3.50) – olives and me have had a love/hate relationship over the years, but the big green juicy ones from Spain have been love/love ever since I first had them when we moved over here.

Next up was a Ham Selection (£19.50) – now, paying that much money, for a few slices of hams, did have me a little worried, but the serving was generous, the meats (serrano, iberico and carved iberico de bellota) meaty and hammy, and the bread and olive oil were both chewy and unctuous in turn.

Needing something a bit more substantial we for one of the Cocina De Mercado – house specialities at London Bridge. The Huevos Rotos (£5.50) grabbed both of us by the heartstrings and did not disappoint. Just fried eggs broken over pan fried potatoes and iberico pork sobrasada had us reaching for any leftover bread we could lay our hands on to mops up the juices.

We finished off with a cheese course, of course. Deep Fried Monte Enebro (£7.60) – handmade goats cheese with orange blossom honey and crispy beetroot. At this point we had to ask for more bread, three times, but it finaly came and was much needed to eat the cheese and honey with. The beetroot chips were very moorish – almost reminiscent of bacon bits but so much better.

Just time for quick kisses on cheeks before we both rushed back to our respective offices with full bellies, sated appetites and happy hearts.

Tapas Brindisa
18-20 Southwark St
London SE1 1TJ
Tel: 020 7357 8880

British Pie Week - Left Over Lamb Roast & Mint Pie

This weekend London had a return to winter, and after talking to Mum back home, I had a craving for roast lamb with all the trimmings, especially burnt pumpkin. In my family, we always cook out butternut pumpkin (or squash in the UK) until it is black and caramalised on the outside, it gives it an amazing flavour. We couldn't have eaten all the pumpkin, so I steamed and mashed the leftovers with a cunning plan in mind.

Knowing that the leg of lamb (that I had picked up for a steal at Makro) was too big for the two of us, I planned to make the leftovers into a pie for British Pie Week, but I didn't want a stodgy pastry as I am trying to be healthy. After trimming all the visible fat from the leftovers last night, I refrigerated the rest overnight so that I could pull off the lard that I couldn't see this evening and then I mixed it with the leftover gravy, homemade mint sauce, and peas and piled it all into a pie dish.

The pastry is an old favorite that is very quick to whip up in my trusty food processor using the pastry blade. Mix together 90g of room temp butter with 150g plain flour (I used spelt), 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 120g of cooled mashed pumpkin (you could use any root vegetable for this - I have done it with potato, celeriac, carrot and would love to try it with beetroot!) and salt to taste. Blitz together until combined, then turn out onto a lightly floured mat and knead together. Roll out and cover your pie mix, cut a breathing hole and decorate to your hearts content.

Being a lamb pie tonite, I made a couple of wellie boots and the back view of a sheep - hey it was Kiwi lamb and we all know the boots are useful! And yes, that is a dag on its ass, not a tail!

The pastry was short, savory and nice and crisp, and was the perfect foil to the sweet minty lamb.

Now my Hussyband claims to be a boob-man...but I couldnt resist when serving up, and after tonite he may be an assman!

A Kiwi, a sheep, and a dog were survivors of a terrible shipwreck. They found themselves stranded on a desert island.


After being there a while, they got into the habit of going to the beach every evening to watch the sun go down. One particular evening, the sky was red with beautiful cirrus clouds, the breeze was warm and gentle; a perfect night for romance.


As they sat there, the sheep started looking better and better to the Kiwi. Soon, he leaned over to the sheep and put his arm around it. But the dog got jealous, growling fiercely until the Kiwi took his arm from around the sheep. After that, the three of them continued to enjoy the sunsets together, but there was no more cuddling.


A few weeks passed by, and lo and behold, there was another shipwreck. The only survivor was a beautiful young woman, the most beautiful woman the Kiwi had ever seen. She was in a pretty bad way when they rescued her, and they slowly nursed her back to health. When the young maiden was well enough, they introduced her to their evening beach ritual. It was another beautiful evening: red sky, cirrus clouds, a warm and gentle breeze; perfect for a night of romance.


Pretty soon, the Kiwi started to get "those feelings" again. He fought them as long as he could, but he finally gave in and leaned over to the young woman, cautiously, and whispered in her ear... .
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Would you mind taking the dog for a walk?

A Sweet Ending

So, it has been a while between posts, I am still doing the Lighter Life diet, or I should say I am again doing it. More sensibly this time, giving myself a night off once a week to eat and drink sensibly with loved ones.

Last night was one of those nights, with friends from Oz coming for a much planned dinner. Brian and Tony have been living in London for a little over a year, and Tony works way too much, so getting into his diary takes a bit of planning to say the least!

Sticking to the plan of healthy eating, we dined on a small Mexican feast of tequila and lime marinated chicken thighs, and a 2 inch thick slab of rump marinated in Rescado de Bistec paste mixed with lime juice from the Cool Chile Company, bowls of salsa and home made guacamole. All washed down with margaritas and red wine.

To wash down such a lush dinner we needed something special. Many moons ago in a country far far away I had the pleasure of dining on a brown sugar pavlova at a restaurant in Crows Nest named MuMu Grill. I had replicated it a few times back in Oz, but not made it since moving to London. Now was the time.

Brown Sugar Pavlova
230g raw caster sugar
110g soft, light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
4 large eggs, whites only
1 teaspoon cornflour
Fruit and whipped cream to decorate

Preheat oven to 120°C. Line an oven tray with baking paper. Spray with vegetable oil and dust with cornflour, shaking off excess. Mark a 24cm-diameter circle on the paper.

Use an electric mixer to whisk egg whites in a clean dry bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition, until meringue is thick and glossy and sugar dissolved. Rub a little meringue between fingers. If still "gritty" with sugar, continue to whisk until sugar dissolves. Add cornflour and whisk until just combined. Spoon meringue onto the foil, using the marked circle as a guide. Smooth sides and top of pavlova. Use a small spatula to forms little peaks around edge of pavlova. Bake in oven for 1 1/2 hours or until pavlova is dry to the touch. Turn off oven. Leave pavlova in oven with the door ajar to cool completely. When completely cold, transfer to serving plate or store in an airtight container until required.
Serves 6


One of the mags I miss from back home is Australian Gourmet Traveller, it is too expensive to import here, but thanks to the joy of Ipad, I now subscribe to the electronic edition. This months cover reminded me of my MuMu fun so I decided to use the syrup recipe to build in a bit of the joy we had over Christmas in Cuba (oh yeah - we went to Cuba for Christmas, ate too much pork, drank too much rum and I even got a suntan!)

Rum and Lime Caramel
330 gm (1½ cups) raw caster sugar
70 ml golden rum
60 ml (¼ cup) lime juice
½ cup firmly packed mint

Stir sugar and 180ml water in a saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, cook until dark caramel (5-6 minutes), then remove from heat and carefully add 100ml water (be careful as hot caramel will spit). Add rum, lime juice and mint and cool to room temperature. Strain (discard mint) and refrigerate until required. Rum and lime caramel will keep refrigerated for a week.

To serve this I piled the pav with freshly whipped cream, fresh pineapple, passionfruit pulp (fresh is best, buts lets face it, this is London, in winter, I have no chance! I used a can of John West Passionfruit Pulp bought at a ridiculously marked up price from the Oz Shop.) I finally drizzled the whole lot with the rum and lime caramel and stood back so as not to be speared by the fast moving spoons!

With such sweet friends, this was a sweet ending to a great night. Now I just have to go and face the piled of washing up.....*sigh*.

Nobu - A Birthdaversary Extravaganza

So last month I hit the big 4-0, forty, or XL. I find the roman numeral for 40 the funniest as the past few months I have been on a diet that is making me less XL every week! 18kgs down in 3 months, although to be honest, October while I still had a loss, it was only a small loss of 3 kgs as I had lots of fun with people I love eating and drinking things I have missed.

One thing about this diet, is when I do treat myself, I dont want junk food (most of the time) I crave  clean simple flavours and the best produce I can get my hands on.

Since we got married on my birthday, we were also celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary. Traditionally, the 4th anniversary is celebrated with fruit and flowers - thinking outside the box, I gave Hussyband a box of 24 mixed bitters (beers), as hops are a fruit and therefore meet the criteria for the year.

My actual birthday started brunch in Blackheath with 4 gorgeous women and a sexy little man, Ruth (and Pickle), Caroline (and Livsie), and Nicole and I took over a corner of cafe and scoffed eggs royale, litres of tea, and a slice of birthday brownie to share between 5 (Ethan isnt allowed any yet!)

Later that day I met up with the Hussyband for cocktails on the top floor of the Park Lane Hilton for sunset cocktails overlooking the city that is now our home, because finally I think of London as home (for now). The views from the cocktail bar are lovely and as the sky turned from pale blue to dusky pink we sipped our drinks and reminisced the last 4 years and how far we have traveled.

Walking in to Nobu we mounted the stairs and were immediately seated at a window overlooking the fairy lights outside. The chef came out and when asked what he recommended for the evening asked if we would let him make the choices, so of course we said yes and I got a night without making choices while we dined omakase (chef's choice).

All we had to do was pick our drinks, and being the lushes that we are we went for cold crisp bottles of Kirin Iciban and Ongakashu Sake (10 years old, semi-dry, smooth and delicate and apparently aged to the sound of soothing music!) Meanwhile, back at the ranch, dinner started to arrive!

Salmon Tartar with Caviar, this has a lovely wasabi "soup" and was zingy, fresh and oh so tasty.

Scallop and Ponzu plate

Langoustine with Red Chilli Shiso Salsa - the dipping sauce in the bottom was so good I drank the dregs!

Beef Tenderloin Tataki Onion Ponzu and Garlic Chips - tender lush beef was offset beautifully by the crisp garlic chips

Scallop, Shitake Mushroom and Truffle Sauce - this course was torture for me. Hussyband had gone to the loo and it sat in front of me for 4-5mins until he came back, surrounding me in the deep woody scent of the forest floor.

Black Cod with Miso - a signature dish that no many how many times I have eaten a version of around the world they all pale in comparison. It was dense but light, beautifully crusted on the outside but rare on the inside....a happy place.

Pumpkin Miso Soup - warm, smokey and full of goodness.

Mixed Sushi Plate - we groaned when we saw this, perfect sushi, but oh so full!

Suntory Whiskey Ice Cappucino - smooth and crunchy and boozey all in one little cup!

Chocolate Spring Rolls - these little fellas were not on the menu, but we heard the table next to us request them and of course I had to jump on the bandwagon! Dark chocolate oozing as you crunch through the spring roll, served with a raspberry and passion fruit dipping sauce.

Perfect end to a perfect dinner! OPAI KAMPAI!

We wandered over to Soho for a few final drinks, and as we stumbled towards the station all I could think about was how very lucky I am.

Slow Roasted Lamb and Red Wine Pie - 2 Ways

Hussyband is on call this week, which is probably a good thing considering what a crazy birthday party I had last weekend for my 40th, and the dinner we have planned this week at Nobu on my actual birthday/4th wedding anniversary.

Being confined close to home has its advantages - I made a HUGE batch of passata with tomatoes and basil from the garden that has reduced down for most of the afternoon. And first thing this morning after watching the Wallabies beat South Africa in the Rugby World Cup, I dug out my trusty slow cooker and prepared it for duty.

First off I sliced up 2 onions, 6 cloves of garlic, 4 eschallots and 2 carrots and put them into the base of the slow cooker on top of which I gently rested a shoulder of lamb and a couple of sprigs of rosemary, then poured a bottle of red wine and some really good grinds of salt and pepper. The lid went on, switched on low and forgot about for the next ohhhh 8 hours or so.

Drain the meat and vegetables by tipping them into a colander resting over the top of a bowl or saucepan - you want to keep all the juices, then allow to cool. Then roughly shred the meat with your fingers it will just fall apart into luscious lamb-ie strips.

Once at room temp, put the juices in the fridge for an hours so that the fats solidify, then scoop them off carefully with a slotted spoon. Then I reduced the juice by half, and added a couple about 1/2 a cup of the passata (use a good jar from the supermarket if you dont have a surplus of tomatoes simmering all day!) Return the meat and vegetables to the sauce and stir well to combine.

Hussyband was in the mood for potatoes, so I divided the meat between two enamel pie tins - one I topped with roughly piped mashed potato, and bunged into the oven at 180C until crispy on top. The moans of happiness from He Who Supposedly Must Be Obeyed were testament. The meat was tender and the gravy just unctuous enough to hold it all together, and the mash was soft with crispy edges.

Version 2 was topped with a polenta shortcrust pastry. It is dead easy to make, 200grams of plain flour, 50grams of uncooked polenta, 125grams of cold butter (cubed) all get popped into the bowl of a food processor and pulsed until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then slowly add a couple of tablespoons of ices water until the dough starts to ball together, then remove and gently need together into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 mins. After it has chilled, roll out to 3-4mm thick between two sheets of plastic wrap of grease proof paper

Cut two long strips and use these to edge the pie dish. The carefully place the remaining pastry over the top of the pie and trim to slightly larger than the dish. Using a fork, press the pastry into the edging working your way around the pie. Slice a cross into the centre to allow steam to escape, you can also insert a pastry crow to help this along (and they look so pretty!) Use any left over pastry to decorate the top of the pie as you see fit. Brush the pastry with a mixture of beaten egg and milk and bake for 20 mins at 180C until the pastry is brown and crispy.

Hussy will be eating potato topped pie for a few days, and the pastry topped one is going into the freezer for a few weeks until another cold miserable day when I cant be bothered cooking!

PS: The diet is going really well - lost 15kgs so far, but gee I miss blogging!

Suicide in the Time of Technology

I have been brushed with the paintbrush of sadness that comes from the loss of friends and family who have chosen to take their own life on more than one occasion over the years.

My earliest memory was of an Uncle who had fought in Vietnam, I cant remember how he took his life, but I know that it was spoken of in very hushed voices when I was still in primary school, and that my cousin, his daughter, was never the same on the few times we saw her following his passing.

Then there was the casual boyfriend in high school. I remember getting a phone call from a mutual friend asking if he could come and see me, I was studying for my leaving exams and tried to put him off but he kept saying it was important and he had to see me. I remember sitting on my front step in the sun with tears coursing my cheeks staining his shirt. Railing against the unfairness of it all, and wondering why? What had been so bad that he could not talk people who cared about him? What had been so bad that he could take his own life in such a violent way, and leave his family to find his remains? A note had not been left, so we were all left to deal with the questions that would never be answered.

In the mid-90’s the black dog would rear its ugly head again with a man who I considered my best friend. His dependency issues were not yet known to us, he hid his abuse of alcohol and drugs so well that he always seemed so much more fun and happy when wasted, with us not realising that the times he was sober were far less than we assumed. After a few stints in rehab, and then his decision to move back in with his parents we thought everything was better. Then the late night phone calls would start. Late night calls when he would tell me that he had taken an overdose of pills, or hurt himself. Late night calls when I would then have to contact the police and his parents. The last time, he showed up and tried to kick in the front door of my building as I wouldn’t let him in, and I had to make the hardest call ever at the request of his parents and have him arrested. That ones still pains me, but at least by having him arrested and sectioned that night, he is still alive today. I cut contact him with after that, I love him like a dysfunctional little brother still, but I could no longer sit by and watch his pain manifest. I could no longer be the one calling his Mother to say your son is locked in his room, in your house, and has just overdosed on pills.

In the last 2 weeks an old school friend and a more recent acquaintance took their lives. Their social network updates did not let on that anything out of the ordinary was going on. People who spoke with them saw their pain, but thought that they were coping and would get through it eventually like most of us do. But their pain was obviously too great for them to bear. Both of these I found out through social media updates.

A perfect example of how quickly we can all learn of someone taking their life, was the recent passing of Amy Winehouse. Social media networks were reporting her death over an hour before it made main-stream news service desks.

The friends who post that they wish to end their lives on Facebook and Twitter are not the ones we should worry about. We should be worrying about those that stay silent, that act like life is OK when really they are struggling to hold their existence together.

I have always thought that suicide was the ultimate Fuck You World. It is the last statement that nobody can rebut. It is a hanging sentence that leaves you wondering what could have been if things had been different.

If you think that life is so terribly painful that you cannot bear it, please think again. Reach out to a friend, a family member. There are people you can call if you want anonymity. Please let the words out so that they do not poison your spirit as you are loved by many who will mourn you if you are not a part of our lives.

World Suicide Prevention Day is on September 10^th, please remember those that we have lost, but also look at those that we can still save.

Websites and Phone Lines:

Australia

http://www.suicidepreventionaust.org

http://www.lifeline.org.au or 13 11 44

Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            1800 55 1800      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

United Kingdom

http://suicide-prevention.org.uk or 0800 83 85 87 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            0800 83 85 87      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

http://www.papyrus-UK.org

A Hole Lota Love - Bagels

Sorry for not posting for a while again, the diet has now gone to extremes and I am doing Lighter Life - 500 calories a day of soups and shakes that come form little sachets - nothing exciting to write about OR  for the tastebuds!

I am currently planning my 40th Birthday Party - a Rocky Horror themed night of drinking and debauchery (I hope). As such, even though I cant eat until then, I am browsing websites and cookbooks to make a menu that will give me a light at the end of the tunnel....well in the middle of it as will be doing this until Xmas (at least!)

My dear friend Kanga_Rue has just given birth last week to a bouncing baby boy. and I wanted to (a) trial a recipe I want for my birthday, and (b) make her something yummy that she can eat with one hand while holding the little angel in the other. So bagels it was to be.

These little guys were not as hard as I thought they would be to make, and going from the sounds in the office this morning, the guys were more than happy to be my guinea pigs.

Bagels
7g sachet of yeast
4 tablespoons of sugar
450g of strong bread flour
2 teaspoons of salt

• Mix the yeast with 1 tablespoon of sugar and 100mls of warm water, set somewhere warm to activate and goes all foamy (about 10 mins).
• Add 200 mls more of warm water.
• Mix half the flour and all of the salt into the bowl and mix on medium speed with the dough hook attachment (yes, I used my Kitchenaid...how could I not use her, she has been feeling neglected these past few months!) Slowly add the remaining flour and let the dough hook kneed the dough until it is nice and stretchy (took about 3 mins on low, with me readjusting the dough ball every minute).
• Place the dough into a lightly oiled clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap, and put somewhere to rise for an hour until it has doubled in size.
• Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil with the remaining sugar. Heat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius
• 
  Roll balls of dough (I weighed them - about 80grams each) then poke a hole in the middle with your finger and stretch it out a bit. The holes will shrink when they cook so a little bigger is better than being holess. Flatten the balls slightly then drop into the water to cook for about 45 secs on each side so that a skin forms (it will look like your skin does when spend too long in the spa drinking champagne). Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen towel.
• Line a baking tray with parchment and spray with oil. Set up your toppings ready to dip - I used poppy seeds, sesame seeds, and some sauteed leeks from the garden. 
• Dip the bagels into your desired topping - I found the poppy seeds stick better if brushed with a little oil (I just rubbed them in the oil from the leek pan).
• Bake in the oven for about 20 mins until crisp - the will sound hollow if tapped on the bottom.

These are suitable to freeze and make about 10 bagels around 80g each. 

An Over-Abundance of Rocket

Long time between posts. It’s been a crazy few months at the Casa - we moved house, had no internet for 2 months, the Parentals visited from Oz for 5 weeks, and then we went to Ireland for a week for me to finally meet Hussybands extended family *phew*.

When we moved in, the garden had not been touched in over a year, it had the Laura Palmer thing going (she's dead - wrapped in plastic!), I spent the first 2 weekends pulling out vines, weeds, strange orange slugs, dandelions and my never-ending battle against the dual scourge of Charlton - blackberries and stinging nettles.

Then I started planting - lettuces, rocket, tomatoes, corn, peas, leeks, radishes and strawberries, plus some assorted herbs mint, thyme, and surprising coriander. Some things are doing better than others - the birds eat more strawberries than I do, and the radishes went a bit nuts after all the rain a month ago and split.

The rocket went nuts, we can’t eat it fast enough and I have been trimming off flower heads for weeks. We have had rocket pasta, salads, tarts...rocket coming out of our asses! I love rocket, dont get me wrong, but being continually innovative with it is starting to get difficult.

Last night I put into action a plan that has been building, a rocket pesto with cashews.

Grabbing my trusty sheers, I gave the garden a much needed haircut before retiring to the kitchen to strip the leaves, you don’t want any stems (or as few as possible) in this. 

Now here I get lazy, I know, pesto should be made slowly in a mortar and pestle with love and brute force. Me, I love my food processor too much to deny it the pleasure of going whirrrr and cutting up its own frustrations.

So, into the bowl of the food processor went a nice layer of cashews (you can use any sort - roasted, salted, or in tonites case sea salt and cracked pepper!), your rocket leaves, a couple of cloves of crushed garlic and a good shaving of parmesan. After a good blitz, I start drizzling in some good olive oil. I also like to add the juice of 2 lemons for kick at this stage. Just keep adding and blitzing until you get to your preferred consistency. I don’t measure, I just taste as I go. (If you really want some kick, at the first stage before you start blitzing - add a few sliced birds eye chillies....yum!)

I am on the start of (another) health kick, so will be off the booze and cooking/eating out healthy...it doesn’t seem the most exciting thing to blog (hence my silence the last few months)...but lets see what I can come up with eh? If Hussyband will eat it I can’t be doing too badly.

Oh yeah...we had this with some fresh spaghetti and crusty sourdough, and a glass of lemonade with raspberries....oh the Rockstar life I lead!

Homemade Focaccia with Rosemary and Cherry Tomatoes

This is a quickie, both post and recipe, bought to you at the request of the equally delicious Jane Naylor Jones of Edith & Elizabeth (they make uber cute vinyl wall art for a VERY reasonable price! I currently have 2 - a chandelier in my hallway and "Eat Drink & Be Merry" above my dining table).

So there are three smells that give me a a happy feeling deep in my belly:
1. Freshly mown wet grass
2. Mums Roast Pork
3. Freshly baking bread.

Now my office is downwind of a big bakery, daily my nasal passages are assaulted - currently by a never ending waft of Easter Buns (OK - this has been for weeks, as you can buy the damned things year round here in the UK!) So having recently purchased a Kitchenaid, and wanting bread I can eat that isnt going to make me ill like most store bought bread does, I decided to make my own, and now, to satisfy the lovely Jane (who will probably make her husband cook it)...here is the recipe.

Homemade Focaccia with Rosemary and Cherry Tomatoes

1 1/2 cups warm water
3 tablespoons olive oil (plus additional for drizzling)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups Spelt Flour (you could use plain or wholemeal)
1 tablespoon instant yeast

Topping
Sea Salt
Punnet of cherry tomatoes
Rosemary

Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan, by spraying liberally with an olive oil spray if you are trying to be healthy, or drizzle with 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil if you would prefer.

Combine all of the ingredients (except the topping), and beat at high speed with an electric mixer for 60 seconds. Scoop the sticky batter into the prepared pan, cover the pan, and let it rise at room temperature for 60 minutes, till it's become puffy. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F/190C.

Now for the fun bit, poke the dough all over with your fingertips to make a dappled crater-y effect. Drizzle it lightly with more olive oil (or spritz away), and insert the tomatoes gently into the dough randomly and sprinkle generously with sea salt and rosemary leaves.

Bake the bread until it's golden brown, about 35 to 40 minutes.

Remove it from the oven, wait 5 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Other toppings you could use: goats cheese and red onion, garlic, roasted peppers/capsicum, olives and sun dried tomatoes....go forth and watch your dough multiply!


PS: Please excuse the pic - was taken with my camera phone in a rush as the bread was in danger of being consumed by a hungry hoard!